Passes the Bechdel test
A Separation
2011. Directed by Asghar Farhadi, written by Asghar Farhadi.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
8 women characters. 4 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 9 scenes out of 120. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3.
The film
Nader (Payman Maadi) and Simin (Leila Hatami) argue about living abroad. Simin prefers to live abroad to provide better opportunities for their only daughter, Termeh. However, Nader refuses to go because he thinks he must stay in Iran and take care of his father (Ali-Asghar Shahbazi), who suffers from Alzheimers. However, Simin is determined to get a divorce and leave the country with her daughter.
- Released
- 16 Mar 2011
- Genres
- Drama
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 8.3 / 10
- Metascore
- 95 / 100
- Awards
- Won 1 Oscar. 89 wins & 52 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Nader 310 lines, man
- Simin 160 lines, woman
- Razieh 144 lines, woman
- Termeh 111 lines, woman
- Hojjat 88 lines, man
- Examining Magistrate 64 lines, man
- Mrs. Ghahraei 35 lines, woman
- Somayeh 27 lines, woman
- Judge 21 lines
- Azam 15 lines
Full cast, 13 people
- Payman Maadi as Nader
- Leila Hatami as Simin
- Shahab Hosseini as Hojjat
- Sareh Bayat as Razieh
- Sarina Farhadi as Termeh
- Ali-Asghar Shahbazi as Nader's Father
- Merila Zarei as Miss Ghahraii - Termeh's Teacher
- Babak Karimi as Interrogator
- Kimia Hosseini as Somayyeh - Razieh's Daughter
- Armine Zeytounchian as Mrs. Kalaani
- Shirin Yazdanbakhsh as Simin's Mother
- Mohammad Sajadian as Soldier
- Bahareh Riyahi as Hospital Receptionist
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 7% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 120
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 | 26 | 10 |
| 4 to 6 | 4 | 0 |
| 7 to 9 | 13 | 7 |
| 10 to 12 | 4 | 5 |
| 13 to 15 | 13 | 12 |
| 16 to 18 | 6 | 0 |
| 19 to 21 | 4 | 0 |
| 22 to 24 | 23 | 3 |
| 25 to 27 | 9 | 5 |
| 28 to 30 | 32 | 19 |
| 31 to 33 | 20 | 36 |
| 34 to 36 | 4 | 0 |
| 37 to 39 | 6 | 0 |
| 40 to 42 | 0 | 0 |
| 43 to 45 | 6 | 0 |
| 46 to 48 | 5 | 10 |
| 49 to 51 | 2 | 9 |
| 52 to 54 | 3 | 1 |
| 55 to 57 | 25 | 25 |
| 58 to 60 | 18 | 20 |
| 61 to 63 | 20 | 23 |
| 64 to 66 | 11 | 50 |
| 67 to 69 | 4 | 16 |
| 70 to 72 | 19 | 4 |
| 73 to 75 | 23 | 20 |
| 76 to 78 | 20 | 27 |
| 79 to 81 | 20 | 8 |
| 82 to 84 | 9 | 10 |
| 85 to 87 | 7 | 13 |
| 88 to 90 | 12 | 14 |
| 91 to 93 | 2 | 4 |
| 94 to 96 | 15 | 14 |
| 97 to 99 | 36 | 33 |
| 100 to 102 | 5 | 28 |
| 103 to 105 | 10 | 9 |
| 106 to 108 | 25 | 22 |
| 109 to 111 | 12 | 6 |
| 112 to 114 | 25 | 10 |
| 115 to 117 | 9 | 7 |
| 118 to 120 | 4 | 0 |
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: the passing scenes
The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.
TERMEH: Hello. RAZIEH: Hello.
SOMAYEH: Hello. RAZIEH: Somayeh!
SOMAYEH: Mommy, it got ripped! RAZIEH: Ah!... Where? SOMAYEH: On the stairs. RAZIEH: Why did you get it on your clothes? Where the hell am I going to get you clean clothes? Take it off!
SOMAYEH: Hello. RAZIEH: Come here. SOMAYEH: Mommy, I’m thirsty.
GRANDMA KATTI: People divorce their wives to get less busy. SIMIN: Where’s Termeh?
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 52 are women's.
511 lines from women, 480 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
8 women and 4 men in the cast. 4 women and 2 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 2 of 1,064.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 25 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 47% of the words (4,362), men 53% (4,973). Women have 52% of the lines, so their lines run shorter than men's.
Exhibit E: 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
26
Two men
19
Exhibit F: behind the camera
1 of the 7 people in these jobs is a woman.
Across the whole crew, 8% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Asghar Farhadi (man)
- Written by
- Asghar Farhadi (man)
- Produced by
- Asghar Farhadi (man)
- Shot by
- Mahmoud Kalari (man)
- Edited by
- Hayedeh Safiyari (woman)
- Music by
- Sattar Oraki (man)
- Production design by
- Keyvan Moghaddam (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
0 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 2 men
-
Camera
0 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
-
Production
0 women, 2 men
-
Costume & Make-Up
0 women, 1 men
-
Editing
1 women, 0 men
-
Writing
0 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 25 on average. Men: 54 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Kimia Hosseini 7, Sarina Farhadi 12, Sareh Bayat 31, Merila Zarei 36, Leila Hatami 38
Men
Shahab Hosseini 37, Payman Maadi 40, Babak Karimi 50, Ali-Asghar Shahbazi 88
Exhibit H: the money
It made 4.9 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $5 million
- Box office
- $24.4 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 120 scenes and 1,064 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
