Fails the Bechdel test
Conclave
2024. Directed by Edward Berger, written by Peter Straughan and Robert Harris.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
2 women characters. 1 of them speak. -
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 0 out of 3.
The film
Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) is tasked with running this covert process after the unexpected death of the beloved Pope. Once the Catholic Church's most powerful leaders have gathered from around the world and are locked together in the Vatican halls, Lawrence uncovers a trail of deep secrets left in the dead Pope's wake--secrets which could shake the foundations of the Church.
- Released
- 25 Oct 2024
- Genres
- Drama, Thriller
- Rated
- PG
- IMDb
- 7.4 / 10
- Metascore
- 79 / 100
- Awards
- Won 1 Oscar. 95 wins & 327 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Lawrence 280 lines, man
- Bellini 76 lines, man
- Benitez 52 lines, man
- Tremblay 45 lines, man
- Adeyemi 29 lines, man
- Monsignor O'Malley 28 lines, man
- Archbishop Wozniak 18 lines, man
- Cardinal Sabbadin 17 lines, man
- Lawrence Lawrence 15 lines, man
- Sister Agnes 14 lines, woman
Full cast, 24 people
- Ralph Fiennes as Lawrence
- Stanley Tucci as Bellini
- John Lithgow as Tremblay
- Isabella Rossellini as Sister Agnes
- Lucian Msamati as Adeyemi
- Carlos Diehz as Benitez
- Sergio Castellitto as Tedesco
- Brían F. O'Byrne as O'Malley
- Merab Ninidze as Sabbadin
- Thomas Loibl as Mandorff
- Jacek Koman as Wozniak
- Bruno Novelli as Dead Pope
- Rony Kramer as Mendoza
- Valerio Da Silva as Father Haas
- Joseph Mydell as Nakitanda
- Vincenzo Failla as Guttoso
- Garrick Hagon as Krasinski
- Madhav Sharma as Landolfi
- Loris Loddi as Villanueva
- Roberto Citran as Lombardi
- Antonio Toma as Jr. Cardinal-Deacon Guerrini
- Balkissa Souley Maiga as Sister Shanumi
- Romuald Kłos as Brotzkus
- Willie Jonah as Lowenstein
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 160
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 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 to 8 | 0 | 2 |
| 9 to 12 | 0 | 43 |
| 13 to 16 | 0 | 9 |
| 17 to 20 | 0 | 33 |
| 21 to 24 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 to 28 | 0 | 33 |
| 29 to 32 | 1 | 5 |
| 33 to 36 | 0 | 29 |
| 37 to 40 | 0 | 47 |
| 41 to 44 | 0 | 29 |
| 45 to 48 | 0 | 26 |
| 49 to 52 | 0 | 10 |
| 53 to 56 | 2 | 18 |
| 57 to 60 | 0 | 1 |
| 61 to 64 | 0 | 3 |
| 65 to 68 | 0 | 1 |
| 69 to 72 | 0 | 9 |
| 73 to 76 | 0 | 14 |
| 77 to 80 | 0 | 27 |
| 81 to 84 | 0 | 12 |
| 85 to 88 | 0 | 13 |
| 89 to 92 | 0 | 7 |
| 93 to 96 | 4 | 25 |
| 97 to 100 | 3 | 28 |
| 101 to 104 | 0 | 13 |
| 105 to 108 | 0 | 26 |
| 109 to 112 | 3 | 25 |
| 113 to 116 | 0 | 17 |
| 117 to 120 | 0 | 0 |
| 121 to 124 | 0 | 22 |
| 125 to 128 | 4 | 25 |
| 129 to 132 | 0 | 8 |
| 133 to 136 | 0 | 17 |
| 137 to 140 | 0 | 0 |
| 141 to 144 | 0 | 2 |
| 145 to 148 | 0 | 19 |
| 149 to 152 | 0 | 28 |
| 153 to 156 | 0 | 0 |
| 157 to 160 | 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, 3 are women's.
17 lines from women, 627 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
2 women and 20 men in the cast. 1 women and 24 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 125 of 655.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 164 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 3% of the words (267), men 97% (8,894).
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
53
Exhibit E: behind the camera
6 of the 14 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 30% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Edward Berger (man)
- Written by
- Peter Straughan (man)
- Produced by
- Tessa Ross (woman), Alice Dawson (woman), Juliette Howell (woman), Michael Jackman (man), Robert Harris (man)
- Shot by
- Stéphane Fontaine (man)
- Edited by
- Nick Emerson (man)
- Music by
- Volker Bertelmann (man)
- Production design by
- Suzie Davies (woman)
- Costumes by
- Lisy Christl (woman)
- Cast by
- Nina Gold (woman), Martin Ware (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
10 women, 18 men, 24 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
2 women, 2 men, 26 not listed
-
Sound
2 women, 11 men, 15 not listed
-
Art
3 women, 2 men, 22 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 3 men, 18 not listed
-
Other crew
2 women, 4 men, 12 not listed
-
Lighting
0 women, 0 men, 18 not listed
-
Visual Effects
2 women, 3 men, 8 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 72 on average. Men: 61 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Isabella Rossellini 72
Men
Lucian Msamati 48, Carlos Diehz 53, Thomas Loibl 55, Brían F. O'Byrne 57, Merab Ninidze 58, Ralph Fiennes 61, Stanley Tucci 63, Sergio Castellitto 71, John Lithgow 79
Exhibit G: the money
It made 5.8 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $20 million
- Box office
- $116 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 160 scenes and 655 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
