Passes the Bechdel test

Children of Men

Name: Children of Men
Released: 2007

2007. Directed by Alfonso Cuarón, written by Alfonso Cuarón and Timothy J. Sexton and David Arata.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
25 women characters. 5 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 7 scenes out of 131.
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

In the dystopian world of 2027 London, humans have been incapable of reproducing for unknown reasons, meaning the imminent extinction of the species. Britain is the one remaining civilized society on the planet, which has resulted in people wanting to migrate there, so it has become a police state to handle the immigrants, who are placed into refugee camps. Lowly government bureaucrat Theo Faron, once an activist, is approached by the Fishes, deemed a terrorist group, led by his ex-wife Julian Taylor, whom he hasn't seen in almost 20 years, since their marriage disintegrated after their infant son Dylan's death during the 2008 flu pandemic. Although the Fishes did use terrorist means in their on-going revolution against the state in the fight for immigrant rights, Julian vows that they now garner support solely by speaking to the people, and she wants Theo to use his connections to get transit papers for a young immigrant woman named Kee who needs to get to the coast. Although initially reluctant to do it because of the difficulty, Theo is able to grant Julian this favor, however with the change that he now needs to accompany Kee on her journey. As Theo and Kee progress on that journey, Theo learns more and more about what's going on, including the reason that Kee needs to get to the coast, the fact that no one in the group knows if their end destination even exists, and that his and Kee's lives are in greater danger than he believed when they started the journey. But Theo's sole mission becomes to help Kee at any cost for the survival of the species.

Released: 05 Jan 2007
Genres: Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Rated: R
IMDb: 7.9 / 10
Metascore: 84 / 100
Awards: Nominated for 3 Oscars. 49 wins & 89 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

Women
Men
Not in the cast list
Bigger name, more lines

Theo 252 lines, man
Miriam 108 lines, woman
Kee 90 lines, woman
Jasper 76 lines, man
Luke 64 lines, man
Syd 40 lines, man
Julian 33 lines, woman
Teddy 20 lines, man
Tom 18 lines, man
Marichka 12 lines, woman

Full cast, 79 people

Clive Owen as Theo Faron
Clare-Hope Ashitey as Kee
Chiwetel Ejiofor as Luke
Julianne Moore as Julian
Michael Caine as Jasper
Pam Ferris as Miriam
Charlie Hunnam as Patric
Danny Huston as Nigel
Peter Mullan as Syd
Oana Pellea as Marichka
Jacek Koman as Tomasz
Phaldut Sharma as Ian
Juan Gabriel Yacuzzi as Baby Diego
Mishal Husain as Newsreader
Rob Curling as Newsreader
Maria McErlane as Shirley
Michael Haughey as Mr. Griffiths
Miriam Karlin as Caged German Grandmother
Philippa Urquhart as Janice
Tehmina Sunny as Zara
Jody Halse as Immigration Policeman
Ilario Bisi-Pedro as Cigar Man
Michael Klesic as Rado
Martina Messing as Birgit
Simon Poland as Preacher Trafalgar Square
Barnaby Edwards as Ministry Official
Ed Westwick as Alex
Valerie Griffiths as Dog Track Woman
Billy Cook as Bookmaker
Gary Hoptrough as Simon
Rob Inch as Road Traffic Police
Jamie Kenna as Road Traffic Police
Maurice Lee as Samir
Dhafer L'Abidine as Dhafer
Bruno Ouvrard as Bruno
Denise Mack as Emily
Joy Richardson as Joy
Caroline Lena Olsson as Caroline
Milenka James as Milenka
Somi De Souza as Somi
Francisco Labbe as Francisco
Thorston Manderlay as Thorston
Georgia Goodman as Georgette
Jon Chevalier as Café Customer
Rita Davies as Café Customer
Kim Fenton as Café Customer
Chris Gilbert as Café Customer
Phoebe Hawthorne as Café Customer
Rebecca Howard as Cafe Customer
Atalanta White as Café Customer
Laurence Woodbridge as Café Customer
Dorothy Grumbar as German Bus Passenger
Barry Martin as German Bus Passenger
Ernesto Tomasini as Italian Bus Passenger
Keith Dunphy as Bexhill Immigration Officer
Raymond Trickitt as Bexhill Immigration Officer
Nabil Shaban as Bexhill Market Hustler
Goran Kostić as Bexhill Market Hustler
Dermot O'Neill as One-Legged Hustler
Faruk Pruti as Sirdjan
Alexandre Bestavashvili as Georgian Man
Galina McWhirr as Georgian Woman
Nirmala Martis as Wailing Woman
Ida Church as Bleeding Woman
Yolanda Vazquez as Spanish Woman
Andrew Brooke as Soldier
Nihal Arthanayake as Radio Announcer (voice)
Andy Callaghan as Riot Policeman / Soldier (uncredited)
Forbes KB as Elite Soldier (uncredited)
P. D. James as Café Customer (uncredited)
Jamie Lengyel as First Human Project Professor (uncredited)
João Costa Menezes as Terrorist (uncredited)
Vidal Sancho as Basque Rebel (uncredited)
John Warman as Taxi Driver (uncredited)
Paul Warren as Injured Refugee (uncredited)
Yana Yanezic as Woman (uncredited)
Michael Snelders as Newsreader (uncredited)
Steve Murphy as Soldier (uncredited)
Philip Harvey as Shocked Soldier (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 12% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 131

