Lynne Ramsay’s You Were Never Really Here has emerged as the best film of 2018 in a poll of female film critics and commentators.
Conducted by female-centred film organisation Bechdel Test Fest, the poll surveyed 65 respondents from film programming groups and publications including Sight & Sound, Time Out, Birds Eye View and The Observer.
Steve McQueen’s heist thriller Widows came in second place, with Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread in third.
Of the top 20 titles, six are directed by women - including Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird and Desiree Akhavan’s The Miseducation Of Cameron Post - and 10 have female leads.
At least 14 pass the Bechdel Test, the method for measuring representation of women in cinema after which the organisation is named. To qualify, a film must have at least two named female characters, who have a conversation with each other about something other than a man.
Results were released through the Girls On Film podcast with film critic Anna Smith and programmer Stephanie Watts.
Corrina Antrobus, founder of Bechdel Test Fest, said, “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.”
Bechdel Test Fest poll
- You Were Never Really Here - Lynne Ramsay
- Widows - Steve McQueen
- Phantom Thread - Paul Thomas Anderson
- ROMA - Alfonso Cuarón
- Black Panther - Ryan Coogler
- A Star Is Born - Bradley Cooper
- Lady Bird - Greta Gerwig
- The Miseducation Of Cameron Post - Desiree Akhavan
- BlacKkKlansman - Spike Lee
- Shoplifters - Hirokazu Kore-eda
- Leave No Trace - Debra Granik
- The Rider - Chloé Zhao
- Annihilation - Alex Garland
- First Reformed (Paul Schrader
- Avengers: Infinity War - Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
- Tully - Jason Reitman
- Crazy Rich Asians - Jon M. Chu
- Cold War - Paweł Pawlikowski
- Shirkers - Sandi Tan
- Hereditary - Ari Aster
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