Fails the Bechdel test

Petulia

Name: Petulia
Released: 1968

1968. Directed by Richard Lester, written by Lawrence B. Marcus and John Haase and Barbara Turner.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

2 / 3

Fails

Yes 1. At least two women
9 women characters. 9 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

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

The film

When she sees him at a hospital fundraiser, San Francisco socialite Petulia Danner, who has been married to naval engineer David Danner for six months, seems determined to have an affair with soon-to-be-divorced physician Dr. Archie Bollen, who has been married to his wife Polo for close to 10 years; many thought they had the perfect marriage. Archie doesn't even know Petulia's name; he only knows her as the woman who brought a young Mexican boy into the hospital with serious injuries. Petulia's pursuit of Archie is relentless; she even declares that they'll be married someday, even as he dates another woman, May. Archieeventually learns part of the reason why Petulia is so determined to cheat on David as her relationship to David and his wealthy father are brought to light. Archie also learns that getting involved with Petulia in any way has its consequences, both for Petulia and for him, most specifically in his relationship to Polo.

Released: 10 Jun 1968
Genres: Drama, Romance
Rated: Approved
IMDb: 6.9 / 10
Awards: 4 nominations
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Archie 284 lines, man
Petulia 226 lines, woman
David 54 lines
Barney 33 lines, man
Polo 33 lines, woman
Mike 22 lines
Wilma 18 lines, woman
Nun 17 lines, woman
Stevie 17 lines
Mr. Danner 12 lines, man

Full cast, 22 people

Julie Christie as Petulia Danner
George C. Scott as Dr. Archie Bollen
Richard Chamberlain as Dave Danner
Arthur Hill as Barney
Shirley Knight as Polo
Pippa Scott as May
Kathleen Widdoes as Wilma
Richard Dysart as Motel Receptionist
Ruth Kobart as Nun
Roger Bowen as Warren
Joseph Cotten as Mr. Danner
Austin Pendleton as Intern (uncredited)
Ellen Geer as Nun
Howard Hesseman as Hippie (uncredited)
Janis Joplin as Herself (uncredited)
René Auberjonois as Fred Six (uncredited)
Peter Bonerz as Self (uncredited)
Barbara Bosson as Self (uncredited)
Kathryn Ish as Self (uncredited)
Josephine Nichols as Neighbor (uncredited)
Richard Stahl as Greenhouse fitter (uncredited)
Mel Stewart as Supermarket Clerk (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 20% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 105

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	39	38
4 to 6	17	9
7 to 9	2	2
10 to 12	1	4
13 to 15	3	1
16 to 18	8	9
19 to 21	11	28
22 to 24	0	8
25 to 27	9	13
28 to 30	6	0
31 to 33	17	12
34 to 36	12	11
37 to 39	34	38
40 to 42	8	8
43 to 45	14	9
46 to 48	4	3
49 to 51	7	7
52 to 54	12	22
55 to 57	0	15
58 to 60	0	1
61 to 63	8	8
64 to 66	21	23
67 to 69	0	0
70 to 72	18	34
73 to 75	4	7
76 to 78	1	5
79 to 81	5	8
82 to 84	11	9
85 to 87	3	2
88 to 90	7	1
91 to 93	3	9
94 to 96	0	12
97 to 99	3	0
100 to 102	16	4
103 to 105	13	11

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, 46 are women's.

317 lines from women, 371 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

9 women and 12 men in the cast. 9 women and 9 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 4 of 864. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 40 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 50% of the words (4,474), men 50% (4,561). Women have 46% 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

None of the 12 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 19% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Richard Lester (man)
Written by: Lawrence B. Marcus (man)
From the novel by: John Haase (man)
Produced by: Raymond Wagner (man)
Shot by: Nicolas Roeg (man)
Edited by: Antony Gibbs (man)
Music by: John Barry (man)
Production design by: Tony Walton (man)
Costumes by: Tony Walton (man), Arlette Nastat (gender not listed)
Cast by: Fred Roos (man), Ann Brebner (gender not listed)

The crew, department by department

Production

0 women, 5 men, 2 not listed
Costume & Make-Up

2 women, 2 men, 2 not listed
Art

1 women, 3 men
Camera

0 women, 1 men, 3 not listed
Sound

0 women, 2 men, 2 not listed
Directing

0 women, 1 men, 2 not listed
Writing

1 women, 2 men
Lighting

0 women, 0 men, 2 not listed

Women
Men
Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit F: how old the stars were

Women: 33 on average. Men: 39 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Julie Christie 28, Kathleen Widdoes 29, Shirley Knight 31, Pippa Scott 32, Ruth Kobart 44

Men

Richard Chamberlain 34, Roger Bowen 36, Richard Dysart 39, George C. Scott 40, Arthur Hill 45

Exhibit G: the money

What it cost and made, where TMDB lists it.

Budget: Not listed
Box office: $1.6 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 105 scenes and 864 lines of dialogue. How the test works

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