Fails the Bechdel test

September 5

Name: September 5
Released: 2025

2025. Directed by Tim Fehlbaum, written by Moritz Binder and Tim Fehlbaum and Alex David.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

1 / 3

Fails

Yes 1. At least two women
4 women characters. 4 of them speak.
No 2. Who talk to each other
Our parser found no scene where two women talk to each other.
No 3. About something besides a man
Not reached: the film fails an earlier rule.

Second opinion

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

The film

"September 5" is a historical drama film directed by Tim Fehlbaum that focuses on the 1972 Munich Olympic hostage crisis from the perspective of the ABC Sports crew. The film highlights their transition from covering the Olympics to reporting on the hostage situation involving Israeli athletes, and showcases the intense and emotional experience of live broadcasting during a global tragedy.

Released: 25 Feb 2025
Genres: Drama, History, Thriller
Rated: R
IMDb: 7.1 / 10
Metascore: 76 / 100
Awards: Nominated for 1 Oscar. 24 wins & 30 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Geoff 235 lines, man
Roone 112 lines, man
Bader 111 lines, man
Marianne 80 lines, woman
Jennings 57 lines, man
Mckay 47 lines
Jacques 32 lines, man
Carter 18 lines, man
Director 18 lines, man
Hank 13 lines, man

Full cast, 43 people

Peter Sarsgaard as Roone Arledge
John Magaro as Geoffrey Mason
Ben Chaplin as Marvin Bader
Leonie Benesch as Marianne Gebhardt
Zinedine Soualem as Jacques Lesgards
Georgina Rich as Gladys Deist
Corey Johnson as Hank Hanson
Marcus Rutherford as Carter Jeffrey
Daniel Adeosun as Gary Slaughter
Benjamin Walker as Peter Jennings
Ferdinand Dörfler as Hermann Jäger
Solomon Mousley as Roone's Assistant
Caroline Ebner as Assistant Editor Judy
Daniel Betts as Director Swim Race
Leif Eduard Eisenberg as Camera Assistant Ben
Sebastian Jehkul as Police Officer
Rony Herman as David Berger
Jeff Book as Berger's Father
Robert Porter Templeton as Director's Assistant
Stephen Fraser as Communicator
Leon Dragoi as Lighting Technician
Doris Meier as Content Assistant
Mark Ruppel as Sound Engineer
Christine Ulrich as Camera Control Technician
Günther Wernhard as Content Manager
Antje Westermann as Script Assistant
Harry Waterstone as Stage Assistant Larry
Andreas Honold as Stage Runner JJ
Stefan Mittermaier as VTR Tech Chuck
Miguel Abrantes Ostrowski as Hans Klein
Kim Hanfland as Ulrike Meyfarth
David Iselin as Mark Spitz
Nikita Borisov as Werner Lampe
Karolina Gabinger as Anneliese Graess
Robert Glade as Hans-Dietrich Genscher
Immanuel Rahman as Terrorist Issa
Paul Böhme as Masked Man / German Athlete
Brendan Todd as American Interviewer
Dirk Schepanek as ZDF Interviewer
Saeid Yazdani as Mohamed Tarabulsi
Matthias Schum as Jim McKay Double
Stiev Neubert as Tuvia Sokolsky Double
Rafael Peña as Translator Double

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 15% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 114

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	16
4 to 6	0	0
7 to 9	0	18
10 to 12	0	40
13 to 15	6	23
16 to 18	4	7
19 to 21	5	10
22 to 24	7	24
25 to 27	2	29
28 to 30	2	42
31 to 33	0	8
34 to 36	1	20
37 to 39	13	34
40 to 42	6	19
43 to 45	1	26
46 to 48	0	21
49 to 51	1	16
52 to 54	0	16
55 to 57	6	7
58 to 60	0	10
61 to 63	2	2
64 to 66	3	26
67 to 69	2	5
70 to 72	1	0
73 to 75	1	19
76 to 78	0	12
79 to 81	5	16
82 to 84	9	12
85 to 87	4	8
88 to 90	4	28
91 to 93	1	17
94 to 96	6	43
97 to 99	0	18
100 to 102	0	7
103 to 105	0	9
106 to 108	0	14
109 to 111	4	10
112 to 114	0	0

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, 13 are women's.

96 lines from women, 632 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

4 women and 15 men in the cast. 4 women and 17 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 103 of 858. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 102 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 15% of the words (1,037), men 85% (5,912). Women have 13% 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

3 of the 18 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 27% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Tim Fehlbaum (man)
Written by: Tim Fehlbaum (man), Moritz Binder (man)
Produced by: Thomas Wöbke (man), John Wildermuth (man), Philipp Trauer (man), John Ira Palmer (man), Mark Nolting (gender not listed), Sean Penn (man) and 1 more
Shot by: Markus Förderer (man)
Edited by: Hansjörg Weißbrich (man)
Music by: Lorenz Dangel (man)
Production design by: Julian R. Wagner (man)
Costumes by: Leonie Zykan (gender not listed)
Cast by: Simone Bär (woman), Nancy Foy (woman), Lucinda Syson (woman)