Passes the Bechdel test
Saving Mr. Banks
2013. Directed by John Lee Hancock, written by Kelly Marcel and Sue Smith.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
19 women characters. 11 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 8 scenes out of 149. -
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
When Walt Disney's (Tom Hanks') daughters begged him to make a movie of their favorite book, P.L. Travers' (Emma Thompson's) "Mary Poppins", he made them a promise - one that he didn't realize would take twenty years to keep. In his quest to obtain the rights, Walt comes up against a curmudgeonly, uncompromising writer who has absolutely no intention of letting her beloved magical nanny get mauled by the Hollywood machine. But, as the books stop selling and money grows short, Travers reluctantly agrees to go to Los Angeles, California to hear Disney's plans for the adaptation. For those two short weeks in 1961, Walt Disney pulls out all of the stops. Armed with imaginative storyboards and chirpy songs from the talented Richard M. Sherman (Jason Schwartzman) and Robert B. Sherman (B.J. Novak), Walt launches an all-out onslaught on P.L. Travers, but the prickly author doesn't budge. He soon begins to watch helplessly as Travers becomes increasingly immovable and the rights begin to move further away from his grasp. It is only when he reaches into his own childhood that Walt discovers the truth about the ghosts that haunt her, and together they set Mary Poppins free to ultimately make one of the most endearing movies in cinematic history.
- Released
- 20 Dec 2013
- Genres
- Biography, Comedy, Drama
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 7.5 / 10
- Metascore
- 65 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 1 Oscar. 13 wins & 74 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Pamela 320 lines, woman
- Walt 151 lines, man
- Travers 84 lines, woman
- Don 57 lines, man
- Ralph 57 lines, man
- Ginty 54 lines, woman
- Dick 45 lines, man
- Bob 30 lines
- Margaret 29 lines, woman
- Diarmuid 28 lines, man
Full cast, 37 people
- Emma Thompson as P.L. Travers
- Tom Hanks as Walt Disney
- Colin Farrell as Travers Robert Goff
- Paul Giamatti as Ralph
- Ruth Wilson as Margaret Goff
- Jason Schwartzman as Richard Sherman
- Bradley Whitford as Don DaGradi
- Annie Rose Buckley as Ginty
- B.J. Novak as Robert Sherman
- Kathy Baker as Tommie
- Lily Bigham as Biddy
- Melanie Paxson as Dolly
- Andy McPhee as Mr. Belhatchett
- Rachel Griffiths as Aunt Ellie
- Ronan Vibert as Diarmuid Russell
- Fuschia Sumner as Flight Attendant
- David Ross Paterson as Doctor
- Laura Waddell as Woman with Infant
- Barbara Keegan as Flight Attendant
- Steven Cabral as Bank Clerk
- Jerry Hauck as Premier Emcee
- Michelle Arthur as Polly
- Michael Swinehart as Porter
- Bob Rusch as Doorman
- Paul Tassone as Refreshment Tent Man
- Luke Baines as Waiter
- Demetrius Grosse as Bartender
- Kim D'Armond as Katie Nanna
- Mia Serafino as Young Woman
- Claire Bocking as Nanny Claire
- Dendrie Taylor as Lillian Disney
- Kristopher Kyer as Dick Van Dyke (uncredited)
- Victoria Summer as Julie Andrews (uncredited)
- Jaeden Bettencourt as Young Child-1906 (uncredited)
- Melissa Bickerton as Mrs. Corry (uncredited)
- Ginger Pauley as Joyce Sherman (uncredited)
- Rhoda Pell as Mrs. Belhatchett (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 9% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 149
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 | 0 | 1 |
| 5 to 8 | 56 | 20 |
| 9 to 12 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 to 16 | 7 | 5 |
| 17 to 20 | 14 | 3 |
| 21 to 24 | 11 | 3 |
| 25 to 28 | 18 | 18 |
| 29 to 32 | 46 | 49 |
| 33 to 36 | 41 | 14 |
| 37 to 40 | 29 | 17 |
| 41 to 44 | 6 | 1 |
| 45 to 48 | 19 | 14 |
| 49 to 52 | 8 | 5 |
| 53 to 56 | 17 | 0 |
| 57 to 60 | 11 | 23 |
| 61 to 64 | 25 | 2 |
| 65 to 68 | 15 | 13 |
| 69 to 72 | 3 | 6 |
| 73 to 76 | 16 | 2 |
| 77 to 80 | 3 | 3 |
| 81 to 84 | 14 | 9 |
| 85 to 88 | 9 | 2 |
| 89 to 92 | 11 | 11 |
| 93 to 96 | 11 | 0 |
| 97 to 100 | 8 | 0 |
| 101 to 104 | 12 | 13 |
| 105 to 108 | 12 | 4 |
| 109 to 112 | 14 | 21 |
| 113 to 116 | 14 | 9 |
| 117 to 120 | 2 | 1 |
| 121 to 124 | 22 | 15 |
| 125 to 128 | 23 | 28 |
| 129 to 132 | 8 | 1 |
| 133 to 136 | 18 | 25 |
| 137 to 140 | 17 | 10 |
| 141 to 144 | 7 | 7 |
| 145 to 148 | 2 | 2 |
| 149 to 149 | 3 | 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.
TRAVERS: Excuse me ma'am, have you seen my daughter? I was quite sure I had left her around here somewhere! TRAVERS: Her name is Helen, no, Shirley, erm- - goodness! I've quite forgotten! Could it be Prunella? GINTY: No! TRAVERS: Pamela?
TRAVERS: A palace! Complete with mighty steed. GINTY: And chickens.
TRAVERS: We'll build beautiful memories here my angel. MARGARET: Yes. TRAVERS: --in this house you get to share a bedroom!
MARGARET: Oh! TRAVERS: I'll wash them again my love! TRAVERS: Go Sergeant Ginty! Fell the beast! GINTY: Aunt Ellie!
MARGARET: --darling, it's just that um-- a TRAVERS: --Meg sweet, I had a throat scratch- MARGARET: --the bank is getting you down again? Perhaps my sister-- TRAVERS: God no! No. I can endure. I will endure. For the girl's sake-- Just, please-- not Ellie.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 61 are women's.
552 lines from women, 357 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
19 women and 16 men in the cast. 11 women and 17 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 7 of 1,003.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 18 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 59% of the words (4,762), men 41% (3,356). Women have 61% 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
32
Two men
20
Exhibit F: behind the camera
3 of the 11 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 36% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- John Lee Hancock (man)
- Written by
- Kelly Marcel (woman), Sue Smith (woman)
- Produced by
- Ian Collie (man), Alison Owen (woman), Philip Steuer (man)
- Shot by
- John Schwartzman (man)
- Edited by
- Mark Livolsi (man)
- Music by
- Thomas Newman (man)
- Production design by
- Michael Corenblith (man)
- Costumes by
- Daniel Orlandi (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
3 women, 6 men, 2 not listed
-
Sound
1 women, 7 men
-
Other crew
2 women, 2 men, 3 not listed
-
Art
3 women, 1 men, 2 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
2 women, 1 men, 2 not listed
-
Visual Effects
0 women, 1 men, 3 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 2 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 49 on average. Men: 44 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Ruth Wilson 31, Emma Thompson 54, Kathy Baker 63
Men
Jason Schwartzman 33, B.J. Novak 34, Colin Farrell 37, Paul Giamatti 46, Bradley Whitford 54, Tom Hanks 57
Exhibit H: the money
It made 3.2 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $35 million
- Box office
- $113 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 149 scenes and 1,003 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
