Passes the Bechdel test
Shayda
2023. Directed by Noora Niasari, written by Noora Niasari.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
7 women characters. 8 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 30 scenes out of 100. -
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 young Iranian mother and her six-year-old daughter find refuge in an Australian women's shelter during the two weeks of the Iranian New Year (Nowruz).
- Released
- 05 Oct 2023
- Genres
- Drama
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 6.7 / 10
- Awards
- 7 wins & 21 nominations
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Shayda 266 lines, woman
- Hossein 116 lines, man
- Mona 113 lines, woman
- Joyce 100 lines, woman
- Farhad 59 lines, man
- Elly 58 lines, woman
- Vi 38 lines, woman
- Cathy 26 lines, woman
- Maryam 25 lines, woman
- Lara 19 lines, woman
Full cast, 57 people
- Zar Amir Ebrahimi as Shayda
- Selina Zahednia as Mona
- Leah Purcell as Joyce
- Jillian Nguyen as Vi
- Osamah Sami as Hossein
- Mojean Aria as Farhad
- Rina Mousavi as Elly
- Lucinda Armstrong Hall as Renee
- Bev Killick as Cathy
- Jack Bonser as Night Club Member (uncredited)
- Eve Morey as Lara
- Alanna Ha Quach as Jill
- Avina Ha Quach as Jenny
- Luka Sero as Tobias
- Shayan Askari as Parviz
- Zohreh Farid as Maryam
- Tina Khabazian as Mrs Bagheri
- Asal Daram as Roya
- Catherine Glavicic as Miranda
- Nicole Gulasekharam as Deb
- Jerome Meyer as Pierre
- Sepideh Fallah
- Ghazal Ghazanfari
- Oona lux Nelson-Moore as Baby Dylan
- Hannah Moore as Annabelle
- Christopher Dimattina
- Liam McCarthy
- Tiana Hogben as Female Waiter
- Fariborz Pakzamir as Stall Owner
- Marjan Mesbahi as Shopkeeper
- Kamran Motamedi as Iranian Husband
- Nasibeh Irani as Iranian Mother
- Shaliz Hosseini as Iranian Wife
- Aban Qajarnia as Iranian Son
- Rayan Aridi as Drummer
- Behrouz Harvasi as Fire Jumper
- Sarah Harvasi as Fire Jumper
- Mustafa Amiri
- Aurnab As-Saber
- Faouzi Daghistani
- Yazdaneh Galt
- Elham Baghbani
- Negin Emamgholi
- Mohsen Panahi Erdi as Mr. Bagheri
- Sabrina Sanavandi as Bahar
- Ehsan Bayatfar as Reza
- Zac Garmsiri
- Nafiseh Hamidi
- Mohsen Hashemnejad
- Porsha Ghorbanpour
- Forouzan Ghorbanpour
- Phillip McInnes as Police Officer
- Iopu Auva'a
- Meleah Smedley
- Michael Robins
- Michael Robins
- Silas James
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 5% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 100
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 | 4 | 0 |
| 4 to 6 | 45 | 0 |
| 7 to 9 | 39 | 0 |
| 10 to 12 | 9 | 0 |
| 13 to 15 | 10 | 0 |
| 16 to 18 | 23 | 0 |
| 19 to 21 | 10 | 0 |
| 22 to 24 | 9 | 0 |
| 25 to 27 | 24 | 0 |
| 28 to 30 | 23 | 0 |
| 31 to 33 | 22 | 0 |
| 34 to 36 | 18 | 26 |
| 37 to 39 | 35 | 15 |
| 40 to 42 | 7 | 4 |
| 43 to 45 | 26 | 0 |
| 46 to 48 | 59 | 4 |
| 49 to 51 | 27 | 0 |
| 52 to 54 | 68 | 22 |
| 55 to 57 | 21 | 36 |
| 58 to 60 | 17 | 9 |
| 61 to 63 | 19 | 1 |
| 64 to 66 | 9 | 17 |
| 67 to 69 | 9 | 11 |
| 70 to 72 | 19 | 0 |
| 73 to 75 | 30 | 3 |
| 76 to 78 | 21 | 25 |
| 79 to 81 | 5 | 5 |
| 82 to 84 | 7 | 2 |
| 85 to 87 | 4 | 0 |
| 88 to 90 | 15 | 0 |
| 91 to 93 | 5 | 0 |
| 94 to 96 | 27 | 0 |
| 97 to 99 | 12 | 0 |
| 100 to 100 | 5 | 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.
JOYCE: See these counters love? It’s important you remember what they look like. SHAYDA: Understand sweetheart? You have to remember this place.
MONA: Mummy... I wanna go home. SHAYDA: We’re almost done.
SHAYDA: What happened? MONA: This is mine. SHAYDA: No, these toys are for everyone. MONA: It’s mine.
SHAYDA: Mona... say sorry. JILL: Say sorry! MONA: No! SHAYDA: Sorry.
SHAYDA: Turn it off. JOYCE: What’s wrong? SHAYDA: She said my name... She knows me.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 79 are women's.
683 lines from women, 180 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
7 women and 6 men in the cast. 8 women and 4 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 2 of 910.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 6 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 78% of the words (3,754), men 22% (1,033). Women have 79% 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
74
Two men
1
Exhibit F: behind the camera
3 of the 7 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 69% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Noora Niasari (woman)
- Written by
- Noora Niasari (woman)
- Produced by
- Vincent Sheehan (man), Noora Niasari (woman)
- Shot by
- Sherwin Akbarzadeh (man)
- Edited by
- Elika Rezaee (gender not listed)
- Production design by
- Josephine Wagstaff (gender not listed)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
5 women, 2 men, 6 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 1 men, 3 not listed
-
Sound
2 women, 1 men, 2 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 0 men, 3 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 0 men, 1 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 0 men, 2 not listed
-
Writing
1 women, 0 men, 1 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 41 on average. Men: 31 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Jillian Nguyen 29, Zar Amir Ebrahimi 42, Leah Purcell 53
Men
Jack Bonser 21, Osamah Sami 40
Exhibit H: the money
What it cost and made, where TMDB lists it.
- Budget
- Not listed
- Box office
- $233,971
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 100 scenes and 910 lines of dialogue. How the test works
