Wednesday Movie Club: Shakespeare in Love In-Person
On September 19, 1985, cartoonist Alison Bechdel jokingly laid out a rule for picking movies: a film must include at least two named female characters who have at least one conversation with each other about something other than a man. It sounds simple, but a surprising number of films don’t clear the bar. And when they don’t, it often means women exist more as part of someone else’s story than their own. This June, we’ll use the Bechdel Test as a jumping-off point to explore how films change when women get to exist as fully realized characters.
Our series continues this week with Shakespeare in Love, a film that technically passes the Bechdel Test...but just barely. The 1998 film stars Gwyneth Paltrow in her Academy Award-winning role as Viola, opposite Joseph Fiennes as a young, creatively blocked William Shakespeare. It’s witty, romantic and packed with theatrical charm...and it won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Yet, despite Paltrow’s strong central performance, Viola ultimately exists to further Shakespeare's story. Which raises the question: is passing the Bechdel Test enough?
***This film is being presented as part of the Stow-Munroe Falls Public Library's Wednesday Movie Club, a weekly showcase of movies that matter for people who love movies. Attendees will be invited to discuss the film immediately following the screening. Registration is not required.
Rating: R (some sexual content and nudity)
Runtime: 2h 3m
Production Year: 1998
Cast: Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes, Geoffrey Rush, Tom Wilkinson
Director: John Madden
- Date:
- Wednesday, June 10, 2026 Show more dates
- Time:
- 2:00pm - 4:30pm
- Time Zone:
- Eastern Time - US & Canada (change)
- Location:
- Stow Room
- Audience:
- Adult
- Categories:
- Adult Program Movie