Passes the Bechdel test

Denial

Name: Denial
Released: 2016

2016. Directed by Mick Jackson, written by Deborah Lipstadt and David Hare.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
15 women characters. 13 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 6 scenes out of 158.
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

Based on the acclaimed book "History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier," DENIAL recounts Deborah E. Lipstadt's (Academy Award winner Rachel Weisz) legal battle for historical truth against David Irving (Cannes Award winner Timothy Spall), who accused her of libel when she declared him a Holocaust denier. In the English legal system in Defamation, the burden of proof is on the accused, therefore it was up to Lipstadt and her legal team to prove the essential truth that the Holocaust occurred. Also starring two-time Academy Award nominee Tom Wilkinson, the film is directed by Emmy Award winner Mick Jackson ("Temple Grandin") and adapted for the screen by BAFTA and Academy Award nominated writer David Hare (THE READER). Produced by Gary Foster and Russ Krasnoff.

Released: 21 Oct 2016
Genres: Biography, Drama
Rated: PG-13
IMDb: 6.8 / 10
Metascore: 63 / 100
Awards: Nominated for 1 BAFTA Award. 7 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Deborah 219 lines, woman
Rampton 114 lines, man
Julius 93 lines, man
Irving 78 lines, man
Robert Jan 21 lines, man
Er 20 lines
Laura 18 lines, woman
Libby 18 lines, woman
Libson 18 lines, man
Gray 12 lines, man

Full cast, 40 people

Rachel Weisz as Deborah Lipstadt
Tom Wilkinson as Richard Rampton
Timothy Spall as David Irving
Andrew Scott as Anthony Julius
Jack Lowden as James Libson
Caren Pistorius as Laura Tyler
Alex Jennings as Sir Charles Gray
Harriet Walter as Vera Reich
Mark Gatiss as Professor Robert Jan van Pelt
John Sessions as Prof. Richard Evans
Nikki Amuka-Bird as Libby Holbrook
Pip Carter as Anthony Forbes-Watson
Jackie Clune as Heather Rogers
Will Attenborough as Thomas Skelton Robinson
Max Befort as Nik Wachsman
Daniel Cerqueira as Sam Glass
Laurel Lefkow as Storm Glass
Elliot Levey as Roger Levy
Helen Bradbury as Rachel Levy
Jacob Krichefski as Rabbi Brenner
Abigail Cruttenden as Janine Stone
Hilton McRae as Judge John Trench
Andrea Deck as Leonie
Lachele Carl as Gloria
Edward Franklin as Simon
Sally Messham as Meg
Sean Power as Mitch
Tom Clarke Hill as Sam Dixon
Amber Batty as Kate Kelland
Paul Hunter as Judge's Clerk
Amanda Lawrence as Court Usher
Ziggy Heath as Gerald
Todd Boyce as Reporter
Sara Powell as Reporter
Nicholas Tennant as Angry Man
Jeremy Paxman as Himself (Archive Footage)
Paul Bailey as Paralegal #1 (uncredited)
Laura Evelyn as Maureen
Ian Bartholomew as TV Historian
Luigi Boccanfuso as Neo Nazi

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 7% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 158

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	3
5 to 8	3	0
9 to 12	5	0
13 to 16	9	7
17 to 20	1	1
21 to 24	8	0
25 to 28	3	5
29 to 32	7	7
33 to 36	15	0
37 to 40	20	20
41 to 44	1	14
45 to 48	28	38
49 to 52	8	7
53 to 56	13	18
57 to 60	3	0
61 to 64	11	22
65 to 68	1	0
69 to 72	27	36
73 to 76	2	8
77 to 80	4	8
81 to 84	14	10
85 to 88	7	5
89 to 92	5	28
93 to 96	17	23
97 to 100	2	0
101 to 104	8	1
105 to 108	1	13
109 to 112	11	26
113 to 116	6	15
117 to 120	3	0
121 to 124	3	40
125 to 128	10	13
129 to 132	9	4
133 to 136	4	5
137 to 140	1	0
141 to 144	3	3
145 to 148	8	5
149 to 152	2	3
153 to 156	0	0
157 to 158	0	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.

DEBORAH: I do a lot of these events, so I have quite a clear idea how best to DEBORAH: I took the liberty of calling a couple of local papers for coverage. Mia Daniels, Grant from GLORIA: Oh good. We were going to do that. You’re one step ahead.

GLORIA: Can I help? t St DEBORAH: You’re going to laugh, sorry, but I’ve got a system. It works for me.

DEBORAH: I don’t, it’s true. Like I don’t talk to people who say Elvis is alive. MEG: Talking to people you don’t agree with, that’s democracy, isn’t it? It’s supposed to be a free country. MEG: They’ve an opinion. So have you. It’s cowardly not to talk to them. DEBORAH: You calling me a coward?

RACHEL: I don’t know. Sometimes I wonder if this is worth doing. DEBORAH: Is what worth doing? DEBORAH: Are you crazy? Look at the kids. Look at their faces. RACHEL: And when we’re gone?

DEBORAH: Horror? More like disbelief. More like fury. A court of law has to be a lousy place to judge history. LAURA: They say: ‘My God, are you serious? You sit down in a court and some pompous English judge rules on DEBORAH: Yeah, and let’s think about this: what happens if we lose? We lose and what? Suddenly it’s respectable - it’s legal - to say the Holocaust LAURA: But the wonderful thing is, you

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 42 are women's.

283 lines from women, 388 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

15 women and 23 men in the cast. 13 women and 19 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 9 of 721. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 35 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 35% of the words (2,721), men 65% (5,029). Women have 42% 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

3 of the 11 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 30% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Mick Jackson (man)
Written by: David Hare (man)
Produced by: Gary Foster (man), Russ Krasnoff (man), Marta Habior (gender not listed)
Shot by: Haris Zambarloukos (man)
Edited by: Justine Wright (woman)
Music by: Howard Shore (man)
Production design by: Andrew McAlpine (man)
Costumes by: Odile Dicks-Mireaux (woman)
Cast by: Dixie Chassay (woman)