Does it pass? bechdel.io

Fails the Bechdel test

From Russia with Love

1964. Directed by Terence Young, written by Richard Maibaum and Johanna Harwood and Ian Fleming.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

1 / 3

Fails

  1. Yes 1. At least two women
    12 women characters. 4 of them speak.
  2. No 2. Who talk to each other
    Our parser found no scene where two women talk to each other.
  3. No 3. About something besides a man
    Not reached: the film fails an earlier rule.

Second opinion

Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3.

Poster for From Russia with Love

The film

James Bond 007 is on the search for a Russian decoding machine, known as "Lektor". Bond needs to find this machine, before the evil S.P.E.C.T.R.E. organization discovers it. While being romantically linked with Russian girl, Tatiana Romanova, Bond sneaks his way around Istanbul, while each S.P.E.C.T.R.E. Agent tries to pick him off, including the over powering Donald "Red" Grant and ex K.G.B. Agent Rosa Klebb, who knows all of the tricks in the book, and even possesses an incredible poison tipped shoe.

Released
27 May 1964
Genres
Action, Adventure, Thriller
Rated
PG
IMDb
7.3 / 10
Metascore
83 / 100
Awards
Won 1 BAFTA Award. 3 wins & 6 nominations total
Elsewhere
View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

  • Women
  • Men
  • Not in the cast list
  • Bigger name, more lines
  1. Bond 316 lines, man
  2. Kerim 103 lines, man
  3. Tania 95 lines, woman
  4. Grant 71 lines, man
  5. Kleb 45 lines
  6. Morzeny 31 lines, man
  7. Blofeld 27 lines, man
  8. Boothroyd 21 lines, man
  9. Kronsteen 12 lines, man
  10. Miss Moneypenny 10 lines, woman
Full cast, 44 people
  • Sean Connery as James Bond
  • Daniela Bianchi as Tatiana 'Tanja' Romanova
  • Pedro Armendáriz as Ali Kerim Bey
  • Robert Shaw as Donald 'Red' Grant
  • Lotte Lenya as Rosa Klebb
  • Bernard Lee as M
  • Lois Maxwell as Miss Moneypenny
  • Eunice Gayson as Sylvia Trench
  • Walter Gotell as Morzeny
  • Francis de Wolff as Vavra
  • George Pastell as Train Conductor
  • Nadja Regin as Kerim's Mistress
  • Aliza Gur as Vida
  • Martine Beswick as Zora
  • Vladek Sheybal as Kronsteen
  • Anthony Dawson as Ernst Stavros Blofeld
  • Lisa Guiraut as Belly Dancer
  • Hasan Ceylan as Bulgarian Agent
  • Fred Haggerty as Krilencu
  • Neville Jason as Kerim's Chauffeur
  • Peter Bayliss as Benz
  • Nusret Ataer as Mehmet
  • Peter Brayham as Rhoda
  • Desmond Llewelyn as Boothroyd - 'Q'
  • Jan Williams as Masseuse
  • Peter Madden as McAdams
  • Fred Wood as Gypsy (uncredited)
  • Bill Brandon as Gypsy (uncredited)
  • Moris Farhi as Gypsy (uncredited)
  • Alf Mangan as Gypsy (uncredited)
  • Dido Plumb as Gypsy (uncredited)
  • Ernie Rice as Gypsy (uncredited)
  • Andre Charisse as Hotel Concierge (uncredited)
  • Hugo de Vernier as Hotel Porter (uncredited)
  • Victor Harrington as Chess Tournament Spectator (uncredited)
  • Barbara Jefford as Tatiana Romanova (voice) (uncredited)
  • Jim Brady as Krilencu's Henchman (uncredited)
  • Eric Pohlmann as Ernst Stavro Blofeld (voice) (uncredited)
  • Bob Simmons as James Bond in Gunbarrel Sequence (uncredited)
  • Nikki Van der Zyl as Sylvia Trench / Receptionist (voice) (uncredited)
  • Michael Culver as Man in a Punt (uncredited)
  • Elizabeth Counsell as Woman in a Punt (uncredited)
  • Bedri Çavusoglu as Police (uncredited)
  • Peter Evans as Man Buying Fruit (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 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 105

Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.

Show the numbers
ScenesWomen's linesMen's lines
1 to 301
4 to 602
7 to 9034
10 to 1221
13 to 152011
16 to 18741
19 to 2176
22 to 24011
25 to 2704
28 to 3001
31 to 33020
34 to 36613
37 to 39512
40 to 42033
43 to 4502
46 to 48013
49 to 51016
52 to 54025
55 to 571315
58 to 60017
61 to 631418
64 to 66012
67 to 6928
70 to 7216
73 to 751447
76 to 7889
79 to 811121
82 to 84020
85 to 8700
88 to 90046
91 to 93293
94 to 9629
97 to 99418
100 to 102239
103 to 105614

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, 16 are women's.

126 lines from women, 638 from men.

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

12 women and 29 men in the cast. 4 women and 15 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 59 of 836. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 102 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

  • First line by a woman
  • Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 14% of the words (849), men 86% (5,176). Women have 16% 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

Exhibit E: behind the camera

None of the 10 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 9% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by
Terence Young (man)
Written by
Richard Maibaum (man)
From the novel by
Ian Fleming (man)
Produced by
Albert R. Broccoli (man), Harry Saltzman (man)
Shot by
Ted Moore (man)
Edited by
Peter R. Hunt (man)
Music by
John Barry (man)
Costumes by
Jocelyn Rickards (gender not listed)
Cast by
Weston Drury Jr. (man)

The crew, department by department

  • Other crew

    0 women, 11 men, 1 not listed

  • Production

    0 women, 6 men, 1 not listed

  • Costume & Make-Up

    1 women, 1 men, 4 not listed

  • Sound

    0 women, 5 men, 1 not listed

  • Art

    0 women, 3 men, 1 not listed

  • Camera

    0 women, 1 men, 3 not listed

  • Directing

    1 women, 2 men

  • Writing

    1 women, 2 men

  • Women
  • Men
  • Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit F: how old the stars were

Women: 39 on average. Men: 44 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Daniela Bianchi 21, Eunice Gayson 35, Lois Maxwell 36, Lotte Lenya 64

Men

Sean Connery 33, Robert Shaw 36, Walter Gotell 39, Francis de Wolff 50, Pedro Armendáriz 51, Bernard Lee 55

Exhibit G: the money

It made 39.5 times what it cost.

Budget
$2 million
Box office
$78.9 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 105 scenes and 836 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

Related films

Back to the whole shelf