The Bechdel Test

Does The Women pass the Bechdel Test?

I love The Women so much! When I think of the best film from the magical year of 1939, I usually say either The Wizard of Oz or The Hunchback of Notre Dame just because I've seen them both so many times going back to the 1970s and they are both awesome. But in the last five years or so, I've come to consider a couple of other movies that I haven't seen nearly as many times because I didn't see them until many years later - Stagecoach and The Women.

I've only seen The Women twice, the last time was about two years ago. So I don't really remember the specifics all that well. So today, for some reason, I wondered if The Women passes the Bechdel Test. And every scene I can remember contains two women talking about a man!

That's what the movie is, so it's no surprise that there's a lot of that. But isn't there just one scene where they aren't talking about a man? I could easily see Joan Crawford and Rosalind Russell making fun of Norma Shearer being cross-eyed. Or maybe Paulette Goddard and Norma Shearer could be pointing at Joan Crawford and wondering what had happened to her career. Or maybe Mary Boland and Marjorie Main complaining that Joan Fontaine needs to speak up so they can hear?

Janet! Donkeys!