Passes the Bechdel test

Severance

Name: Severance
Released: 2006

2006. Directed by Christopher Smith, written by James Moran and Christopher Smith.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
5 women characters. 4 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 6 scenes out of 166.
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

A team-building weekend in the mountains of Eastern Europe goes horribly wrong for the sales division of the multi-national weapons company Palisade Defence when they become the victims of a group of crazed killers who will stop at nothing to see them dead.

Released: 25 Aug 2006
Genres: Comedy, Horror
Rated: R
IMDb: 6.4 / 10
Metascore: 62 / 100
Awards: 3 wins & 2 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Steve 183 lines, man
Maggie 125 lines, woman
Richard 109 lines, man
Harris 100 lines, man
Billy 91 lines, man
Jill 57 lines, woman
Gareth 38 lines, man
George 7 lines, man
Announcer 3 lines
Deer 3 lines

Full cast, 17 people

Danny Dyer as Steve
Laura Harris as Maggie
Tim McInnerny as Richard
Toby Stephens as Harris
Claudie Blakley as Jill
Babou Ceesay as Billy
Andy Nyman as Gordon
David Gilliam as George
Julianna Drajkó as Olga
Judit Viktor as Nadia
Sándor Boros as Coach Driver
Levente Törköly as Lodge Killer
Kasi Béla as Headbutt Killer
Levente Lezsák as Landmine Killer
Katona Péter as Stone Thrower Killer
Leanne Li as Corporate Video Office Blonde
Attila Ferencz as Head-squish Killer

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 1% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 166

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	1	0
5 to 8	1	0
9 to 12	1	2
13 to 16	9	33
17 to 20	3	15
21 to 24	11	32
25 to 28	12	42
29 to 32	0	5
33 to 36	0	3
37 to 40	4	6
41 to 44	28	56
45 to 48	0	5
49 to 52	0	0
53 to 56	11	47
57 to 60	14	44
61 to 64	11	19
65 to 68	14	41
69 to 72	0	1
73 to 76	0	3
77 to 80	0	1
81 to 84	1	1
85 to 88	2	6
89 to 92	1	34
93 to 96	0	0
97 to 100	0	0
101 to 104	1	18
105 to 108	0	4
109 to 112	0	2
113 to 116	1	16
117 to 120	1	10
121 to 124	3	2
125 to 128	0	0
129 to 132	0	1
133 to 136	0	0
137 to 140	15	16
141 to 144	4	6
145 to 148	5	17
149 to 152	6	10
153 to 156	3	3
157 to 160	7	8
161 to 164	9	12
165 to 166	7	8

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.

MAGGIE: If there were any bears, they've been bored to death by now. JILL: Did you hear that?

MAGGIE: Are you serious? I can feel my arteries clogging just looking at them. JILL: For my blood pressure. White ones twice a day, yellow once a day, blue once a week. My sister takes them too, she has trouble with her month…

MAGGIE: You don't just drop your teeth. JILL: Actually, one time my sister-

JILL: Oh, yes, would that be okay? MAGGIE: Sure it is. We'll bring your mattress and sheets in.

JILL: Thank you, Maggie. MAGGIE: You'd do the same for me. JILL: Yes, of course I would. MAGGIE: Look, I know we've never really been friends or anything...

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 26 are women's.

186 lines from women, 529 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

5 women and 10 men in the cast. 4 women and 6 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 2 of 723. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 47 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 25% of the words (1,650), men 75% (4,895). Women have 26% 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 13 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 31% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Christopher Smith (man)
Written by: Christopher Smith (man), James Moran (man)
Produced by: Jason Newmark (man), Finola Dwyer (woman)
Shot by: Ed Wild (man)
Edited by: Stuart Gazzard (man)
Music by: Christian Henson (man)
Production design by: John Frankish (man)
Costumes by: Stephen Noble (man)
Cast by: Gail Stevens (woman), William Davies (man), Linda Zsombolyay (gender not listed)