Fails the Bechdel test
Mrs. Brown
1997. Directed by John Madden, written by Jeremy Brock.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
11 women characters. 5 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
Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3.
The film
Queen Victoria (Dame Judi Dench) is deeply depressed after the death of her husband, disappearing from public. Her servant Mr. John Brown (Sir Billy Connolly), who adores her, through caress and admiration brings her back to life, but that relationship creates scandalous situation and is likely to lead to monarchy crisis.
- Released
- 03 Oct 1997
- Genres
- Biography, Drama, History
- Rated
- PG
- IMDb
- 7.2 / 10
- Metascore
- 71 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 2 Oscars. 12 wins & 27 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Brown 201 lines, man
- Victoria 147 lines, woman
- Disraeli 81 lines, man
- Ponsonby 63 lines, man
- Archie 37 lines, man
- Bertie 34 lines, man
- Jenner 26 lines, man
- Stanley 14 lines, man
- Lady Ely 10 lines, woman
- Dean Wellselly 9 lines, man
Full cast, 30 people
- Judi Dench as Queen Victoria
- Billy Connolly as John Brown
- Geoffrey Palmer as Henry Ponsonby
- Antony Sher as Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli
- Gerard Butler as Archie Brown
- Richard Pasco as Doctor Jenner
- David Westhead as Prince of Wales (Bertie)
- Georgie Glen as Lady Churchill
- Sara Stewart as Princess Alexandra
- Finty Williams as Princess Helena
- Oliver Ford Davies as Dean of Windsor
- Delia Lindsay as Society Lady
- Bridget McConnell as Lady Ely
- Claire Nicolson as Princess Louise
- Hattie Ladbury as Princess Alice
- Oliver Kent as Prince Alfred
- Alex Menzies as Prince Arthur
- Simon McKerrell as Prince Leopold
- Jimmy Chisholm as Mr. Grant
- Elaine Collins as Mrs. Grant
- Jason Morell as Lord Stanley
- Cherith Mellor as Mary Ann Disraeli
- Brendan O'Hea as Barney
- Catherine O'Donnell as Lady-in-Waiting
- Rupert Farley as Bertie's Valet
- Rebecca Charles as Assistant Dresser
- George Hall as Speaker of the House
- Robin Marchal as Commons Counter
- Theo Fraser Steele as Footman
- James Vaughan as Sir Charles Dilke
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 2% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 120
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 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 to 6 | 0 | 3 |
| 7 to 9 | 0 | 3 |
| 10 to 12 | 1 | 4 |
| 13 to 15 | 0 | 6 |
| 16 to 18 | 4 | 1 |
| 19 to 21 | 3 | 2 |
| 22 to 24 | 9 | 38 |
| 25 to 27 | 0 | 23 |
| 28 to 30 | 8 | 9 |
| 31 to 33 | 4 | 9 |
| 34 to 36 | 13 | 14 |
| 37 to 39 | 14 | 15 |
| 40 to 42 | 0 | 13 |
| 43 to 45 | 0 | 10 |
| 46 to 48 | 18 | 24 |
| 49 to 51 | 9 | 7 |
| 52 to 54 | 9 | 11 |
| 55 to 57 | 4 | 30 |
| 58 to 60 | 0 | 1 |
| 61 to 63 | 0 | 0 |
| 64 to 66 | 1 | 4 |
| 67 to 69 | 0 | 7 |
| 70 to 72 | 0 | 16 |
| 73 to 75 | 7 | 43 |
| 76 to 78 | 0 | 2 |
| 79 to 81 | 14 | 15 |
| 82 to 84 | 5 | 31 |
| 85 to 87 | 12 | 10 |
| 88 to 90 | 8 | 20 |
| 91 to 93 | 0 | 0 |
| 94 to 96 | 2 | 25 |
| 97 to 99 | 0 | 50 |
| 100 to 102 | 26 | 10 |
| 103 to 105 | 1 | 1 |
| 106 to 108 | 1 | 5 |
| 109 to 111 | 1 | 7 |
| 112 to 114 | 0 | 0 |
| 115 to 117 | 0 | 1 |
| 118 to 120 | 7 | 16 |
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, 27 are women's.
181 lines from women, 486 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
11 women and 14 men in the cast. 5 women and 11 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 8 of 681.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 71 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 27% of the words (2,030), men 73% (5,504).
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
4
Two men
33
Exhibit E: behind the camera
4 of the 9 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 63% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- John Madden (man)
- Written by
- Jeremy Brock (man)
- Produced by
- Sarah Curtis (woman)
- Shot by
- Richard Greatrex (man)
- Edited by
- Robin Sales (woman)
- Music by
- Stephen Warbeck (man)
- Production design by
- Martin Childs (man)
- Costumes by
- Deirdre Clancy (woman)
- Cast by
- Michelle Guish (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
4 women, 1 men, 4 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
5 women, 0 men, 2 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 1 men, 3 not listed
-
Sound
1 women, 1 men, 2 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 1 men, 2 not listed
-
Editing
1 women, 0 men, 1 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 0 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 40 on average. Men: 51 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Finty Williams 24, Sara Stewart 31, Georgie Glen 41, Judi Dench 62
Men
Gerard Butler 27, David Westhead 34, Antony Sher 48, Billy Connolly 54, Geoffrey Palmer 70, Richard Pasco 71
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 120 scenes and 681 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
