Seven Tests and a Movie
How ‘7 Women and a Murder’ does (not) pass these common feminist film tests
Tags: #MurderMystery #WhoDunit #7WomenAndAMurder #FeministFilmTests #TheBechtelTest #TheSexyLampTest #ThePeirceTest #TheVillarrealTest #TheLandauTest #TheFeldmanScore #TheHagenTest #Films
Spoilers ahead: A remake of 8 Femmes (Fidélité Productions, 2002), the Italian movie 7 Women and a Murder (Wildside, 2021) is an 83-minute murder mystery with an almost exclusively female cast. Susanna, the oldest daughter of wealthy businessman Marcello, comes home for Christmas. As she joins the women of the family – mother Margherita, auntie Agostina, granny Rachele, younger sister Caterina – for breakfast, the maid, Maria, discovers that Marcello was murdered! Caterina runs to the telephone only to discover that the line has been cut. As the women fret over the possible murderer still being inside the house or around the grounds, a snowstorm is slowly building. Scene: a mysterious shadow runs across the window, old-flame Veronica enters the stage. The women are trapped and it is time to hunt for the killer amongst them. A classic whodunit mystery unfolds as the women throw around accusations and reveal each other's deepest, darkest secrets. The plot thickens… well not really, but you get the jist.
While channeling the feel of an Agatha Christie era novel, the plot lacks key factors for fans of locked room mysteries. There is no detective; instead the women take turns slinging wild accusations at each other after each new clue or secret is revealed. They seem to trust one another on some level – after Maria points out that the dogs did not bark all night, the women agree that one of them must be the killer – but spend the next 70 minutes complaining about each other. Rachele is a miser; Agostina, a freeloading spinster; Margherita, the not-very-heartbroken widow; and on it goes with each new secret revealed, a new complaint arises. What the movie lacks in action, it makes up for in bitchy comments and accusations. The plot is driven forward not by action, but by hurt feelings, attempts to flee the mansion, and women jumping at each other’s throats...sometimes quite literally. Instead of searching for clues and putting together a timeline, the women jump from insinuation to excuse, and no one seems very put out about the dead body upstairs.
Image Credits: 7 Donne E Un Mistero (Warner Bros Studios)
There is a twist ending, Marcello was in fact alive the whole day, listening from his room while planning the newest version of his will. Caterina, his accomplice, ran around hiding keys and cutting the phone line, supposedly to help her ‘poor’ father determine the loyalty of the women around him. However, in the end, Marcello is found dead again below the balcony window. While unclear if by suicide or an accident, the police arrive to collect the body, leaving the women to “breathe life back into the mansion”, having decided for some reason to all live together.
The movie stars seven women. In fact, there are only two other characters, both male, that have any lines. However, the plot revolves so heavily around Marcello and other male love interests that the women had barely any personality outside of their love lives. The grandmother, Rachele, is perhaps the only one, as she is more interested in the stocks she hides under her bed than anyone living in the house. So this raises the question: is it possible that a movie with an exclusively female main cast fails some common gender equality tests?
The Classic – The Bechdel Test: (technical) pass
Alison Bechdel, an American cartoonist, popularized this test in a 1985 comic strip. Meant to highlight gender imbalances, the Bechdel Test has three main components. First, there must be at least two named, female characters. Second, these women must talk to each other. And third, their conversation must be about something other than a man and it must be more than five words.
While 7 Women and a Murder passes this test, it does not do so with flying colors. The first scene with Maria and Susanna discussing her early arrival meets the requirements; train schedules do not make tantalizing conversation though. The Bechdel test is not a good measurement for how female characters are portrayed or handled. If the passable conversations are all insults directed towards other women and discussions of household chores, does the movie really break away from gender stereotypes?
The Replacement – The Sexy Lamp Test: pass
The Sexy Lamp test is a satirical companion to the Bechdel Test created by Kelly Sue DeConnick to determine whether a woman could be replaced by a lamp without the plot falling apart. Designed to show whether female characters are integral to the story or are scene decoration, the Sexy Lamp test looks at a character’s agency. If the female character drives action forward, the movie gets a pass – barely scraping over the low bar set before them.
Although many movies fail this test, 7 Women and a Murder ticks this very basic box. Funny enough, the same does not hold up in reverse as every single man could have been replaced by a sexy lamp for the plot to still make sense. Or Margherita’s precious Ming statue. It might have been a better movie, if the women were trying to solve The Case of The Broken Ming.
Depth of Character – The Peirce Test: (technical) pass
Founded by Kimberly Peirce, this test examines the depth of female characters. As such, it goes beyond the Bechdel Test by requiring a woman to actually have her own story and a personality. She must have and pursue her own desires and goals to create action for the plot. To pass, viewers must also be able to empathize with her. The test thus requires women characters to be well rounded and have dimension.
