Passes the Bechdel test
Orphan
2009. Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, written by David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick and Alex Mace.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
13 women characters. 24 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 27 scenes out of 206. -
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
Kate and John Coleman are rebuilding their troubled marriage after the loss of their baby. The couple decide to adopt a child. When they meet 9-year-old Esther at the St. Marina Orphanage, they immediately fall in love with the well-educated orphan. Their son, Daniel is hostile to his new sister, but their deaf mute daughter, Max is enchanted with her - at first. Eventually, Kate begins to feel that Esther is manipulative and possibly even psychologically damaged. John refuses to listen to his wife's misgivings. Kate calls Sister Abigail at the orphanage, and the nun informs her that Esther has a troubled and mysterious history. Kate delves further into Esther's past and discovers she is not what she seems to be.
- Released
- 24 Jul 2009
- Genres
- Horror, Mystery, Thriller
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7 / 10
- Metascore
- 42 / 100
- Awards
- 1 win & 7 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Kate 201 lines, woman
- John 150 lines, man
- Esther 139 lines, woman
- Daniel 35 lines, man
- Rate 32 lines, woman
- Sister Abigail 30 lines, woman
- Dr. Browning 22 lines, woman
- Doris 11 lines
- Kate - 10 lines, woman
- Brenda 9 lines, woman
Full cast, 24 people
- Vera Farmiga as Kate
- Peter Sarsgaard as John
- Isabelle Fuhrman as Esther
- CCH Pounder as Sister Abigail
- Jimmy Bennett as Daniel
- Margo Martindale as Dr. Browning
- Karel Roden as Dr. Värava
- Aryana Engineer as Max
- Rosemary Dunsmore as Grandma Barbara
- Jamie Young as Brenda
- Lorry Ayers as Joyce
- Brendan Wall as Detective
- Genelle Williams as Sister Judith
- Mustafa Abdelkarim as Daniel's Friend
- Landon Norris as Daniel's Friend
- Julien Elia as Hospital Receptionist
- Leni Parker as Delivery Room Nurse
- Gemma James Smith as Teacher
- Pia Ajango as Saarne Institute Receptionist
- Matthew Raudsepp as Saarne Institute Orderly
- Sugith Varughese as ICU Doctor
- Luis Oliva as ICU Nurse
- Ferelith Young as Waiting Room Nurse
- Andrew Shaver as Injection Doctor
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 5 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 16% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 206
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 5 | 15 | 3 |
| 6 to 10 | 1 | 0 |
| 11 to 15 | 9 | 5 |
| 16 to 20 | 11 | 12 |
| 21 to 25 | 28 | 18 |
| 26 to 30 | 9 | 8 |
| 31 to 35 | 21 | 5 |
| 36 to 40 | 11 | 5 |
| 41 to 45 | 8 | 1 |
| 46 to 50 | 17 | 0 |
| 51 to 55 | 2 | 1 |
| 56 to 60 | 13 | 1 |
| 61 to 65 | 17 | 5 |
| 66 to 70 | 14 | 1 |
| 71 to 75 | 18 | 6 |
| 76 to 80 | 10 | 1 |
| 81 to 85 | 13 | 1 |
| 86 to 90 | 15 | 6 |
| 91 to 95 | 13 | 5 |
| 96 to 100 | 12 | 5 |
| 101 to 105 | 14 | 12 |
| 106 to 110 | 11 | 0 |
| 111 to 115 | 11 | 5 |
| 116 to 120 | 11 | 0 |
| 121 to 125 | 5 | 9 |
| 126 to 130 | 25 | 2 |
| 131 to 135 | 14 | 14 |
| 136 to 140 | 16 | 10 |
| 141 to 145 | 5 | 5 |
| 146 to 150 | 1 | 0 |
| 151 to 155 | 26 | 15 |
| 156 to 160 | 21 | 11 |
| 161 to 165 | 1 | 1 |
| 166 to 170 | 14 | 2 |
| 171 to 175 | 6 | 3 |
| 176 to 180 | 6 | 4 |
| 181 to 185 | 12 | 8 |
| 186 to 190 | 0 | 0 |
| 191 to 195 | 18 | 18 |
| 196 to 200 | 13 | 10 |
| 201 to 205 | 3 | 0 |
| 206 to 206 | 7 | 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.
DR. BROWNING: A lot of women experience difficulties around the anniversary of the miscarriage or the baby's expected due date. It's perfectly normal. KATE: I was thinking of" going back to work. I really thought 1 was doing better. DR. BROWNING: You are. Think about where you were just four months ago. - Are you still sober? Kate hesitates. Dr. Browning gives her a penetrating look. KATE: I drove by the wine shop,on my.way.bome the other day.
KATE: Curtains. They're curtains, not drapes. And haw exciting is my life that -I now know the difference. RATE: .That's this for?
MAX: READ ME A STORY? KATE: Ore story. Then bedtime. Okay? Max nods. happily and picks up a book from her nightstand. Kate groans inwardly when she sees what it is. It'… KATE: You want to hear about the baby again? Max nods. Kate hesitates, then gives Max a sad smile.
KATE: "People send us flowers and cards, but we still miss our baby. If this just happened to you, I'm sorry you got an angel instead of a'baby. I… MAX: IS BABY JESSIE AN ANGEL? KATE: Yes, she is. She's with us every day. Kate gives Max a gentle kiss on the forehead.
KATE: Wow, that was nice of her. Look, we brought you something for the trip tomorrow. She hands her a bag of activity books and a "Travel Turtle,… SISTER ABIGAIL: What do you.say?
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 70 are women's.
497 lines from women, 218 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
13 women and 11 men in the cast. 24 women and 17 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 15 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 (9,981), men 28% (3,865). Women have 70% of the lines, so their lines run longer than men's.
Exhibit E: the test the other way
Run the other way, for men, the film scores 2 out of 3.
Conversations between two named characters
Two women
70
Two men
8
Exhibit F: behind the camera
6 of the 16 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 31% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Jaume Collet-Serra (man)
- Written by
- David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick (man)
- Story by
- Alex Mace (man)
- Produced by
- Joel Silver (man), Susan Downey (woman), Leonardo DiCaprio (man), Jennifer Davisson (woman)
- Shot by
- Jeff Cutter (man)
- Edited by
- Timothy Alverson (man)
- Music by
- John Ottman (man)
- Production design by
- Tom Meyer (man)
- Costumes by
- Antoinette Messam (gender not listed)
- Cast by
- Ronnie Yeskel (woman), Andrea Kenyon (woman), Randi Wells (woman), Tina Gerussi (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
10 women, 16 men, 7 not listed
-
Other crew
6 women, 13 men, 7 not listed
-
Art
4 women, 11 men, 6 not listed
-
Lighting
0 women, 4 men, 11 not listed
-
Sound
4 women, 8 men, 3 not listed
-
Visual Effects
0 women, 5 men, 7 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
2 women, 0 men, 9 not listed
-
Directing
2 women, 2 men, 5 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 38 on average. Men: 33 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Aryana Engineer 8, Isabelle Fuhrman 12, Vera Farmiga 35, CCH Pounder 56, Rosemary Dunsmore 57, Margo Martindale 58
Men
Jimmy Bennett 13, Peter Sarsgaard 38, Karel Roden 47
Exhibit H: the money
It made 3.9 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $20 million
- Box office
- $77.9 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 206 scenes and 852 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
