Passes the Bechdel test
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
2007. Directed by Shekhar Kapur, written by William Nicholson and Michael Hirst.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
20 women characters. 8 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 6 scenes out of 168. -
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
Two faiths, two empires, two rulers - colliding in 1588. Papist Spain wants to bring down the heretic Elizabeth. Philip is building an armada but needs a rationale to attack. With covert intrigue, Spain sets a trap for the Queen and her principal secretary, Walsingham, using as a pawn Elizabeth's cousin Mary Stuart, who's under house arrest in the North. The trap springs, and the armada sets sail, to rendezvous with French ground forces and to attack. During these months, the Virgin Queen falls in love with Walter Raleigh, keeping him close to court and away from the sea and America. Is treachery or heroism at his heart? Does loneliness await her passionate majesty?
- Released
- 12 Oct 2007
- Genres
- Biography, Drama, History
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 6.8 / 10
- Metascore
- 45 / 100
- Awards
- Won 1 Oscar. 8 wins & 33 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Elizabeth 208 lines, woman
- Raleigh 136 lines, man
- Bess 71 lines, woman
- Walsingham 64 lines, man
- Mary 38 lines, woman
- Paulet 19 lines, man
- Reston 17 lines, man
- Dee 16 lines, man
- Hatton 15 lines, man
- William 15 lines, man
Full cast, 65 people
- Cate Blanchett as Elizabeth I, Queen of England
- Laurence Fox as Sir Christopher Hatton
- Clive Owen as Sir Walter Raleigh
- Geoffrey Rush as Sir Francis Walsingham
- Tom Hollander as Amyas Paulet
- Abbie Cornish as Elizabeth Throckmorton
- Rhys Ifans as Robert Reston
- Samantha Morton as Mary, Queen of Scots
- Jordi Mollà as King Philip II of Spain
- Eddie Redmayne as Anthony Babington
- Adrian Scarborough as Calley
- Adam Godley as William Walsingham
- Robert Cambrinus as Count Georg von Helfenstein
- Christian Brassington as Archduke Charles
- David Threlfall as Dr. John Dee
- Vidal Sancho as Spanish Minister
- John Shrapnel as Lord Howard
- Sam Spruell as Torturer
- Kelly Hunter as Ursula Walsingham
- David Sterne as Cellarman
- David Robb as Admiral Sir William Winter
- Jonathan Bailey as Courtier
- Steve Lately as Walsingham's Servant
- Kate Fleetwood as Woman with Baby
- Aimee King as Infanta Isabel of Spain
- Susan Lynch as Annette
- Kristin Coulter Smith as Mary Walsingham
- Hayley Burroughs as Queen Elizabeth's Waiting Lady #1
- Kirsty McKay as Queen Elizabeth's Waiting Lady #2
- Lucia Ruck Keene as Queen Elizabeth's Waiting Lady #3
- William Houston as Don Gerau De Spes
- Lucienne Venisse-Back as Queen Elizabeth's Waiting Lady #4
- Elise McCave as Laundry Woman
- Penelope McGhie as Margaret
- Coral Beed as First Court Lady
- Rosalind Halstead as Second Court Lady
- Steven Loton as Manteo
- Martin Baron as Wanchese
- David Armand as Walsingham's Agent
- Steven Robertson as Sir Francis Throckmorton
- Jeremy Barker as Ramsey
- George Innes as Burton
- Kirstin Smith as Mary Walsingham
- Tim Preece as Old Throckmorton
- Benjamin May as Dance Master
- Glenn Doherty as Royal Servant
- Chris Brailsford as Dean of Peterborough
- Dave Legeno as Executioner
- Antony Carrick as Spanish Archbishop
- John Atterbury as Marriage Priest
- Alex Giannini as First Spanish Officer
- Joe Ferrara as Second Spanish Officer
- Alexander Barnes as Courtier
- Charles Bruce as Courtier
- Jeremy Cracknell as Courtier
- Benedict Green as Courtier
- Adam Smith as Courtier
- Simon Stratton as Courtier
- Crispin Swayne as Courtier
- Kitty Fox as Mary Stuart's Lady in Waiting
- Kate Lindesay as Mary Stuart's Lady in Waiting
- Katherine Templar as Mary Stuart's Lady in Waiting
- Morne Botes as Courtier (uncredited)
- Finn Morrell as Young Boy (uncredited)
- Shane Nolan as Tyger Salior (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 10% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 168
