Fails the Bechdel test
Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist
2005. Directed by Paul Schrader, written by William Wisher and Caleb Carr.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
0 / 3
Fails
-
No
1. At least two women
Fewer than two women characters. -
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
Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.
The film
Lankester Merrin haunts an active archaeological site in post-war Kenya, desperate to outrun the memory of Nazi-mandated atrocities. The discovery of a pristine Byzantine church, buried centuries before its time, triggers a slow rot within the surrounding village. Local tensions boil over as a young priest and a haunted doctor witness the physical manifestations of an ancient, gathering malice. Merrin stands in the center of the storm, trading his lost priesthood for a shovel while the earth itself begins to bleed.
- Released
- 01 Aug 2005
- Genres
- Drama, Horror, Thriller
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 5.1 / 10
- Metascore
- 55 / 100
- Awards
- 3 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Merrin 247 lines, man
- Francis 105 lines, man
- Rachel 90 lines, woman
- Cheche/Satan 59 lines, man
- Sergeant-Major 49 lines
- Granville 46 lines, man
- Chuma 36 lines, man
- Cheche 33 lines, man
- Kessel 20 lines, man
- Emekwi 15 lines, man
Full cast, 28 people
- Stellan Skarsgård as Father Lankester Merrin
- Clara Bellar as Rachel Lesno
- Gabriel Mann as Father Francis
- Billy Crawford as Cheche
- Julian Wadham as Major Granville
- Andrew French as Chuma
- Ralph Brown as Sergeant Major
- Israel Aduramo as Jomo
- Ilario Bisi-Pedro as Sebituana
- Burt Caesar as Dr. Lamu
- Evelyn Duah as Mara
- Rick Warden as Caporal Williams
- Antonie Kamerling as Lieutenant Kessel
- Eddie Osei as Emekwi
- Niall Refoy as Corporal (Thief)
- Lorenzo Camporese as Private (Thief)
- Marcello Santoni as Dutch Farmer
- Griet van Damme as Teenage Dutch Girl
- Simon McLinden as Caporal
- Pet Chege as Sebituana's Wife
- Hamadi Mwapachu as Convulsive Worker
- Michele Mariotti as German Sergeant
- Ben Meyjes as Soldier #2
- Oliver Maltman as Soldier #3
- Omari Carter as James
- Nick Komornicki as Gun-Firing Soldier
- Mary Beth Hurt as Pazuzu (voice) (uncredited)
- Adrian Black as Joseph
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 9% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 80
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 2 | 0 | 42 |
| 3 to 4 | 0 | 32 |
| 5 to 6 | 0 | 10 |
| 7 to 8 | 0 | 14 |
| 9 to 10 | 8 | 17 |
| 11 to 12 | 0 | 8 |
| 13 to 14 | 17 | 11 |
| 15 to 16 | 0 | 2 |
| 17 to 18 | 0 | 10 |
| 19 to 20 | 10 | 11 |
| 21 to 22 | 0 | 14 |
| 23 to 24 | 0 | 9 |
| 25 to 26 | 0 | 0 |
| 27 to 28 | 2 | 2 |
| 29 to 30 | 0 | 0 |
| 31 to 32 | 0 | 7 |
| 33 to 34 | 0 | 5 |
| 35 to 36 | 0 | 1 |
| 37 to 38 | 0 | 26 |
| 39 to 40 | 13 | 20 |
| 41 to 42 | 1 | 27 |
| 43 to 44 | 0 | 14 |
| 45 to 46 | 0 | 5 |
| 47 to 48 | 0 | 2 |
| 49 to 50 | 0 | 9 |
| 51 to 52 | 5 | 13 |
| 53 to 54 | 4 | 28 |
| 55 to 56 | 2 | 6 |
| 57 to 58 | 0 | 0 |
| 59 to 60 | 1 | 11 |
| 61 to 62 | 2 | 4 |
| 63 to 64 | 1 | 5 |
| 65 to 66 | 0 | 22 |
| 67 to 68 | 1 | 22 |
| 69 to 70 | 0 | 16 |
| 71 to 72 | 6 | 80 |
| 73 to 74 | 0 | 12 |
| 75 to 76 | 9 | 12 |
| 77 to 78 | 2 | 54 |
| 79 to 80 | 7 | 12 |
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, 13 are women's.
91 lines from women, 595 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
4 women and 17 men in the cast. 1 women and 13 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 107 of 756.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 106 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 15% of the words (1,644), men 85% (9,387). Women have 13% of the lines, so their lines run longer than men's.
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
56
Exhibit E: behind the camera
1 of the 13 people in these jobs is a woman.
Across the whole crew, 16% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Paul Schrader (man)
- Written by
- Caleb Carr (man), William Wisher (man)
- Produced by
- James G. Robinson (man)
- Shot by
- Vittorio Storaro (man)
- Edited by
- Tim Silano (man), William Yeh (man)
- Music by
- Angelo Badalamenti (man), Dog Fashion Disco (gender not listed), Trevor Rabin (man)
- Production design by
- John Graysmark (man)
- Costumes by
- Luke Reichle (man)
- Cast by
- Pam Dixon (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 10 men, 7 not listed
-
Visual Effects
0 women, 5 men, 12 not listed
-
Art
4 women, 6 men, 6 not listed
-
Sound
1 women, 10 men, 4 not listed
-
Production
1 women, 6 men, 1 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 1 men, 6 not listed
-
Directing
2 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 3 men, 3 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 32 on average. Men: 43 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Clara Bellar 32
Men
Billy Crawford 23, Gabriel Mann 33, Israel Aduramo 36, Julian Wadham 46, Ralph Brown 47, Stellan Skarsgård 53, Ilario Bisi-Pedro 66
Exhibit G: the money
It made 1% of what it cost.
- Budget
- $30 million
- Box office
- $251,495
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 80 scenes and 756 lines of dialogue. How the test works
