Fails the Bechdel test

Love Actually

Name: Love Actually
Released: 2003

2003. Directed by Richard Curtis, written by Richard Curtis.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

1 / 3

Fails

Yes 1. At least two women
43 women characters. 25 of them speak.
No 2. Who talk to each other
Our parser found no scene where two women talk to each other.
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.

The film

Against the backdrop of aged has-been rock star Billy Mack's Christmas themed comeback cover of "Love Is All Around", which he knows is crap and makes no bones about it, much to his manager Joe's chagrin as he promotes the record, several interrelated stories about romantic love and the obstacles to happiness through love for Londoners are presented in the five weeks preceding Christmas. Daniel's wife has just died, leaving him to take care of his adolescent stepson Sam by himself. Daniel is uncertain how to deal with Sam and his problems without his wife present, especially in light of a potential budding romance within their household. Juliet and Peter have just gotten married. They believe that Peter's best friend and best man Mark hates Juliet, but won't say so to his or her face. Others looking at the situation from the outside believe Mark is jealous of Juliet, as he is in love with Peter. Jamie, a writer, is taking a writing retreat by himself in rural France following catching his latest girlfriend in an indiscretion. Jamie ends up spending much time in France with Aurelia, the Portuguese woman hired as the housekeeper. The question becomes not only if they can communicate their day-to-day needs with each other as she speaks no English, he speaks no Portuguese, and neither speaks French very well, but communicate what seems to be their increasing mutual attraction to each other. Sarah has been in love with her co-worker Karl for the two years they have worked together, this attraction about which everyone in their workplace knows. Sarah has to decide if she can be forward enough to express this love directly to Karl, especially in light of what has been her personal priority of dealing with a family issue. Harry and Karen have been in a stable long term marriage. His new assistant Mia drops hints to him that she would like them to be romantically involved. Harry has to decide whether to fall to the temptation, especially considering being married to a perceptive wife. Single and relatively young David is the newly elected Prime Minister. At 10 Downing Street, he is attracted to one of the new household servants, Natalie, but isn't sure what to do about it seeing as to their respective positions, the probable public scrutiny, and an incident involving the visiting U.S. President. Socially unaware Colin Frissell believes that the lack of romantic love in his life is all the fault of standoffish British women. As such, he decides to take decisive albeit somewhat unusual geographic action. And John and Judy are movie body doubles. They can communicate with each other straightforwardly while they are simulating sex filming a movie, but they may not be able to translate the feelings behind that simulation in real-life to each other.

Released: 14 Nov 2003
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Rated: R
IMDb: 7.5 / 10
Metascore: 55 / 100
Awards: Won 1 BAFTA Award. 11 wins & 30 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Pm 89 lines, man
Daniel 79 lines, man
Karen 73 lines, woman
Harry 66 lines, man
Jamie 57 lines, man
Mark 50 lines, man
Sam 49 lines, man
Sarah 47 lines, woman
Colin 46 lines, man
Billy 43 lines, man

