Are there two or more women who talk to each other about subjects other than men? That’s the requirement for a film to pass the Bechdel test. Several Swedish movie theaters (Spegeln in Malmö, Röda Kvarn in Helsingborg, Bio Rio in Stockholm, and Bio Roy in Göteborg) are now marking the films that pass the test with a special mark.
”It’s an extremely low threshold, and it is by far not a gender equality test,” says Cornelia Bjurström, director at Bio Roy. ”But there are so very many movies that do not pass the test.” The Bechdel test has been around since 1985, and is named after the American cartoonist Alison Bechdel, who in her comic strip ”Dykes to Watch Out For,” wrote a part titled ”The Rule,” where an unnamed female character says that she only watches a movie if it satisfies the following requirements:

1. It has to have at least two women in it
2. who talk to each other
3. about something besides a man.
Says Bjurström: ”We want to stick out a little, and feel that we have some influence, although maybe just a little. And we think it is a fun thing to do, with a bit of a wink in the eye, to help the audience watch the movie this way.”

Some movies that have passed the Bechdel test are Lars von Trier’s ”Melancholia” (2011), Jason Reitman’s ”Juno” (2007), Lukas Moodysson’s recently reviewed ”We are the Best!” (2013) - Review; 'We Are The Best', Ang Lee’s ”Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (2000) and Gabriela Pichler’s ”Eat Sleep Die” (2012).