Margherita does have her own desires, but the movie lacks so much action, it is hard to argue whether or not her plan to leave her husband has any effect on the overall story. It is also debatable whether viewers would sympathize with her character. Ultimately, the plot of the movie still revolves around the patriarch of the family.
Stereotyping Women – The Villarreal Test: failed
Producer Lindsey Villarreal proposes that movies should instantly fail if the lead female character is introduced in a stereotypical way. This includes being depicted as cold-hearted and expressionless (Margherita, Maria, Caterina), being the matriarch (Margherita, Rachele), or being sexualised (Veronica, Maria). Susanna and Agostina escape this treatment, but only because they are stereotyped in different ways. Susanna is the prim and proper, goody-two-shoes, eldest daughter. Agostina is first shown as the spinster aunt, complaining at every little thing, then madeover and reintroduced as a vixen.
However, a movie can redeem itself if three of the four criteria are met: a woman has a career where she is in a position of power, she makes bad or reckless decisions, she is a mother, and/or she is someone who chooses her sexual identity. Some characters tick a few of these boxes, such as Margherita being a mother and choosing her sexual identity, or Veronica also choosing her sexuality and making bad decisions, none of the women meet more than two of them. 7 Women and a Murder fails this test. If only one of them had a job!
The Dead, the Pregnant, the Problem – The Landau Test: failed
Another great test developed by a woman is the Landau Test by writer Noga Landau. In order to pass, a primary female character cannot end up dead, pregnant, or the cause of the plot problem for a male lead. Immediately, 7 Women and a Murder fails, as every single female character has caused a problem for Marcello in some way. There is also the additional problem of Susanna. It is revealed that she is pregnant and her pregnancy is the cause of a problem for Marcello; a two for one.
Unlike the Villarreal Test, there is no way to redeem a film after failing. Marcello may not have any lines himself, but he is the driving force behind the plot and the only character, besides Caterina, who takes any action. It may be argued that Marcello is not a protagonist of the story, and therefore, the women are not creating problems for anyone but themselves. Despite all that, Susanna’s plotline still fails the test.
The Bar is On the Floor – The Feldman Score: failed
A film must score at least 5 out of 10 points in order to pass the Feldman Score. This test goes beyond the film's plot and considers women’s engagement in the development and production of a movie. Developed by director Rachel Feldman, the Score asks the following: Is there a female writer or director? 2 points for yes. Does the film have a female composer or director of photography? 1 point for yes. Are there at least three female producers or three female department heads? 1 point for yes. Does the film crew consist of 50% or more women? 1 point for yes.
Additionally, the Score still asks for female driven plots and representations in the movie: is there a female protagonist that drives the story? 2 points for yes. Is not a single woman victimized, stereotyped, or sexualised? 2 points for yes. If there is a sex scene, does it include foreplay before consummation or do women reciprocate sexual advances? 1 point for yes.
For the first set of questions, 7 Women and a Murder scores a lousy 1.5 points. We gave this 1 point for a female writer but knocked one point off since it was co-written by a man. We also gave this 0.5 points for three female department heads as 1 out of the 3 departments are co-lead by a man.
For the second set, the film only scores 2 points in terms of women protagonists determining the story outcome. They faff about for a while, but eventually the women do move the plot forward. As half of the women in the film are sexualized and all of them are stereotyped, the movie did not score well here. Finally, there were no sex scenes to get those last few points it needs to pass The Feldman Score.
Total score: 3.5.
Screen Presence – The Hagen Test: failed
And finally, the Hagen Test from Kate Hagen, a director of community at The Black List, looks at a film’s supporting roles and background casting. Many on-screen roles and small parts in movies are given to men, as if by default. So, for this test, a movie can pass if half of the one-scene roles go to women and the first crowd is made up of at least fifty percent women.
7 Women and a Murder passes the crowd scene test, as seven of the ten actors are women. Unfortunately, there are only two one-scene roles and they both went to men. The taxi driver, opening the movie by chauffeuring Susanna to the mansion, and the Inspector who comes to collect Marcello’s body.
Coincidentally, the Inspector is the only character that is on-scene and has a last name.
Conclusion
Is the film an outstanding portrayal of female characters? Sadly, no. There is a lot of room with a cast of seven women and, somehow, this movie fails to do much with all that space. Is it at least a good mystery? Also, no. It’s an ok film, a good lazy day watch with a few laughs that won’t eat into bed time. Given that the ending of the movie centers around women supporting women – even when a man asks you to betray your fellow women – the bad-mouthing and bitching about each other doesn’t really support this conclusion and, therefore, it's hard to support the movie as a whole. It had potential, but was neither impressive nor memorable in the end. Watch it or don’t, your choice.