Passes the Bechdel test

Colette

Name: Colette
Released: 2019

2019. Directed by Wash Westmoreland, written by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland and Rebecca Lenkiewicz.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
16 women characters. 13 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 13 scenes out of 184.
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

After marrying successful Parisian writer Henry Gauthier-Villars, known commonly as "Willy" (Dominic West), Gabrielle Colette (Keira Knightley) is transplanted from her childhood home in rural France to the intellectual and artistic splendor of Paris. Soon after, Willy convinces Colette to ghostwrite for him. Colette, in turn, pens a semi-autobiographical novel about a witty and brazen country girl named Claudine, sparking a bestseller and a cultural sensation. After its success, Colette and Willy become the talk of Paris and their adventures inspire additional Claudine novels. Colette's fight over creative ownership and gender roles drives her to overcome societal constraints, revolutionizing literature, fashion and sexual expression.

Released: 09 Jan 2019
Genres: Biography, Drama, History
Rated: R
IMDb: 6.7 / 10
Metascore: 74 / 100
Awards: 1 win & 14 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Colette 379 lines, woman
Willy 370 lines, man
Sido 40 lines, woman
Missy 35 lines, woman
Schwob 35 lines, man
Georgie 30 lines, woman
Ollendorff 21 lines, man
Veber 16 lines, man
Lily 15 lines, woman
Meg 15 lines, woman

Full cast, 44 people

Keira Knightley as Colette
Dominic West as Willy
Denise Gough as Missy
Fiona Shaw as Sido
Robert Pugh as Jules
Eleanor Tomlinson as Georgie Raoul-Duval
Ray Panthaki as Veber
Dickie Beau as Wague
Jake Graf as Gaston De Caillavet
Polina Litvak as Lily
Rebecca Root as Rachilde
Máté Haumann as Count Muffat
Karen Gagnon as Aspiring Actress
Katinka Egres as Hungarian Countess
Alexis Latham as Second Heckler
Attila Árpa as Heckler
Peter Schueller as Reporter
Caroline Boulton as Flossy
Masayoshi Haneda as Baptiste (uncredited)
Scott Alexander Young as Hotel Manager (uncredited)
Julian Wadham as Ollendorff
Al Weaver as Schwob
Aiysha Hart as Polaire
Virág Bárány as Lotte Kinceler
Shannon Tarbet as Meg
Janine Harouni as Jeanne De Caillavet
Johnny K. Palmer as Paul Héon
Arabella Weir as Mme. De Caillavet
Sloan Thompson as Matilde
Kylie Watt as Opera Singer
Joe Geary as Bailiff
István Gyurity as Waiter
Alexandra Szüczs as Second Actress
Mark Griffith as Photographer
Dorcas Coppin as Young Claudine
Nathanaël Bez as Sweetheart
David Delgado Shorter as Passer-by
Nick Scudamore as Priest
Anita Gera as Secret Lover
Csémy Balázs as Posh Heckler (uncredited)
Izzy Bayley-King as Polka Dancer (uncredited)
Peter Sztojanov, Jr. as Waiting Staff (uncredited)
Roderick Hill as Theatre Manager
Karl Farrer as Hero Polka Dancer (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 2% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 184

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 4	7	0
5 to 8	17	13
9 to 12	10	10
13 to 16	2	5
17 to 20	19	20
21 to 24	10	17
25 to 28	2	16
29 to 32	6	15
33 to 36	0	0
37 to 40	1	0
41 to 44	7	9
45 to 48	29	0
49 to 52	15	18
53 to 56	13	24
57 to 60	13	12
61 to 64	22	24
65 to 68	4	6
69 to 72	3	5
73 to 76	2	1
77 to 80	7	18
81 to 84	27	30
85 to 88	7	8
89 to 92	33	19
93 to 96	22	11
97 to 100	3	0
101 to 104	5	0
105 to 108	14	15
109 to 112	21	8
113 to 116	21	19
117 to 120	10	11
121 to 124	0	0
125 to 128	2	12
129 to 132	9	7
133 to 136	29	7
137 to 140	25	7
141 to 144	16	16
145 to 148	9	17
149 to 152	4	8
153 to 156	21	9
157 to 160	2	4
161 to 164	31	16
165 to 168	9	11
169 to 172	14	15
173 to 176	14	21
177 to 180	4	14
181 to 184	5	1

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.

COLETTE: Sido, I’m going for a walk. SIDO: Change your dress first. COLETTE: I’ll stay on the path. SIDO: Change it!

COLETTE: Can I go now? SIDO: Yes. Take this - for blackberries. I’m making a tart tomorrow. And don’t be late back. COLETTE: I won’t...

COLETTE: Pleased to meet you. MME. DE CAILLAVET: Delighted. Well, astonished actually. You have caught the slipperiest eel... How does one do that? COLETTE: I’m not sure... MME. DE CAILLAVET: Where are you from, you sweet thing?

SIDO: You must eat something. COLETTE: I’m not hungry. SIDO: You’re always hungry. Gabrielle... you’re not..? {pregnant} COLETTE: No. I’ll eat later.

JEANNE: I think we’ve been introduced but... I don’t remember that name. COLETTE: It’s new - in a manner of speaking. JEANNE: Well then, I will think of this as our first meeting.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 52 are women's.

546 lines from women, 499 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

16 women and 18 men in the cast. 13 women and 17 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 3 of 1,064. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 16 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 46% of the words (4,776), men 54% (5,578). 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

Two men

Exhibit F: behind the camera

7 of the 17 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 41% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Wash Westmoreland (man)
Written by: Wash Westmoreland (man), Richard Glatzer (man), Rebecca Lenkiewicz (woman)
Story by: Richard Glatzer (man)
Produced by: Elizabeth Karlsen (woman), Christine Vachon (woman), Pamela Koffler (woman), Stephen Woolley (man), Michel Litvak (man), Gary Michael Walters (man)
Shot by: Giles Nuttgens (man)
Edited by: Lucia Zucchetti (woman)
Music by: Thomas Adès (man)
Production design by: Michael Carlin (man)
Costumes by: Andrea Flesch (woman)
Cast by: Susie Figgis (woman)