Fails the Bechdel test
A Knight's Tale
2001. Directed by Brian Helgeland, written by Brian Helgeland.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
5 women characters. 6 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
Women do talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Every conversation between women that our parser found mentions a man.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 2 out of 3.
The film
Inspired by "The Canterbury Tales," as well as the early life of William Marshall (later First Earl of Pembroke), this is the story of William, a young squire with a gift for jousting. After his master dies suddenly, the squire hits the road with his cohorts Roland and Wat. On the journey, they stumble across an unknown writer, Chaucer. William, lacking a proper pedigree, convinces Chaucer to forge genealogy documents that will pass him off as a knight. With his newly-minted history in hand, the young man sets out to prove himself a worthy knight at the country's jousting competition, and finds romance along the way.
- Released
- 11 May 2001
- Genres
- Action, Adventure, Drama
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 7 / 10
- Metascore
- 56 / 100
- Awards
- 4 wins & 13 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- William 263 lines, man
- Chaucer 118 lines, man
- Roland 116 lines, man
- Wat 69 lines, man
- Adhemar 66 lines, man
- Jocelyn 58 lines, woman
- Father 27 lines, man
- Kate 20 lines, woman
- The Black Prince 14 lines, man
- Eustace 11 lines, man
Full cast, 37 people
- Heath Ledger as William Thatcher
- Rufus Sewell as Count Adhemar
- Shannyn Sossamon as Jocelyn
- Paul Bettany as Geoffrey Chaucer
- Laura Fraser as Kate
- Mark Addy as Roland
- Alan Tudyk as Wat
- Bérénice Bejo as Christiana
- Scott Handy as Germaine
- James Purefoy as Colville
- Leagh Conwell as Young William Thatcher
- Christopher Cazenove as John Thatcher
- Steven O'Donnell as Simon the Summoner
- Jonathan Slinger as Peter the Pardoner
- Nick Brimble as Sir Ector
- Karel Dobrý as Flanders King of Arms
- Philip Lenkowsky as Rouen King of Arms
- Roger Ashton-Griffiths as Old Bishop
- Petr Meissel as Sword Official
- Matthew Mills as Colville's Herald
- Daniel Rous as Local Earl Lagny
- Vladimír Kulhavý as Fence
- Miroslav Mokos as French Squire
- Noel le Bon as French Squire
- Scott Bellefeville as French Squire
- David Schneider as Relic Seller
- Rudolf Kubík as Paris Master of Arms
- David Fisher as London King of Arms
- David Sterne as Retired Knight
- Alice Connor as Lone Girl
- Alice Bendová as Spy
- Berwick Kaler as Man in Stocks
- Howie Lotker as Lagny Master at Arms
- Jan Kuželka as Smithee
- Václav Krejčí as Smithee
- Jan Nemejovský as Smithee
- Jakob Schwarz as Blackbird Knight (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 4% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 104
Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.
Show the numbers
| Scenes | Women's lines | Men's lines |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 3 | 0 | 53 |
| 4 to 6 | 0 | 7 |
| 7 to 9 | 9 | 103 |
| 10 to 12 | 0 | 59 |
| 13 to 15 | 0 | 7 |
| 16 to 18 | 3 | 12 |
| 19 to 21 | 5 | 14 |
| 22 to 24 | 2 | 10 |
| 25 to 27 | 4 | 8 |
| 28 to 30 | 0 | 10 |
| 31 to 33 | 4 | 27 |
| 34 to 36 | 4 | 43 |
| 37 to 39 | 5 | 11 |
| 40 to 42 | 4 | 17 |
| 43 to 45 | 2 | 5 |
| 46 to 48 | 0 | 18 |
| 49 to 51 | 2 | 7 |
| 52 to 54 | 0 | 30 |
| 55 to 57 | 0 | 9 |
| 58 to 60 | 3 | 46 |
| 61 to 63 | 2 | 4 |
| 64 to 66 | 2 | 4 |
| 67 to 69 | 2 | 21 |
| 70 to 72 | 12 | 28 |
| 73 to 75 | 4 | 14 |
| 76 to 78 | 8 | 27 |
| 79 to 81 | 0 | 24 |
| 82 to 84 | 0 | 14 |
| 85 to 87 | 0 | 13 |
| 88 to 90 | 6 | 6 |
| 91 to 93 | 0 | 42 |
| 94 to 96 | 1 | 9 |
| 97 to 99 | 0 | 0 |
| 100 to 102 | 9 | 60 |
| 103 to 104 | 1 | 43 |
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 10 are women's.
94 lines from women, 805 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
5 women and 28 men in the cast. 6 women and 36 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 164 of 936.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 163 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 10% of the words (1,046), men 90% (9,379).
Exhibit D: the test the other way
Two named men talk to each other about something besides a woman. It passes the reverse test.
Conversations between two named characters
Two women
2
Two men
84
Exhibit E: behind the camera
2 of the 11 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 23% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Brian Helgeland (man)
- Written by
- Brian Helgeland (man)
- Produced by
- Brian Helgeland (man), Tim Van Rellim (man), Todd Black (man)
- Shot by
- Richard Greatrex (man)
- Edited by
- Kevin Stitt (man)
- Music by
- Carter Burwell (man)
- Production design by
- Tony Burrough (man)
- Costumes by
- Caroline Harris (woman)
- Cast by
- Francine Maisler (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
2 women, 15 men, 6 not listed
-
Production
7 women, 7 men, 7 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 10 men, 7 not listed
-
Other crew
1 women, 6 men, 9 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 5 men, 6 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
5 women, 1 men, 5 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 4 men, 2 not listed
-
Editing
1 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 24 on average. Men: 31 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Shannyn Sossamon 22, Bérénice Bejo 24, Laura Fraser 25
Men
Heath Ledger 22, Paul Bettany 29, Alan Tudyk 30, Scott Handy 32, Rufus Sewell 33, James Purefoy 36, Mark Addy 37
Exhibit G: the money
It made 1.8 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $65 million
- Box office
- $117 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 104 scenes and 936 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
