When Sofia Coppola sat down to talk all things Beguiled with GQ, a curious factoid emerged. Coppola has spent her career making movies exclusively about (white) women, but she’s unfamiliar with the Bechdel test, which tests whether a movie shows two female characters talking to each other about something other than a man. When GQ asked Coppola if her tale of Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst, and Elle Fanning objectifying Colin Farrell counts as the “rare feminist film that struggles to pass the Bechdel test,†Coppola seemed unaware of the term. It’s really not that shocking, just random. “The what test?†she asked. Observe:
GQ: The Bechdel test.
I’ve never heard of that. What’s that?
It’s a test to see if two or more women in a movie talk about something other than a man.
Oh, I guess I’ve never studied film. That’s so funny, but there are a lot of women talking about a man in this.
For the record, by Vulture’s count, The Beguiled passes. Now, can someone confirm whether Coppola has heard of the DuVernay test, please?