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 | 1 | 1 |
| 5 to 8 | 5 | 9 |
| 9 to 12 | 15 | 12 |
| 13 to 16 | 4 | 8 |
| 17 to 20 | 14 | 8 |
| 21 to 24 | 5 | 16 |
| 25 to 28 | 30 | 45 |
| 29 to 32 | 54 | 30 |
| 33 to 36 | 1 | 6 |
| 37 to 40 | 23 | 14 |
| 41 to 44 | 7 | 0 |
| 45 to 48 | 7 | 8 |
| 49 to 52 | 10 | 6 |
| 53 to 56 | 12 | 9 |
| 57 to 60 | 17 | 14 |
| 61 to 64 | 7 | 12 |
| 65 to 68 | 4 | 0 |
| 69 to 72 | 11 | 15 |
| 73 to 76 | 12 | 17 |
| 77 to 80 | 1 | 17 |
| 81 to 84 | 8 | 15 |
| 85 to 88 | 14 | 2 |
| 89 to 92 | 9 | 6 |
| 93 to 96 | 3 | 1 |
| 97 to 100 | 0 | 2 |
| 101 to 104 | 15 | 14 |
| 105 to 108 | 11 | 9 |
| 109 to 112 | 5 | 11 |
| 113 to 116 | 13 | 5 |
| 117 to 120 | 4 | 7 |
| 121 to 124 | 0 | 1 |
| 125 to 128 | 2 | 4 |
| 129 to 132 | 1 | 8 |
| 133 to 136 | 3 | 0 |
| 137 to 140 | 0 | 2 |
| 141 to 144 | 0 | 3 |
| 145 to 148 | 1 | 2 |
| 149 to 152 | 0 | 0 |
| 153 to 156 | 0 | 3 |
| 157 to 160 | 0 | 0 |
| 161 to 164 | 1 | 0 |
| 165 to 168 | 9 | 11 |
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.
ELIZABETH: Isn't it customary to obtain a BESS: Not too soon, my lady.
ELIZABETH: Lines round my mouth. Where did they come from? BESS: Smile lines, my lady. ELIZABETH: Smile lines? When do I smile? ELIZABETH: Now you have smile lines too.
ELIZABETH: Late again, Bess. BESS: I beg your majesty's forgiveness. ELIZABETH: Given. Once. ELIZABETH: My suitors.
ELIZABETH: Alright, then. I will. ELIZABETH: See! You lie! You don't want me on your ship at all. You're a liar! ELIZABETH: Would you like to go to sea, Bess? BESS: Majesty?
ELIZABETH: They say she's taller than me. Her hair is chestnut in colour. Her eyes are hazel. They say she's beautiful. But people lie. They say I am b… BESS: She plotted to kill you. ELIZABETH: Yes, it's true. I've read her letters. I too was a prisoner BESS: So do we all.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 49 are women's.
339 lines from women, 353 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
20 women and 33 men in the cast. 8 women and 24 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
A woman speaks the first line.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 20 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 51% of the words (3,779), men 49% (3,638). Women have 49% 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
19
Two men
29
Exhibit F: behind the camera
3 of the 14 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 21% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Shekhar Kapur (man)
- Written by
- William Nicholson (man), Michael Hirst (man)
- Produced by
- Tim Bevan (man), Eric Fellner (man), Jonathan Cavendish (man)
- Shot by
- Remi Adefarasin (man)
- Edited by
- Andrew Haddock (gender not listed), Jill Bilcock (woman)
- Music by
- Craig Armstrong (man), A.R. Rahman (man)
- Production design by
- Guy Hendrix Dyas (man)
- Costumes by
- Alexandra Byrne (woman)
- Cast by
- Fiona Weir (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
3 women, 27 men, 7 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 9 men, 7 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
6 women, 1 men, 7 not listed
-
Production
5 women, 5 men, 4 not listed
-
Sound
1 women, 9 men, 2 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 7 men, 3 not listed
-
Visual Effects
0 women, 3 men, 3 not listed
-
Editing
1 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 31 on average. Men: 39 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Abbie Cornish 25, Samantha Morton 30, Cate Blanchett 38
Men
Eddie Redmayne 25, Laurence Fox 29, Jordi Mollà 39, Tom Hollander 40, Rhys Ifans 40, Clive Owen 42, Geoffrey Rush 56
Exhibit H: the money
It made 1.3 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $55 million
- Box office
- $74.2 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 168 scenes and 772 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
