Fails the Bechdel test
Excalibur
1981. Directed by John Boorman, written by Thomas Malory and Rospo Pallenberg and John Boorman.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
8 women characters. 3 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
Women do talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Every conversation between women that our parser found mentions a man.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.
The film
The myth of King Arthur (Nigel Terry) brought once again to the screen. Uthur Pendragon (Gabriel Byrne) is given the mystical sword Excalibur by the wizard Merlin. At his death, Uthur buries the sword into a stone, and the next man that can pull it out will be King of England. Several years later, Arthur, Uthur's bastard son, draws Excalibur and becomes King. Guided by Merlin, Arthur marries Guenevere (Cherie Lunghi) and gathers the Knights of the Round Table. Arthur's evil half-sister Morgana (Dame Helen Mirren) sires a son with him, who may prove to be his downfall.
- Released
- 10 Apr 1981
- Genres
- Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
- Rated
- PG
- IMDb
- 7.3 / 10
- Metascore
- 56 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 1 Oscar. 2 wins & 12 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Arthur 154 lines, man
- Merlin 113 lines, man
- Lancelot 54 lines, man
- Morgana 45 lines, woman
- Guenevere 40 lines, woman
- Perceval 39 lines, man
- Uther 34 lines, man
- Sir Ector 17 lines, man
- Igrayne 14 lines, woman
- Mordred 13 lines, man
Full cast, 30 people
- Nigel Terry as King Arthur
- Nicol Williamson as Merlin
- Helen Mirren as Morgana
- Nicholas Clay as Lancelot
- Paul Geoffrey as Perceval
- Cherie Lunghi as Guenevere
- Robert Addie as Mordred
- Gabriel Byrne as Uther
- Keith Buckley as Uryens
- Katrine Boorman as Igrayne
- Corin Redgrave as Cornwall
- Liam Neeson as Gawain
- Niall O'Brien as Kay
- Patrick Stewart as Leondegrance
- Clive Swift as Ector
- Ciarán Hinds as Lot
- Liam O'Callaghan as Sadok
- Michael Muldoon as Astamor
- Charley Boorman as Boy Mordred
- Brid Brennan as Lady in Waiting
- Garrett Keogh as Mador
- Emmet Bergin as Ulfius
- Eamon Kelly as Abbot
- Gerard Mannix Flynn as Mordred's Lieutenant
- Barbara Byrne as Young Morgana
- Kay Maclaren as Aged Morgana
- Joelle Hélary as Lady of the Lake
- Conor Lambert as Puppeteer
- Prudence Wright Holmes as Sunshine
- Paul Markey as Peasant Boy
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 3% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 175
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 | 19 |
| 5 to 8 | 1 | 14 |
| 9 to 12 | 0 | 6 |
| 13 to 16 | 0 | 0 |
| 17 to 20 | 3 | 0 |
| 21 to 24 | 5 | 2 |
| 25 to 28 | 9 | 23 |
| 29 to 32 | 0 | 4 |
| 33 to 36 | 0 | 4 |
| 37 to 40 | 0 | 4 |
| 41 to 44 | 0 | 2 |
| 45 to 48 | 0 | 32 |
| 49 to 52 | 0 | 30 |
| 53 to 56 | 1 | 3 |
| 57 to 60 | 1 | 4 |
| 61 to 64 | 10 | 14 |
| 65 to 68 | 2 | 56 |
| 69 to 72 | 0 | 18 |
| 73 to 76 | 0 | 1 |
| 77 to 80 | 11 | 22 |
| 81 to 84 | 2 | 14 |
| 85 to 88 | 12 | 41 |
| 89 to 92 | 3 | 4 |
| 93 to 96 | 0 | 12 |
| 97 to 100 | 1 | 18 |
| 101 to 104 | 5 | 15 |
| 105 to 108 | 2 | 2 |
| 109 to 112 | 8 | 12 |
| 113 to 116 | 8 | 1 |
| 117 to 120 | 0 | 6 |
| 121 to 124 | 1 | 1 |
| 125 to 128 | 8 | 4 |
| 129 to 132 | 0 | 5 |
| 133 to 136 | 0 | 16 |
| 137 to 140 | 0 | 1 |
| 141 to 144 | 1 | 8 |
| 145 to 148 | 2 | 5 |
| 149 to 152 | 0 | 3 |
| 153 to 156 | 0 | 15 |
| 157 to 160 | 5 | 7 |
| 161 to 164 | 0 | 2 |
| 165 to 168 | 0 | 10 |
| 169 to 172 | 0 | 24 |
| 173 to 175 | 0 | 4 |
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, 17 are women's.
101 lines from women, 488 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
8 women and 22 men in the cast. 3 women and 17 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 22 of 608.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 78 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 16% of the words (1,231), men 84% (6,303). Women have 17% of the lines, so their lines run shorter 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
1
Two men
53
Exhibit E: behind the camera
1 of the 12 people in these jobs is a woman.
Across the whole crew, 8% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- John Boorman (man)
- Written by
- John Boorman (man), Rospo Pallenberg (man)
- From the novel by
- Thomas Malory (man)
- Produced by
- John Boorman (man)
- Shot by
- Alex Thomson (man)
- Edited by
- John Merritt (man), Donn Cambern (man)
- Music by
- Trevor Jones (man)
- Production design by
- Anthony Pratt (man)
- Costumes by
- Bob Ringwood (man)
- Cast by
- Mary Selway (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Directing
0 women, 5 men, 4 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 2 men, 3 not listed
-
Production
1 women, 4 men, 1 not listed
-
Writing
0 women, 4 men
-
Art
0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 2 men
-
Camera
0 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 28 on average. Men: 33 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Katrine Boorman 20, Cherie Lunghi 29, Helen Mirren 35
Men
Robert Addie 21, Paul Geoffrey 26, Gabriel Byrne 30, Nicholas Clay 34, Nigel Terry 35, Keith Buckley 40, Nicol Williamson 44
Exhibit G: the money
It made 3.2 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $11 million
- Box office
- $35 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 175 scenes and 608 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
