Passes the Bechdel test

Julia

Name: Julia
Released: 1977

1977. Directed by Fred Zinnemann, written by Lillian Hellman and Alvin Sargent.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
10 women characters. 8 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 10 scenes out of 96.
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

This Oscar-winning drama, based on the writing of Lillian Hellman, depicts the relationship between two friends and its unexpected consequences. After Lillian, a renowned playwright, reunites in Russia with her childhood playmate Julia, the writer is recruited to smuggle funds into Germany to aid the anti-Nazi movement. Waiting in the wings is Lillian's lover and mentor, Dashiell Hammett, who is unaware of her dangerous assignment.

Released: 08 Jan 1978
Genres: Drama
Rated: PG
IMDb: 7.1 / 10
Metascore: 58 / 100
Awards: Won 3 Oscars. 21 wins & 26 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

Women
Men
Not in the cast list
Bigger name, more lines

Lillian 303 lines, woman
Julia 108 lines, woman
Johann 22 lines, man
Hammett 21 lines, man
Alan 17 lines, man
Pratt 16 lines, man
Thin Girl 15 lines, woman
Anne Marie 12 lines, woman
Heavy Girl 12 lines, woman
Woman 11 lines, woman

Full cast, 23 people

Jane Fonda as Lillian Hellman
Vanessa Redgrave as Julia
Jason Robards as Dashiell Hammett
Maximilian Schell as Johann
Hal Holbrook as Alan
Rosemary Murphy as Dorothy Parker
Meryl Streep as Anne Marie
Dora Doll as Woman Passenger
Elisabeth Mortensen as Girl Passenger
John Glover as Sammy
Lisa Pelikan as Young Julia
Cathleen Nesbitt as Julia's Grandmother
Susan Jones as Young Lillian
Maurice Denham as Undertaker
Ted Richert as Lillian's Friend in Sardy's (uncredited)
Mark Metcalf as Pratt
Gérard Buhr as Passport Officer
Stefan Gryff as 'Hamlet'
Antony Carrick as Butler
Hans Verner as Vienna Concierge
Christian de Tillière as Paris Concierge
Lambert Wilson as Walter Franz
Lillian Hellman as Woman in Boat

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 17% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 96

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	18	16
3 to 4	10	3
5 to 6	18	0
7 to 8	7	0
9 to 10	8	8
11 to 12	16	1
13 to 14	38	2
15 to 16	9	0
17 to 18	0	0
19 to 20	2	0
21 to 22	1	0
23 to 24	1	0
25 to 26	2	0
27 to 28	0	0
29 to 30	0	3
31 to 32	2	0
33 to 34	5	0
35 to 36	18	0
37 to 38	5	1
39 to 40	0	0
41 to 42	7	3
43 to 44	2	1
45 to 46	1	1
47 to 48	12	0
49 to 50	9	5
51 to 52	11	1
53 to 54	46	26
55 to 56	16	14
57 to 58	4	0
59 to 60	0	0
61 to 62	21	0
63 to 64	3	0
65 to 66	4	0
67 to 68	5	0
69 to 70	1	0
71 to 72	13	0
73 to 74	4	0
75 to 76	0	0
77 to 78	4	1
79 to 80	79	1
81 to 82	1	1
83 to 84	3	1
85 to 86	9	11
87 to 88	22	4
89 to 90	22	0
91 to 92	0	0
93 to 94	18	3
95 to 96	0	0

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.

LILLIAN: Where does your mother live? JULIA: In Scotland. My mother owns a very fancy castle. LILLIAN: Have you been there? JULIA: Once, . LILLIAN What's it lise?

JULIA: I heard frem Oxford ... frem Medical Schocl. - I was eceerted. LILLIAN': When will you’ go?

LILLIAN: Oh, my God, look who's travelling with you. JULIA: Who? LILLIAN: Anne Marie.

LILLIAN: You Rave alot of friends? JULIA’: Not many. LILLIAN: Get to the theatre? . JULIA: There's not enough tine.

ANNE MARIE: I'm sorry your second play failed. LILLIAN: Thank you. ‘ ANNE YARIE: But you know I loved your first play. ANNE MARIE: ... And now you've been invited to Moscow ... What is it, some sort of political thing?

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 82 are women's.

477 lines from women, 107 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

10 women and 13 men in the cast. 8 women and 8 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 6 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 72% of the words (6,918), men 28% (2,707). Women have 82% of the lines, so their lines run shorter than men's.

Exhibit E: the test the other way

Run the other way, for men, the film scores 1 out of 3.

Conversations between two named characters

Two women

Two men

Exhibit F: behind the camera

5 of the 14 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 32% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Fred Zinnemann (man)
Written by: Alvin Sargent (man)
Produced by: Richard A. Roth (man)
Shot by: Douglas Slocombe (man)
Edited by: Walter Murch (man), Marcel Durham (gender not listed)
Music by: Georges Delerue (man)
Production design by: Gene Callahan (man), Willy Holt (man), Carmen Dillon (woman)
Costumes by: Anthea Sylbert (woman)
Cast by: Margot Capelier (woman), Jenia Reissar (woman), Juliet Taylor (woman)