Fails the Bechdel test
Shallow Grave
1995. Directed by Danny Boyle, written by John Hodge.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
4 women characters. 3 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
Three friends in Edinburgh, Scotland, interview and select a new flatmate. He's hardly moved in than they discover him dead in his room. An ethical dilemma ensues when they discover that he possessed a large amount of cash. Things get worse as the men whose money it was search for it, and the three friends start to turn on each other.
- Released
- 10 Feb 1995
- Genres
- Crime, Drama, Thriller
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.2 / 10
- Metascore
- 69 / 100
- Awards
- Won 1 BAFTA Award. 14 wins & 1 nomination total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Alex 195 lines, man
- Juliet 146 lines, woman
- David 135 lines, man
- Hugo 28 lines, man
- Mccall 17 lines, man
- Lumsden 11 lines, man
- Cameron 8 lines, man
- Doctor 6 lines, woman
- Editor 5 lines, man
- Salesman 5 lines, man
Full cast, 26 people
- Ewan McGregor as Alex Law
- Christopher Eccleston as David Stephens
- Kerry Fox as Juliet Miller
- Ken Stott as Detective Inspector McCall
- Keith Allen as Hugo
- Colin McCredie as Cameron
- Peter Mullan as Andy
- Gary Lewis as Visitor
- Frances Low as Doctor
- Robert David MacDonald as Lumsden
- Tony Curran as Travel Agent
- John Hodge as DC Mitchell
- Leonard O'Malley as Tim
- Victoria Nairn as Visitor
- Jean Marie Coffey as Goth
- David Scoular as Cash Machine Victim
- Grant Glendinning as Bath Victim
- Victor Eadie as Freezer Victim
- Bill Denistoun as Master of Ceremonies
- John Bett as Brian McKinley
- Elspeth Cameron as Elderly Woman
- Billy Riddoch as Newspaper Editor
- Kenneth Bryans as Police Officer
- Paul Doonan as Newspaper Office Boy
- John Carmichael as Bandleader
- Gordon Cree as Danceband Pianist (uncredited)
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 190
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 | 3 |
| 5 to 8 | 3 | 17 |
| 9 to 12 | 8 | 15 |
| 13 to 16 | 1 | 12 |
| 17 to 20 | 16 | 20 |
| 21 to 24 | 11 | 12 |
| 25 to 28 | 13 | 44 |
| 29 to 32 | 0 | 0 |
| 33 to 36 | 1 | 5 |
| 37 to 40 | 19 | 21 |
| 41 to 44 | 0 | 2 |
| 45 to 48 | 2 | 14 |
| 49 to 52 | 11 | 1 |
| 53 to 56 | 0 | 21 |
| 57 to 60 | 1 | 6 |
| 61 to 64 | 3 | 19 |
| 65 to 68 | 0 | 5 |
| 69 to 72 | 0 | 1 |
| 73 to 76 | 2 | 14 |
| 77 to 80 | 2 | 2 |
| 81 to 84 | 0 | 0 |
| 85 to 88 | 12 | 35 |
| 89 to 92 | 4 | 3 |
| 93 to 96 | 4 | 12 |
| 97 to 100 | 0 | 12 |
| 101 to 104 | 7 | 21 |
| 105 to 108 | 3 | 3 |
| 109 to 112 | 10 | 9 |
| 113 to 116 | 2 | 3 |
| 117 to 120 | 0 | 1 |
| 121 to 124 | 0 | 0 |
| 125 to 128 | 0 | 0 |
| 129 to 132 | 0 | 0 |
| 133 to 136 | 4 | 5 |
| 137 to 140 | 0 | 0 |
| 141 to 144 | 2 | 3 |
| 145 to 148 | 0 | 30 |
| 149 to 152 | 4 | 9 |
| 153 to 156 | 0 | 0 |
| 157 to 160 | 5 | 8 |
| 161 to 164 | 1 | 11 |
| 165 to 168 | 0 | 0 |
| 169 to 172 | 0 | 0 |
| 173 to 176 | 0 | 0 |
| 177 to 180 | 0 | 0 |
| 181 to 184 | 2 | 2 |
| 185 to 188 | 2 | 12 |
| 189 to 190 | 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, 27 are women's.
155 lines from women, 413 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
4 women and 17 men in the cast. 3 women and 10 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 6 of 573.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 36 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 19% of the words (893), men 81% (3,876). Women have 27% of the lines, so their lines run shorter 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
1
Two men
39
Exhibit E: behind the camera
3 of the 9 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 25% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Danny Boyle (man)
- Written by
- John Hodge (man)
- Produced by
- Andrew Macdonald (man)
- Shot by
- Brian Tufano (man)
- Edited by
- Masahiro Hirakubo (man)
- Music by
- Simon Boswell (man)
- Production design by
- Kave Quinn (woman)
- Costumes by
- Kate Carin (woman)
- Cast by
- Sarah Trevis (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Art
3 women, 2 men, 4 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 5 men, 4 not listed
-
Production
2 women, 3 men, 3 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 2 men, 5 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 1 men, 6 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 2 men, 2 not listed
-
Lighting
0 women, 1 men, 3 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 28 on average. Men: 37 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Kerry Fox 28
Men
Colin McCredie 22, Ewan McGregor 23, Christopher Eccleston 30, Peter Mullan 35, Gary Lewis 36, Ken Stott 40, Keith Allen 41, Robert David MacDonald 65
Exhibit G: the money
It made 7.9 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $2.5 million
- Box office
- $19.8 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 190 scenes and 573 lines of dialogue. How the test works
