Loved by critics and a winner at Cannes, Lynne Ramsay’s “You Were Never Really Here” has been largely shut out of the Oscar conversation. The revenge thriller is, however, getting love from Bechdel Test Fest, a celebration of positive representation for women in film that screens movies throughout the year. The group invited female film critics and commentators to vote on their top 10 films available on general UK release in cinemas and online. A press release announced “You Were Never Really Here” came out on top. Sixty-five women participated in the survey.
Of 20 films to make the list, six are women-directed, or 30 percent. Joining Ramsay’s Joaquin Phoenix-starrer about a former FBI agent tasked with finding missing girls in the top 10 are Greta Gerwig’s “Lady Bird,” the story of a Sacramento teen who dreams of attending college in New York, and Desiree Akhavan’s gay conversion drama “The Miseducation of Cameron Post.”
Bechdel Test Fest was founded in 2014, and named in honor of The Bechdel Test. Popularized by cartoonist Alison Bechdel, the Bechdel Test considers whether a film 1. has two named women 2. they have a conversation with each other and 3. the conversation is about something other than a man.
“It was so rewarding to see so many respondents to our first poll that focuses on the opinions of women in film,” said Corrina Antrobus, Founder of Bechdel Test Fest. “The female voice is frequently drowned out in this male-dominated industry and the lack of female film critics is still frustrating — this was our opportunity to tune them in and turn them up. There are many presumptions to what a ‘women’s film’ is, yet our results show women resonate with all genres and narratives whilst appreciating the brilliant work of female filmmakers and narratives.”
According to research from Dr. Martha Lauzen and the Center for the Study of Women in Television & Film, men comprise 68 percent and women 32 percent of all film reviewers.
Check out Bechdel Test Fest’s top 20 films of 2018 below.
1: YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE (Dir: Lynne Ramsay)
2: WIDOWS (Steve McQueen)
3: PHANTOM THREAD (Paul Thomas Anderson)
4: ROMA (Alfonso Cuarón)
5: BLACK PANTHER (Ryan Coogler)
6: A STAR IS BORN (Bradley Cooper)
7: LADY BIRD (Greta Gerwig)
8: THE MISEDUCATION OF CAMERON POST (Desiree Akhavan)
9: BLACKKKLANSMAN (Spike Lee)
10: SHOPLIFTERS (Hirokazu Kore-eda)
11: LEAVE NO TRACE (Debra Granik)
12: THE RIDER (Chloé Zhao)
13: ANNIHILATION (Alex Garland)
14: FIRST REFORMED (Paul Schrader)
15: AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR (Anthony Russo, Joe Russo)
16: TULLY (Jason Reitman)
17: CRAZY RICH ASIANS (Jon M. Chu)
18: COLD WAR (Paweł Pawlikowski)
19: SHIRKERS (Sandi Tan)
20: HEREDITARY (Ari Aster)
