An ideal movie though, one which deserves the highest rating of gender equality, should pass the Bechdel test (or also fail the reverse Bechdel).
I agree on passing the Bechdel Test in general, but of course there are alwsys going to be exceptions which are non-the-less excellent movies, e.g. 12 Angry Men or Shawshank Redemption are both great stories, and the gender-balance in those is integral to the storyline/setting. Sure you could cram 2 girls in there talking about the weather, but that would probably detract from the story, even though it now "passes the bechdel test", and grading to the bechdel test sounds like you'd merely cram some extras in there to fit the legal requirement.
The bechdel test makes more sense to apply once something has passed the "2 women" criteria. For movies with less than two women, you need to ask why that is? Historical drama, prison drama, war drama, based on a novel, etc, are legitimate reasons for a gender bias in the story.
I don't agree with demanding every film pass the Bechdel test, or any other arbitrary measure we make up. Requiring certain attributes in every story ever made is basically like requiring every color of the rainbow in every painting ever made: you've just reduced the number of possible paintings that can be painted, and do we really want to do that?
As for a perfect movie "failing the reverse bechdel test" wouldn't that just make it sexist the other way rather than gender-neutral?
I agree with most of this, and I misspoke with the "ideal" thing. What I meant to say was that, for a movie to get the ideal perfect rating of gender equality, it ought to pass both tests (or neither).
12 Angry Men is a great movie, very thought provoking, with no female characters. It doesn't need female characters to be great. It is not, however, an exceptional example of gender equality. Most movies don't need to be. This test, like the PG/R/AO rating, has nothing to do with movie quality. It's just some extra information people might take into consideration, particularly for movies which *could* easily get a high rating.
It is easy to technically pass the Bechdel test, which is why it's only a *requirement* for a perfect score. There are loads of movies which pass the test which I'm sure don't receive the perfect score, or particularly good scores at all.
About the reverse Bechdel, I said that a movie that fails it might get a pass on failing the normal Bechdel. It'd be a simple solution for movies with very few characters. I'm sure there are artsy films out there where a lone man and woman adventure as equals. I can't think of any off the top of my head...
Of course, it's arguable whether such a movie could fully represent gender equality with only two characters. Sexism doesn't make sense with a population of two, it's a group dynamic.