Full cast, 124 people

Hugh Grant as The Prime Minister
Alan Rickman as Harry
Emma Thompson as Karen
Liam Neeson as Daniel
Martine McCutcheon as Natalie
Colin Firth as Jamie Bennett
Bill Nighy as Billy Mack
Laura Linney as Sarah
Lúcia Moniz as Aurelia
Andrew Lincoln as Mark
Keira Knightley as Juliet
Chiwetel Ejiofor as Peter
Gregor Fisher as Joe
Martin Freeman as John
Joanna Page as Just Judy
Heike Makatsch as Mia
Thomas Brodie-Sangster as Sam
Kris Marshall as Colin Frissell
Rodrigo Santoro as Karl
Abdul Salis as Tony
Rowan Atkinson as Rufus, Jewellery Salesman
Rory MacGregor as Engineer
Sienna Guillory as Jamie's Girlfriend
Billy Bob Thornton as The US President
Lulu Popplewell as Daisy, Karen's Daughter
Olivia Olson as Joanna Anderson
Nina Sosanya as Annie
Frank Moorey as Terence, Who's in Charge
Jill Raymond as Pat the Housekeeper
Tim Hatwell as Vicar
Lynden David Hall as The Wedding Singer
Jont Whittington as Guitarist
Dan Fredenburgh as Jamie's Bad Brother
Julia Davis as Nancy the Caterer
Alan Barnes as Movie Director
Shaughan Seymour as Movie Cameraman
Helen Murton as Funeral Priest
Edward Hardwicke as Sam's Grandfather
Caroline John as Sam's Grandmother
Gemma Aston as Family Mourner
Matt Harvey as Family Mourner
Adrian Preater as Family Mourner
Joanna Thaw as Family Mourner
Junior Simpson as Wedding DJ
Brian Bovell as Radio Watford DJ
Sarah McDougall as Receptionist
Marcus Brigstocke as Mikey, DJ Interviewer
Richard Hawley as Alex, Deputy Prime Minister
Wyllie Longmore as Jeremy
Gillian Barge as Cabinet Minister
Richard Cotton as Cabinet Minister
Kate Bowes Renna as Cabinet Minister
Kate Glover as Cabinet Minister
Nicola McRoy as Cabinet Minister
Anthony McPartlin as Ant
Declan Donnelly as Dec
Elisabeth Margoni as Eleonore
Peter Marinker as US Expert
Keir Charles as Press Conference Reporter
Doraly Rosen as Press Conference Reporter
Meg Wynn Owen as PM's Secretary
Carol Carey as Natalie's Replacement
Jo Whiley as Radio DJ
Sarah Atkinson as Billy's Video Vixen
Clare Bennett as Billy's Video Vixen
Sarah Holland as Billy's Video Vixen
Vicki Murdoch as Billy's Video Vixen
Meredith Ostrom as Billy's Video Vixen
Katherine Poulton as Billy's Video Vixen
Tuuli Shipster as Billy's Video Vixen
Michael Parkinson as Parky
Michael Fitzgerald as Michael, Sarah's Brother
Ciaran O'Driscoll as Hospital Patient
William Wadham as Bernie, Karen's Son
Catia Duarte as Language Student
Igor Urdenko as Language Student
Nat Udom as Language Student
Ines Boughanmi as Language Student
Yuk Sim Yau as Language Student
John Sharian as Wisconsin Taxi Driver
Glenn Conroy as Barman
Ivana Miličević as Stacey, American Dreamgirl
January Jones as Jeannie, American Angel
Elisha Cuthbert as Carol-Anne, American Goddess
Wes Butters as Radio 1 Chart Show DJ
Laura Rees as Record Company Executive
Emma Buckley as Jamie's Sister
Sheila Allen as Jamie's Mum
Terry Reece as PM's Chauffeur, Terry
Colin Coull as PM's Bodyguard, Gavin
Margery Mason as Harris Street Old Lady
Katharine Bailey as Harris Street Little Girl
Tiffany Boysell as Her Friend
Georgia Flint as Her Friend
Joanna Bacon as Natalie's Mum
Bill Moody as Natalie's Dad
Billy Campbell as Natalie's Octopus Brother
Paul Slack as John's Brother
Adam Godley as Mr Trench
Ruby Turner as Mrs. Jean Anderson
Amanda Garwood as Backing-singer Teacher
Arturo Venegas as Mr. Anderson
Claudia Schiffer as Carol
Patrick Delaney as Tommy, Carol's Son
Helder Costa as Mr. Barros
Carla Vasconcelos as Sophia Barros
Stewart Howson as Airport Gate Man
Jamie Edgell as Airport Guard
Dave Fisher as Airport Guard
Paul Heasman as Airport Guard
Tony Lucken as Airport Guard
Raul Atalaia as Restaurant Proprietor
Nancy Sorrell as Greta
Shannon Elizabeth as Harriet, the Sexy One
Denise Richards as Carla, the Real Friendly One
Richard Curtis as Trombone Player (uncredited)
Frances de la Tour as Lesbian Lover (uncredited)
Rebecca Frayn as Joanna (Daniel's Dead Wife) (uncredited)
Kelly Michelle Gray as Journalist (uncredited)
Nia Jermin as Head Chorister (uncredited)
Jeanne Moreau as Taxi Passenger at Marseille Airport (uncredited)
Deanna Mustard as Airport Attendant (uncredited)
Anne Reid as Headmistress (uncredited)
Fiona Thompson as Passenger Arriving at Airport (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 1 scene, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 15% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 29

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 1	0	0
2 to 2	0	1
3 to 3	3	21
4 to 4	16	48
5 to 5	2	3
6 to 6	17	26
7 to 7	13	11
8 to 8	0	9
9 to 9	27	33
10 to 10	0	0
11 to 11	0	4
12 to 12	2	47
13 to 13	5	13
14 to 14	9	59
15 to 15	1	5
16 to 16	8	4
17 to 17	39	48
18 to 18	42	32
19 to 19	0	0
20 to 20	3	23
21 to 21	29	77
22 to 22	7	20
23 to 23	3	1
24 to 24	13	28
25 to 25	0	5
26 to 26	45	59
27 to 27	2	1
28 to 28	12	36
29 to 29	20	55

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, 32 are women's.

318 lines from women, 669 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

43 women and 47 men in the cast. 25 women and 34 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 16 of 1,165. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 43 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 33% of the words (3,742), men 67% (7,459). Women have 32% of the lines, so their lines run longer 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

Two men

Exhibit E: behind the camera

7 of the 16 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 24% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Richard Curtis (man)
Written by: Richard Curtis (man)
Produced by: Tim Bevan (man), Eric Fellner (man), Duncan Kenworthy (man)
Shot by: Michael Coulter (man)
Edited by: Nick Moore (man)
Music by: Craig Armstrong (man)
Production design by: Jim Clay (man)
Costumes by: Joanna Johnston (woman)
Cast by: Mary Selway (woman), Fiona Weir (woman), Patrícia Vasconcelos (woman), Shaheen Baig (woman), Camilla-Valentine Isola (woman), Stephanie Corsalini (woman)