After a quick trip to Capitol Hill for the fourth and final time of the weekend, we headed to the Uptown for The Brand New Testament. I had high hopes for this one, as it stars Benoît Poelvoorde (as “Dieu”) of Man Bites Dog fame. It’s a silly thing. I’ve rolled my eyes at people clambering to Audrey Tatou films, as if a good actor cannot be in a bad movie, or just their presence will make any film worthwhile, and here I am deciding to see a film in large part because of one of its stars. Regardless, I was not disappointed. The premise is that God has a tweenage daughter who decides to rebel against grumpy ol’ dad. With the encouragement of the spirit of her brother, JC, Ea sets out into the real world to shake things up. The real star is, of course, Ea (Pili Groyne) who starts on her path of reckoning by texting everyone with a mobile a countdown to their individual deaths. There are some strong reactions to this information, and some lives are changed irrevocably.
To be clear, The Brand New Testament is a comedy. A really great one. I’m not sure if it will get a theatrical release in the US, but I would guess it will find its way onto Netflix eventually.
After some discussion, we have concluded that this film most likely passes the Bechdel Test.
What’s the Bechdel test?
To pass the Bechdel Test, two named females must have a conversation that is not about a man. In the case of this film, we focused on a conversation between Ea and Aurélie, in which Ea asks Aurélie questions about herself and her life.
http://bechdeltest.com/
After all the research, I’m not sure “clambering” is actually the right word. People could be “clamoring” to see Audrey Tatou (“shout loudly and insistently”), but they wouldn’t clamber unless her movies were at the top of “an awkward and laborious climb.” Is that your authorial intent? Might make a good blurb — “Clamber up the steps of your nearest multiplex for this latest Tatouian masterpiece!”
Hmmm . . . figurative clambering maybe?
Thanks for explanation. So Bechdel Test has no bearing on whether you dig a movie or not, just an interesting measure I reckon?
You got it. It’s a way to bring attention to the fact that most movies are a bunch of dudes and if there are females, they are largely incidental or one-dimensional. But movies that fail are not necessarily bad.
Well thanks for explanation and movie reviews – always love reading movie reviews especially of flicks I never knew existed.