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	1
4 to 6	0	9
7 to 9	0	25
10 to 12	0	18
13 to 15	0	9
16 to 18	0	5
19 to 21	13	13
22 to 24	15	22
25 to 27	0	0
28 to 30	0	0
31 to 33	0	24
34 to 36	0	32
37 to 39	0	8
40 to 42	0	0
43 to 45	0	0
46 to 48	4	8
49 to 51	29	33
52 to 54	0	0
55 to 57	1	8
58 to 60	17	33
61 to 63	14	15
64 to 66	0	18
67 to 69	4	4
70 to 72	8	17
73 to 75	0	0
76 to 78	0	18
79 to 81	19	47
82 to 84	3	11
85 to 87	9	3
88 to 90	2	12
91 to 93	5	6
94 to 96	2	0
97 to 99	62	10
100 to 102	11	49
103 to 105	9	1
106 to 108	4	13
109 to 111	0	0
112 to 114	0	2
115 to 117	0	0
118 to 120	0	1
121 to 123	6	16
124 to 126	2	1
127 to 129	2	1
130 to 131	10	10

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.

KEE: Why I gotta go with this bloke? Why can't I go with you? MIRIAM: You'll be fine. JULIAN: What do you know about the Human Project?

JULIAN: That's what England wants you to believe, as a pretext to sever ties with them. It's actually the last democracy on earth. MIRIAM: The brightest minds in the world are there working together to find the cause of infertility.

KEE: Go, go, go, go, go! MIRIAM: You have to pull off.

KEE: France, wiffet. Iceland. MIRIAM: Kee may be the clue to cure infertility. The Human Project sent a boat. KEE: Boat called "The Tomorrow." MIRIAM: We were supposed to meet it in the channel.

MIRIAM: Shouldn't be this frequent. She's only in her eight month. Breathe through them. Just breathe. KEE: Can't fuckin' breathe KEE: Miriam ••• I'm all wet. MIRIAM: Her water broke. This baby's coming.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 33 are women's.

251 lines from women, 503 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

25 women and 41 men in the cast. 5 women and 10 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 87 of 859. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 95 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 31% of the words (1,937), men 69% (4,283). Women have 33% 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

Two men

Exhibit F: behind the camera

5 of the 22 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 25% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Alfonso Cuarón (man)
Written by: Timothy J. Sexton (man), David Arata (man), Alfonso Cuarón (man), Mark Fergus (man), Hawk Ostby (man)
From the novel by: P. D. James (woman)
Produced by: Iain Smith (man), Hilary Shor (woman), Tony Smith (man), Pablo Casacuberta (man), Eric Newman (man), Marc Abraham (man)
Shot by: Emmanuel Lubezki (man)
Edited by: Alex Rodríguez (man), Alfonso Cuarón (man)
Music by: John Tavener (man)
Production design by: Jim Clay (man), Geoffrey Kirkland (man)
Costumes by: Jany Temime (woman)
Cast by: Lucinda Syson (woman), Avy Kaufman (woman)