Passes the Bechdel test

Out of Africa

Name: Out of Africa
Released: 1985

1985. Directed by Sydney Pollack, written by Karen Blixen and Judith Thurman and Errol Trzebinski.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
5 women characters. 5 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 4 scenes out of 178.
Yes 3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.

Second opinion

Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.

The film

Follows the life of Karen Blixen, who establishes a plantation in Africa. Her life is complicated by a husband of convenience (Bror Blixen), a true love (Denys Finch-Hatton), troubles on the plantation, schooling of the natives, war, and catching VD from her husband.

Released: 20 Dec 1985
Genres: Biography, Drama, Romance
Rated: PG
IMDb: 7.2 / 10
Metascore: 69 / 100
Awards: Won 7 Oscars. 30 wins & 34 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Karen 334 lines, woman
Denys 166 lines, man
Bror 97 lines, man
Raren 36 lines, woman
Berkeley 29 lines, man
Delamere 24 lines, man
Farah 23 lines, man
Felicity 23 lines, woman
Belknap 12 lines, man
Kamante 12 lines, man

Full cast, 32 people

Robert Redford as Denys Finch Hatton
Meryl Streep as Karen Blixen
Klaus Maria Brandauer as Bror / Hans von Blixen-Finecke
Michael Kitchen as Berkeley Cole
Malick Bowens as Farah Aden
Michael Gough as Lord Delamere
Suzanna Hamilton as Felicity Spurway
Rachel Kempson as Lady Belfield
Graham Crowden as Lord Belfield
Leslie Phillips as Sir Joseph
Shane Rimmer as Belknap, farm manager
Joseph Thiaka as Kamante
Stephen Kinyanjui as Kinanjui
Mike Bugara as Juma
Job Seda as Kanuthia
Mohammed Umar as Ismail
Donal McCann as Doctor
Kenneth Mason as Banker
Tristram Jellinek as First Commissioner
Stephen B. Grimes as Second Commissioner
Annabel Maule as Lady Byrne
Benny Young as Minister
Sbish Trzebinski as Beefy Drunk
Allaudin Qureshi as Rajiv
Niven Boyd as Young Officer
Iman as Mariammo
Peter Strong as Huge Man
Abdulla Sunado as Esa
Amanda Parkin as Victoria
Muriel Gross as Lady Delamere
Ann Palmer as Dowager
Keith Pearson as Missionary Teacher

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 7% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 178

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	15	13
5 to 8	3	22
9 to 12	9	22
13 to 16	28	20
17 to 20	18	21
21 to 24	1	0
25 to 28	0	0
29 to 32	22	28
33 to 36	1	1
37 to 40	3	3
41 to 44	2	3
45 to 48	1	1
49 to 52	3	10
53 to 56	15	8
57 to 60	32	0
61 to 64	7	3
65 to 68	1	3
69 to 72	7	14
73 to 76	14	21
77 to 80	0	0
81 to 84	22	9
85 to 88	3	2
89 to 92	7	4
93 to 96	16	17
97 to 100	4	2
101 to 104	4	0
105 to 108	11	11
109 to 112	2	1
113 to 116	5	16
117 to 120	12	11
121 to 124	11	14
125 to 128	13	32
129 to 132	9	8
133 to 136	2	2
137 to 140	9	6
141 to 144	18	15
145 to 148	2	3
149 to 152	8	11
153 to 156	22	18
157 to 160	1	0
161 to 164	28	22
165 to 168	14	8
169 to 172	4	2
173 to 176	5	6
177 to 178	6	4

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.

KAREN: Bello, Felicity. FELICITY: Thought you might want some meat. KAREN: That's kind of you. FELICITY: Shot it on your land. I've got time for a drink, I. guess.

FELICITY: Don't know I'd fit in there. It sounds quite fancy. KAREN: Try to learn something useful: they woulén't do that for me. Then you can stand alone. If you care to. PELICITY: D'you like being alone? KAREN: No.

KAREN ': What does Juma know about the bottom of the sea? KAREN: Even British. It's called dreaming.

KAREN: Circumstances. FELICITY: I don't understand how anyone can live there: all those little streets. Pasty people. To hell with them all, I say.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 50 are women's.

420 lines from women, 417 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

5 women and 17 men in the cast. 5 women and 15 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 12 of 900. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 16 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 48% of the words (4,853), men 52% (5,230). Women have 50% 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

Two men

Exhibit F: behind the camera

2 of the 12 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 28% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Sydney Pollack (man)
Written by: Kurt Luedtke (man)
Produced by: Sydney Pollack (man)
Shot by: David Watkin (man)
Edited by: Pembroke J. Herring (man), Sheldon Kahn (man), Fredric Steinkamp (man), William Steinkamp (man)
Music by: John Barry (man)
Production design by: Stephen B. Grimes (man)
Costumes by: Milena Canonero (woman)
Cast by: Mary Selway (woman)