Passes the Bechdel test
Cold Mountain
2003. Directed by Anthony Minghella, written by Charles Frazier and Anthony Minghella.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
12 women characters. 11 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 10 scenes out of 202. -
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
This Civil War saga addresses romance, friendship, and the ravages of war - both in the field and on the home front. Captures the horrors of war for both those fighting it, and for those left behind. This is a tale of hope, longing, redemption, second chances, and faith.
- Released
- 25 Dec 2003
- Genres
- Adventure, Drama, Romance
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.2 / 10
- Metascore
- 73 / 100
- Awards
- Won 1 Oscar. 20 wins & 101 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Ada 192 lines, woman
- Inman 155 lines, man
- Ruby 146 lines, woman
- Stobrod 61 lines, man
- Teague 58 lines, man
- Veasey 55 lines, man
- Sara 27 lines, woman
- Maddy 26 lines, woman
- Sally 25 lines, woman
- Monroe 24 lines
Full cast, 48 people
- Jude Law as Inman
- Nicole Kidman as Ada Monroe
- Renée Zellweger as Ruby Thewes
- Eileen Atkins as Maddy
- Brendan Gleeson as Stobrod Thewes
- Philip Seymour Hoffman as Reverend Veasey
- Natalie Portman as Sara
- Giovanni Ribisi as Junior
- Donald Sutherland as Reverend Monroe
- Ray Winstone as Teague
- Kathy Baker as Sally Swanger
- James Gammon as Esco Swanger
- Charlie Hunnam as Bosie
- Jack White as Georgia
- Ethan Suplee as Pangle
- Jena Malone as Ferry Girl
- Melora Walters as Lila
- Lucas Black as Oakley
- Taryn Manning as Shyla
- Tom Aldredge as Blind Man
- James Rebhorn as Doctor
- Emily Deschanel as Mrs. Morgan
- Robin Mullins as Mrs. Castlereagh
- Ben Allison as Rourke
- Trey Howell as Butcher
- Alex Hassell as Orderly
- Jay Tavare as Swimmer
- William Boyer as Confederate Officer
- Christopher Fennell as Acton Swanger
- Erik Smith as Ellis Swanger
- Cillian Murphy as Bardolph
- Richard Brake as Nym
- Seán Gleeson as Pistol
- Rasool J'Han as Rebecca
- Hank Stone as Brown
- Mark Jeffrey Miller as Sheffield
- Afemo Omilami as Joshua
- Chet Dixon as Veasey Town Guard
- Jamie Lee as Guard
- Jen Apgar as Dolly
- Katherine Durio as Mae
- Martin Pemberton as Mo
- Leonard Woodcock as Jo
- William Roberts as Grayling
- Dean Whitworth as Barber
- Kristen Nicole LaPrade as Grace Inman
- Max Minghella as Young Confederate Soldier (uncredited)
- Christopher Blackmore as Runaway Slave (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 5 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 5% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 202
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 5 | 0 | 7 |
| 6 to 10 | 0 | 4 |
| 11 to 15 | 0 | 7 |
| 16 to 20 | 13 | 31 |
| 21 to 25 | 17 | 9 |
| 26 to 30 | 3 | 9 |
| 31 to 35 | 4 | 3 |
| 36 to 40 | 10 | 12 |
| 41 to 45 | 11 | 0 |
| 46 to 50 | 15 | 10 |
| 51 to 55 | 1 | 0 |
| 56 to 60 | 2 | 14 |
| 61 to 65 | 0 | 2 |
| 66 to 70 | 38 | 7 |
| 71 to 75 | 11 | 1 |
| 76 to 80 | 11 | 0 |
| 81 to 85 | 2 | 22 |
| 86 to 90 | 14 | 16 |
| 91 to 95 | 28 | 21 |
| 96 to 100 | 14 | 42 |
| 101 to 105 | 26 | 15 |
| 106 to 110 | 3 | 0 |
| 111 to 115 | 20 | 7 |
| 116 to 120 | 1 | 18 |
| 121 to 125 | 18 | 7 |
| 126 to 130 | 36 | 23 |
| 131 to 135 | 2 | 0 |
| 136 to 140 | 22 | 12 |
| 141 to 145 | 12 | 20 |
| 146 to 150 | 19 | 4 |
| 151 to 155 | 5 | 8 |
| 156 to 160 | 0 | 0 |
| 161 to 165 | 0 | 10 |
| 166 to 170 | 0 | 66 |
| 171 to 175 | 7 | 0 |
| 176 to 180 | 13 | 0 |
| 181 to 185 | 6 | 3 |
| 186 to 190 | 40 | 21 |
| 191 to 195 | 11 | 16 |
| 196 to 200 | 1 | 12 |
| 201 to 202 | 8 | 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.
ADA: I don't know. SALLY: I tried many a time, never saw a dickybird. SALLY: You all right? ADA: Yesterday I found myself crouched over a well like a mad woman, which I suppose I have become
RUBY: Ada? Ada? You up? ADA: Yes. It's still dark. RUBY: Tell the cows that. It's late.
ADA: I have to eat something. RUBY: Then you have to get up earlier. What's that? ADA: A novel. RUBY: You want to carry a book carry one you can write in --
RUBY: Number Two: patch the shingles on the barn roof. Do we have a maul and froe? ADA: Maul? RUBY: M-a-u-l. ADA: I have no idea.
RUBY: Number fifteen ADA: Sixteen. RUBY: Number sixteen: let's get a martin colony going in the Gourd House. Keep away crows. You got one thing in abundance on this farm and that's … ADA: What's a Gourd House?
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 49 are women's.
444 lines from women, 459 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
12 women and 31 men in the cast. 11 women and 23 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 34 of 946.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 76 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 49% of the words (4,732), men 51% (4,894).
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
42
Two men
37
Exhibit F: behind the camera
2 of the 13 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 38% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Anthony Minghella (man)
- Written by
- Anthony Minghella (man)
- From the novel by
- Charles Frazier (man)
- Produced by
- William Horberg (man), Sydney Pollack (man)
- Shot by
- John Seale (man)
- Edited by
- Walter Murch (man)
- Music by
- Gabriel Yared (man)
- Production design by
- Dante Ferretti (man)
- Costumes by
- Carlo Poggioli (man), Ann Roth (woman)
- Cast by
- Ronna Kress (woman), David Rubin (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Costume & Make-Up
26 women, 10 men, 27 not listed
-
Art
9 women, 14 men, 27 not listed
-
Production
13 women, 14 men, 16 not listed
-
Camera
2 women, 12 men, 25 not listed
-
Other crew
1 women, 10 men, 23 not listed
-
Lighting
0 women, 5 men, 19 not listed
-
Sound
1 women, 15 men, 5 not listed
-
Directing
2 women, 3 men, 3 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 40 on average. Men: 43 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Natalie Portman 22, Renée Zellweger 34, Nicole Kidman 36, Eileen Atkins 69
Men
Giovanni Ribisi 29, Jude Law 30, Philip Seymour Hoffman 36, Ray Winstone 46, Brendan Gleeson 48, Donald Sutherland 68
Exhibit H: the money
It made 2.2 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $79 million
- Box office
- $173 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 202 scenes and 946 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
