Fails the Bechdel test
Barry Lyndon
1975. Directed by Stanley Kubrick, written by Stanley Kubrick and William Makepeace Thackeray.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
0 / 3
Fails
-
No
1. At least two women
Fewer than two women characters. -
No
2. Who talk to each other
Our parser found no scene where two women talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Not reached: the film fails an earlier rule.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.
The film
In the eighteenth century, in a small village in Ireland, Redmond Barry (Ryan O'Neal) is a young farm boy in love with his cousin Nora Brady (Gay Hamilton). When Nora gets engaged to British Captain John Quin (Leonard Rossiter), Barry challenges him to a duel of pistols. He wins and escapes to Dublin, but is robbed on the road. Without an alternative, Barry joins the British Army to fight in the Seven Years War. He deserts and is forced to join the Prussian Army, where he saves the life of his Captain and becomes his protégé and spy of Irish gambler Chevalier de Balibari (Patrick Magee). He helps Chevalier and becomes his associate until he decides to marry the wealthy Lady Lyndon (Marisa Berenson). They move to England and Barry, in his obsession of nobility, dissipates her fortune and makes a dangerous and revengeful enemy.
- Released
- 18 Dec 1975
- Genres
- Adventure, Drama, War
- Rated
- PG
- IMDb
- 8.1 / 10
- Metascore
- 89 / 100
- Awards
- Won 4 Oscars. 18 wins & 14 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Roderick 409 lines, man
- Chevalier 37 lines, man
- Countess 36 lines, woman
- Captain Grogan 29 lines, man
- Captain Galgenstein 26 lines, man
- Dorothy 20 lines
- Harry 18 lines, man
- Patrick 16 lines, man
- Captain Best 14 lines, man
- Captain O'Reilly 12 lines
Full cast, 51 people
- Ryan O'Neal as Barry Lyndon
- Marisa Berenson as Lady Lyndon
- Patrick Magee as The Chevalier
- Hardy Krüger as Captain Potzdorf
- Steven Berkoff as Lord Ludd
- Gay Hamilton as Nora
- Marie Kean as Barry's Mother
- Diana Körner as German Girl
- Murray Melvin as Reverend Runt
- Frank Middlemass as Sir Charles Lyndon
- Leon Vitali as Lord Bullingdon
- Arthur O'Sullivan as Highwayman
- Godfrey Quigley as Captain Grogan
- Leonard Rossiter as Captain Quin
- Philip Stone as Graham
- André Morell as Lord Wendover
- Billy Boyle as Seamus Feeny
- John Bindon as Recruiting Soldier
- Roger Booth as King George III
- Jonathan Cecil as Lt. Jonathan Fakenham
- Peter Cellier as Sir Richard
- Geoffrey Chater as Dr. Broughton
- Anthony Dawes as British Soldier
- Patrick Dawson as Seamus Feeney
- Bernard Hepton as Diner at Feast for Lord Wendover
- Anthony Herrick
- Barry Jackson as British Soldier
- Wolf Kahler as Prince of Tübingen
- Pat Laffan as Nora's Brother #1
- Hans Meyer as Prussian Officer
- Ferdy Mayne as Col. Bulow
- David Morley as Bryan Patrick Lyndon
- Liam Redmond as Mr. Brady
- Pat Roach as Toole
- Dominic Savage as Young Bullingdon
- Frederick Schiller as Minister of Police
- George Sewell as Barry's Second
- Anthony Sharp as Lord Hallam
- John Sharp as Doolan
- Roy Spencer as Horse Seller
- Michael Hordern as Narrator (voice)
- John Sullivan as Bullingdon's Second
- Harry Towb as Innkeeper
- Norman Gay as Tailor (uncredited)
- Vivian Kubrick as Magic Show Spectator (uncredited)
- Katharina Kubrick as Dancer (uncredited)
- Anthony Lang as Gentleman (uncredited)
- Gary Taylor as Barry's Fight Second (uncredited)
- John Trehy as Duel Steward (uncredited)
- George Holdcroft as Gentleman (uncredited)
- Mark Baxter as Boy (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 6 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 11% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 241
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 6 | 0 | 5 |
| 7 to 12 | 0 | 19 |
| 13 to 18 | 2 | 62 |
| 19 to 24 | 1 | 47 |
| 25 to 30 | 2 | 8 |
| 31 to 36 | 7 | 22 |
| 37 to 42 | 1 | 10 |
| 43 to 48 | 1 | 20 |
| 49 to 54 | 0 | 25 |
| 55 to 60 | 0 | 10 |
| 61 to 66 | 0 | 11 |
| 67 to 72 | 0 | 22 |
| 73 to 78 | 0 | 37 |
| 79 to 84 | 0 | 17 |
| 85 to 90 | 0 | 37 |
| 91 to 96 | 0 | 18 |
| 97 to 102 | 0 | 7 |
| 103 to 108 | 0 | 8 |
| 109 to 114 | 0 | 20 |
| 115 to 120 | 0 | 17 |
| 121 to 126 | 19 | 37 |
| 127 to 132 | 6 | 24 |
| 133 to 138 | 2 | 4 |
| 139 to 144 | 0 | 2 |
| 145 to 150 | 0 | 5 |
| 151 to 156 | 0 | 8 |
| 157 to 162 | 0 | 7 |
| 163 to 168 | 1 | 0 |
| 169 to 174 | 4 | 7 |
| 175 to 180 | 0 | 6 |
| 181 to 186 | 0 | 18 |
| 187 to 192 | 1 | 14 |
| 193 to 198 | 0 | 7 |
| 199 to 204 | 1 | 22 |
| 205 to 210 | 1 | 13 |
| 211 to 216 | 0 | 6 |
| 217 to 222 | 2 | 8 |
| 223 to 228 | 4 | 8 |
| 229 to 234 | 3 | 7 |
| 235 to 240 | 1 | 18 |
| 241 to 241 | 0 | 1 |
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, 8 are women's.
59 lines from women, 644 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
6 women and 40 men in the cast. 0 women and 9 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 80 of 786.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 276 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 8% of the words (1,680), men 92% (18,603).
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
0
Two men
50
Exhibit E: behind the camera
2 of the 10 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 21% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Stanley Kubrick (man)
- Written by
- Stanley Kubrick (man)
- From the novel by
- William Makepeace Thackeray (man)
- Produced by
- Stanley Kubrick (man)
- Shot by
- John Alcott (man)
- Edited by
- Tony Lawson (man)
- Music by
- Leonard Rosenman (man)
- Production design by
- Ken Adam (man)
- Costumes by
- Ulla-Britt Söderlund (woman), Milena Canonero (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Costume & Make-Up
5 women, 0 men, 2 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 4 men
-
Production
0 women, 4 men
-
Art
0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 3 men
-
Sound
0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Writing
0 women, 2 men
-
Camera
0 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 37 on average. Men: 45 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Marisa Berenson 28, Diana Körner 31, Gay Hamilton 32, Marie Kean 57
Men
Ryan O'Neal 34, Steven Berkoff 38, Murray Melvin 43, Hardy Krüger 47, Patrick Magee 53, Frank Middlemass 56
Exhibit G: the money
It made 2.9 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $11 million
- Box office
- $31.5 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 241 scenes and 786 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
