Passes the Bechdel test
Doctor Zhivago
1965. Directed by David Lean, written by Boris Pasternak and Robert Bolt.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
13 women characters. 9 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 1 scene out of 148. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In that scene, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.
The film
During the Russian Revolution, Dr. Yuri Zhivago (Omar Sharif) is a young doctor who has been raised by his aunt and uncle following his father's suicide. Yuri falls in love with beautiful Lara Guishar (Julie Christie), who has been having an affair with her mother's lover, Victor Komarovsky (Rod Steiger), an unscrupulous businessman. Yuri, however, ends up marrying his cousin, Tonya (Geraldine Chaplin). But when he and Lara meet again years later, the spark of love reignites.
- Released
- 31 Dec 1965
- Genres
- Drama, Romance, War
- Rated
- Approved
- IMDb
- 7.9 / 10
- Metascore
- 69 / 100
- Awards
- Won 5 Oscars. 22 wins & 13 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Yuri 167 lines, man
- Lara 105 lines, woman
- Komarovsky 66 lines, man
- Pasha 45 lines, man
- Tonya 33 lines, woman
- Yevgraf 30 lines, man
- Alexander 27 lines, man
- Medical Professor 22 lines, man
- Anna 18 lines, woman
- Kostoyed 11 lines, man
Full cast, 42 people
- Omar Sharif as Dr. Yuri Zhivago
- Julie Christie as Lara Antipova
- Geraldine Chaplin as Tonya Gromeko
- Rod Steiger as Viktor Komarovsky
- Alec Guinness as Gen. Yevgraf Zhivago
- Tom Courtenay as Pasha Antipov / Strelnikov
- Siobhán McKenna as Anna
- Ralph Richardson as Alexander Gromeko
- Rita Tushingham as The Girl
- Adrienne Corri as Amelia
- Bernard Kay as The Bolshevik
- Geoffrey Keen as Medical Professor
- Klaus Kinski as Kostoyed Amourski
- Jeffrey Rockland as Sasha
- Gérard Tichy as Liberius
- Noel Willman as Razin, Liberius' Lieutenant
- Tarek Sharif as Yuri at 8 Years Old
- Jack MacGowran as Petya
- Mark Eden as Engineer at dam
- Erik Chitty as Sergei (Old Soldier)
- Roger Maxwell as Beef-Faced Colonel
- Wolf Frees as Delegate
- Gwen Nelson as Female Janitor
- Lucy Westmore as Katya
- Lili Muráti as The Train Jumper
- Peter Madden as Political Officer
- Luana Alcañiz as Mrs. Sventytski (uncredited)
- Emilio Carrer as Mr. Sventytski (uncredited)
- José María Caffarel as Militiaman (uncredited)
- Catherine Ellison as Raped Woman (uncredited)
- Víctor Israel as Hospital Inmate (uncredited)
- Inigo Jackson as Major (uncredited)
- Leo Lähteenmäki as Siberian Husband (uncredited)
- María Martín as Gentlewoman (uncredited)
- José Nieto as Priest (uncredited)
- Ricardo Palacios as Extra (uncredited)
- Ingrid Pitt as Extra (uncredited)
- Robert Rietti as Kostoyed (voice) (uncredited)
- Virgílio Teixeira as Captain (uncredited)
- María Vico as Demented Woman (uncredited)
- Pilar Gómez Ferrer as (uncredited)
- Aldo Sambrell as (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 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 148
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 | 14 |
| 5 to 8 | 27 | 31 |
| 9 to 12 | 6 | 3 |
| 13 to 16 | 1 | 3 |
| 17 to 20 | 19 | 15 |
| 21 to 24 | 9 | 57 |
| 25 to 28 | 8 | 21 |
| 29 to 32 | 0 | 6 |
| 33 to 36 | 9 | 14 |
| 37 to 40 | 27 | 53 |
| 41 to 44 | 3 | 15 |
| 45 to 48 | 0 | 10 |
| 49 to 52 | 0 | 0 |
| 53 to 56 | 0 | 0 |
| 57 to 60 | 0 | 0 |
| 61 to 64 | 0 | 0 |
| 65 to 68 | 3 | 6 |
| 69 to 72 | 3 | 6 |
| 73 to 76 | 1 | 37 |
| 77 to 80 | 1 | 16 |
| 81 to 84 | 10 | 8 |
| 85 to 88 | 10 | 12 |
| 89 to 92 | 5 | 16 |
| 93 to 96 | 1 | 1 |
| 97 to 100 | 0 | 12 |
| 101 to 104 | 0 | 1 |
| 105 to 108 | 1 | 4 |
| 109 to 112 | 9 | 6 |
| 113 to 116 | 9 | 20 |
| 117 to 120 | 6 | 6 |
| 121 to 124 | 0 | 1 |
| 125 to 128 | 6 | 2 |
| 129 to 132 | 1 | 21 |
| 133 to 136 | 0 | 0 |
| 137 to 140 | 3 | 9 |
| 141 to 144 | 3 | 5 |
| 145 to 148 | 2 | 6 |
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: the passing scene
The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.
LARA -: What are you thinking about? LARA: Now 1ou're thinking.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 30 are women's.
190 lines from women, 437 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
13 women and 26 men in the cast. 9 women and 19 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 3 of 715.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 49 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 32% of the words (3,095), men 68% (6,720). Women have 30% of the lines, so their lines run longer 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
4
Two men
52
Exhibit F: behind the camera
2 of the 10 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 8% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- David Lean (man)
- Written by
- Robert Bolt (man)
- From the novel by
- Boris Pasternak (man)
- Produced by
- Carlo Ponti (man)
- Shot by
- Freddie Young (man)
- Edited by
- Norman Savage (man)
- Music by
- Maurice Jarre (man)
- Production design by
- John Box (man)
- Costumes by
- Phyllis Dalton (woman)
- Cast by
- Irene Howard (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Art
0 women, 8 men, 2 not listed
-
Production
1 women, 4 men, 3 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 6 men, 2 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 5 men, 2 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 5 men
-
Costume & Make-Up
2 women, 0 men, 2 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 2 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 29 on average. Men: 43 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Geraldine Chaplin 21, Rita Tushingham 23, Julie Christie 25, Adrienne Corri 35, Siobhán McKenna 43
Men
Tom Courtenay 28, Omar Sharif 33, Rod Steiger 40, Alec Guinness 51, Ralph Richardson 63
Exhibit H: the money
It made 10.2 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $11 million
- Box office
- $112 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 148 scenes and 715 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
