OK, so: Sofia Coppola is currently being congratulated in film circles for her reworking of 1971s Clint Eastwood vehicle The Beguiled, told from a female-centric point of view at a moment in moviemaking history when female-centric points of view, although still few and far between, are being championed for the cause of gender equality in male-dominated Hollywood.
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The what test? Coppola said. The reporter repeated the name.
Ive never heard of that. Whats that?
Because gender equality can be tough to conclusively measure, one of the ways critics have done so is through the Bechdel test, which asks two simple questions: Do two women characters have names? And do they speak to each other about something other than a man? The idea won creator Alison Bechdel, an American cartoonist, the MacArthur genius grant in 2014. If youve paid attention to entertainment journalism in the past five years, youve probably run across the term more than once.
And if you, like Sofia Coppola, have made several films starring women and telling womens stories,one would think youd have used it yourself.
Oh, I guess Ive never studied film, Coppola replied. Thats so funny, but there are a lot of women talking about a man in this. (There are, indeed, lots of women talking about a man a wounded Union soldier played by Colin Farrell but according to Vulture, it does pass.)
Rich Fury via Getty Images
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figcaption class=”image__caption” js-image-caption”> Actors Nicole Kidman, Elle Fanning, director Sofia Coppola and actor Kirsten Dunst attend the premiere of Focus Features’ ‘The Beguiled’ at Directors Guild Of America on June 12, 2017 in Los Angeles, California.
Although the film has been hailed for a progressive cause, Coppola has also been the target of criticism over her subjects: women, yes, but only extremely pale types. Her response to a BuzzFeed question about why she didnt include a black woman character present in both the source material and the 1971 version of The Beguiled alsodrew some criticismover erasure.
While the director may be currently enjoying broader acclaim for her most recent cinematic contribution to feminism, we hope she knows its never too late to learn a few things.
