Club de Femmes (1936)

Comedy / Crime / Drama

TW: Childbirth, Death or Dying, Pregnancy, Rape, Suicide

Worth Watching? Yes

Bechdel Test? Pass

Race Bechdel Test? Fail

Major LGBT Tropes: Crossdresser, Bury Your Gays Adjacent

Synopsis (from me): Residents of a women-only boarding house in Paris try desperately to see their stupid boyfriends with varying degrees of success, but alas, there is a lesbian!

My Thoughts: I really enjoyed this film. I found the treatment Alice to be quite tender. It also raises the question (for me) of why we can't seem to do better in modern representation. If they could manage this in 1936, why can't we do better in 2020? The ending is Bury Your Gays adjacent because Alice is shipped off to a leper colony, but it isn't because she is a lesbian.

Additional Note: Dr. Aubrey has a monologue towards the end of the film that is very moving, given the groundbreaking context of a lesbian being openly portrayed as a normal woman with normal desires in this movie.

---

Queer Body Count: 0

Straight Body Count: 1

Total Queer Body Count: 2 (18%)

Total Straight Body Count: 7 (12%)

Queer Sexual Violence Victim Count: 0

Straight Sexual Violence Victim Count: 1

Total Queer Sexual Violence Victim Count: 2 (18%)

Total Straight Sexual Violence Victim Count: 1 (2%)