Passes the Bechdel test
Hitchcock
2012. Directed by Sacha Gervasi, written by John J. McLaughlin and Stephen Rebello.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
16 women characters. 8 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 6 scenes out of 147. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 2 out of 3.
The film
In 1959, Sir Alfred Hitchcock (Sir Anthony Hopkins) and his wife, Alma Reville (Dame Helen Mirren), are at the top of their creative game as filmmakers amidst disquieting insinuations about it being time to retire. To recapture his youth's artistic daring, Sir Alfred decides his next movie will adapt the lurid horror novel, "Psycho", over everyone's misgivings. Unfortunately, as Sir Alfred self-finances and labors on this movie, Alma finally loses patience with his roving eye and controlling habits with his actresses. When an ambitious friend lures her to collaborate on a work of their own, the resulting marital tension colors Sir Alfred's work, even as the novel's inspiration haunts his dreams.
- Released
- 14 Dec 2012
- Genres
- Biography, Drama, Romance
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 6.8 / 10
- Metascore
- 55 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 1 Oscar. 6 wins & 30 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Alfred Hitchcock 188 lines, man
- Alma 152 lines, woman
- Peggy 36 lines, woman
- Whitfield Cook 32 lines, man
- Janet Leigh 26 lines, woman
- Lew Wasserman 18 lines, man
- Barney Balaban 15 lines, man
- Vera Miles 13 lines, woman
- Geoffrey Shurlock 11 lines, man
- Ed Gein 10 lines, man
Full cast, 68 people
- Anthony Hopkins as Alfred Hitchcock
- Helen Mirren as Alma Reville
- Scarlett Johansson as Janet Leigh
- Danny Huston as Whitfield Cook
- Toni Collette as Peggy Robertson
- Michael Stuhlbarg as Lew Wasserman
- Michael Wincott as Ed Gein
- Jessica Biel as Vera Miles
- James D'Arcy as Anthony Perkins
- Richard Portnow as Barney Balaban
- Kurtwood Smith as Geoffrey Shurlock
- Ralph Macchio as Joseph Stefano
- Kai Lennox as Hilton Green
- Tara Summers as Rita Riggs
- Wallace Langham as Saul Bass
- Paul Shackman as Bernard Herrmann
- Currie Graham as PR Flack
- Spencer Garrett as George Tomasini
- Terry Rhoads as Jack Russell
- Tom Virtue as NY Theater Manager
- Karina Deyko as Pretty Secretary
- Steven Lee Allen as Crew Member
- Richard Chassler as Martin Balsam
- Frank Collison as Henry Gein
- Melinda Chilton as Margo (Perkins' Double)
- Mary Anne McGarry as Hedda Hopper Type
- Jon Abrahams as Reporter #1
- Gil McKinney as Reporter #2
- Emma Jacobs as Blonde Fan
- Spencer Leigh as Nunzio
- Sean MacPherson as Waiter
- Gerald V. Casale as David Kirkpatrick
- Tara Arroyave as Woman Waiting in Line
- Josh Yeo as John Gavin
- Judith Hoag as Lillian
- Danielle Burgio as Dead Woman in Tub
- John Lacy as First Guard
- Howard Gibson as Party Guest
- Josette Prevost as Party Guest
- Lauren Stewart as Party Guest
- Jaehne Moebius as Party Guest
- Ana Matallana as Female Prop Assistant
- Lindsey Ginter as Male Prop Master
- Brett Chapin as Hitchcock Fan
- Paul Henderson as Beach Walker
- Kay Henderson as Beach Walker
- Lisa Marie Boiko as Film Crew
- Richard Burns as Film Crew
- Meredith Claire as Film Crew
- Alexia DuBasso as Film Crew
- Jonn Faircrest as Film Crew
- Gina Fricchione as Film Crew
- James R. Gavio as Film Crew
- James Henderson as Film Crew
- Bruce Holman as Film Crew
- Dion W.H. Holt as Film Crew
- Jeremiah Hundley as Film Crew
- Michael Kurtz as Film Crew
- Joseph Martino as Film Crew
- Jeremy S. Miles as Film Crew
- Jon Renfield as Film Crew
- Linda Sans as Film Crew
- James Tappan as Film Crew
- Jon Thibault as Film Crew
- Sebastian Vale as Film Crew
- Jason Wingo as Film Crew
- Cynthia Youngblood as Film Crew
- Bill Blair as Premier Theatre Guest (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 5% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 147
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 | 9 |
| 5 to 8 | 13 | 10 |
| 9 to 12 | 17 | 14 |
| 13 to 16 | 11 | 7 |
| 17 to 20 | 8 | 15 |
| 21 to 24 | 8 | 22 |
| 25 to 28 | 5 | 15 |
| 29 to 32 | 3 | 12 |
| 33 to 36 | 4 | 10 |
| 37 to 40 | 12 | 17 |
| 41 to 44 | 8 | 2 |
| 45 to 48 | 5 | 6 |
| 49 to 52 | 10 | 9 |
| 53 to 56 | 5 | 11 |
| 57 to 60 | 4 | 4 |
| 61 to 64 | 8 | 7 |
| 65 to 68 | 5 | 5 |
| 69 to 72 | 5 | 0 |
| 73 to 76 | 6 | 15 |
| 77 to 80 | 8 | 8 |
| 81 to 84 | 8 | 8 |
| 85 to 88 | 0 | 0 |
| 89 to 92 | 5 | 6 |
| 93 to 96 | 7 | 8 |
| 97 to 100 | 5 | 2 |
| 101 to 104 | 5 | 8 |
| 105 to 108 | 10 | 8 |
| 109 to 112 | 23 | 12 |
| 113 to 116 | 5 | 10 |
| 117 to 120 | 1 | 6 |
| 121 to 124 | 9 | 6 |
| 125 to 128 | 3 | 14 |
| 129 to 132 | 4 | 7 |
| 133 to 136 | 1 | 1 |
| 137 to 140 | 3 | 3 |
| 141 to 144 | 3 | 12 |
| 145 to 147 | 2 | 5 |
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.
ON ALMA: As she elegantly masks her hurt. ALMA: Hurry up, darling. You're pruning.
JANET LEIGH: Nothing for me, thank you. I'm watching my figure. ALMA: You're not the only one. We're fine, thank you.
JANET LEIGH: And we're about to move to a whole new neighborhood. VERA MILES: Morning Janet. Morning Tony.
JANET LEIGH: I switch to one of these. RITA RIGGS: Are you sure you don't want to look at something a little more elegant?
PEGGY: It's still engaged. VERA MILES: Hitch, I'm stuck on Lila's first scene. I don't know how strongly I should confront Sam and the detective and I --
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 43 are women's.
239 lines from women, 314 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
16 women and 29 men in the cast. 8 women and 23 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 11 of 581.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 18 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 40% of the words (2,516), men 60% (3,704). Women have 43% of the lines, so their lines run shorter 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
14
Two men
28
Exhibit F: behind the camera
4 of the 13 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 28% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Sacha Gervasi (man)
- Written by
- John J. McLaughlin (man)
- Produced by
- Alan Barnette (man), Ivan Reitman (man), Tom Pollock (man), Tommy Thayer (man), Joe Medjuck (man)
- Shot by
- Jeff Cronenweth (man)
- Edited by
- Pamela Martin (woman)
- Music by
- Danny Elfman (man)
- Production design by
- Judy Becker (woman)
- Costumes by
- Julie Weiss (woman)
- Cast by
- Terri Taylor (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Costume & Make-Up
6 women, 4 men, 4 not listed
-
Art
2 women, 5 men, 2 not listed
-
Production
1 women, 6 men
-
Sound
0 women, 4 men, 3 not listed
-
Lighting
0 women, 3 men, 3 not listed
-
Visual Effects
0 women, 1 men, 4 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 2 men, 2 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 41 on average. Men: 54 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Scarlett Johansson 28, Jessica Biel 30, Toni Collette 40, Helen Mirren 67
Men
James D'Arcy 37, Michael Stuhlbarg 44, Danny Huston 50, Michael Wincott 54, Richard Portnow 65, Anthony Hopkins 74
Exhibit H: the money
It made 1.7 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $15.7 million
- Box office
- $27 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 147 scenes and 581 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
