Fails the Bechdel test

Silence

Name: Silence
Released: 2017

2017. Directed by Martin Scorsese, written by Jay Cocks and Martin Scorsese and Shusaku Endo.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

1 / 3

Fails

Yes 1. At least two women
13 women characters. 1 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

Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 0 out of 3.

The film

Intent on investigating the truth behind Father Cristovão Ferreira's abrupt end of correspondence, the devout Portuguese Catholic priests, Sebastião Rodrigues and Francisco Garupe, set off to Japan, in 1633. In great disbelief, as the rumours of Ferreira's apostasy still echo in their minds, the zealous Jesuit missionaries try to locate their mentor, amid the bloodshed of the violent anti-Christian purges. Under those circumstances, the two men and the Japanese guide, Kichijiro, arrive in Japan, only to witness firsthand the unbearable burden of those who have a different belief in a land founded on tradition. Now--as the powerful Grand Inquisitor, Inoue, performs hideous tortures on the brave Japanese Christians--Father Rodrigues will soon have to put his faith to the ultimate test: renounce it in exchange for the prisoners' lives. There, in the ends of the world, a subtle change has begun; however, why is God's silence so deafening?

Released: 13 Jan 2017
Genres: Drama, History
Rated: R
IMDb: 7.2 / 10
Metascore: 79 / 100
Awards: Nominated for 1 Oscar. 8 wins & 62 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Rodrigues 297 lines, man
Garupe 63 lines, man
Kichijiro 59 lines, man
Interpreter 55 lines, man
Ferreira 53 lines, man
Mokichi 28 lines, man
Ichizo 20 lines, man
Valignano 15 lines, man
Dieter Albrecht 12 lines, man
Inoue 12 lines, man

Full cast, 66 people

Andrew Garfield as Rodrigues
Adam Driver as Garupe
Liam Neeson as Ferreira
Tadanobu Asano as Interpreter
Ciarán Hinds as Father Valignano
Issey Ogata as Old Samurai / Inoue
Shinya Tsukamoto as Mokichi
Yoshi Oida as Ichizo
Yosuke Kubozuka as Kichijiro
Kaoru Endō as Unzen Samurai (Uneme)
Diego Calderón as Prisoner Augustinian Friar #2
Rafael Kading as Prisoner Augustinian Friar #1
Matthew Blake as Prisoner Franciscan Friar
Benoit Masse as Prisoner Augustinian Friar #3
Tetsuya Igawa as Prisoner Japanese Jesuit
Shi Liang as Chinese Businessman (Mr. Chun)
Panta as Tomogi Villager #1 (Yohei)
Takuya Matsunaga as Tomogi Villager #2 (Toukichi)
Miho Harita as Ichizo's Wife (Tomi)
Hairi Katagiri as Tomogi Woman (Tsune)
Masayuki Yamada as Tomogi Husband (Kasuke)
Michié as Tomogi Wife (Mitsu)
Hiroko Isayama as Tomogi Village Woman (Hiro)
Yutaka Mishima as Goto Man #1 (Kuro)
Yasunari Takeshima as Goto Man #2 (Haku)
Yuri Ishizaka as Kichijiro Sister at Stake (Tae)
Ryo Sato as Kichijiro Sister #2 (Hisa)
Ruo Satô as Kichijiro Father (Kichizo)
Yoriko Doguchi as Kichijiro Mother (Naka)
Kisetsu Fujiwara as Kichijiro Brother #2 (Kichita)
Yasushi Takahashi as Tomogi Villager
Sanjuro Kobayashi as Tomogi Villager
Mangorô Satô as Tomogi Villager
Keiko Morikawa as Tomogi Villager
Jin Maki as Boatman
Naoto Yokouchi as Goto Swimming Man
Kansai Eto as Old Goto Man (Mosuke)
Shun Sugata as Samurai Commander
Kazuhiko Ozaki as Tomogi Hostage #3 (Yahachi)
Nana Komatsu as Monica (Haru)
Ryo Kase as Juan (Chokichi)
Fumitaka Terai as Christian Prisoner (Tobei)
Hako Ohshima as Christian Prisoner (Kiku)
Hideki Nishioka as Christian Prisoner (Mataichi)
Takahiro Fujita as Inoue's Attendant
Senmaru as Nagasaki Juggler
Ryô Fujiwara as Nagasaki Child
Nobuaki Fukuda as Jeering Man
Munetaka Aoki as Prison Guard #1
Sabu as Samurai #1
Tetsu Watanabe as Prison Guard #2
Exile Akira as Prison Official
Shunya Tajima as Samurai at Beach #1
Ryuki Kitaoka as Samurai at Beach #2
Hiroki Noguchi as Samurai in Boat
Katsuo Nakamura as Old Buddhist Priest
Yoshihiro Takayama as Large Man
Shoji Miyata as Vendor's Cries (voice)
Noriwo Mitsuda as Vendor's Cries (voice)
Ayumu Saito as Prison Guard #3
Béla Baptiste as Dieter Albrecht
Asuka Kurosawa as Rodrigues' Wife
Motokatsu Suzuki as Edo Guard (uncredited)
Yasushi Takada as Doshin (uncredited)
Ten Miyazawa as Carpenter (uncredited)
Iola Lee as Geisha

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 6% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 139

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	2
4 to 6	0	8
7 to 9	0	36
10 to 12	0	34
13 to 15	0	2
16 to 18	0	16
19 to 21	0	16
22 to 24	0	21
25 to 27	3	7
28 to 30	1	13
31 to 33	0	31
34 to 36	0	7
37 to 39	0	18
40 to 42	0	16
43 to 45	0	8
46 to 48	0	12
49 to 51	1	27
52 to 54	0	23
55 to 57	0	6
58 to 60	0	5
61 to 63	0	19
64 to 66	0	4
67 to 69	0	5
70 to 72	0	6
73 to 75	0	9
76 to 78	0	17
79 to 81	5	37
82 to 84	0	9
85 to 87	0	10
88 to 90	0	7
91 to 93	1	28
94 to 96	0	11
97 to 99	1	11
100 to 102	0	29
103 to 105	0	0
106 to 108	0	2
109 to 111	0	2
112 to 114	0	4
115 to 117	0	4
118 to 120	0	22
121 to 123	0	46
124 to 126	0	17
127 to 129	0	30
130 to 132	0	10
133 to 135	0	22
136 to 138	0	4
139 to 139	0	2

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, 2 are women's.

12 lines from women, 675 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

13 women and 33 men in the cast. 1 women and 18 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 145 of 728. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 206 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 1% of the words (87), men 99% (9,696). Women have 2% 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

Two men

Exhibit E: behind the camera

4 of the 18 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 24% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Martin Scorsese (man)
Written by: Jay Cocks (man), Martin Scorsese (man)
From the novel by: Shūsaku Endō (man)
Produced by: Randall Emmett (man), Emma Tillinger Koskoff (woman), Barbara De Fina (woman), Irwin Winkler (man), Vittorio Cecchi Gori (man), Martin Scorsese (man) and 1 more
Shot by: Rodrigo Prieto (man)
Edited by: Thelma Schoonmaker (woman)
Music by: Kathryn Kluge (gender not listed), Kim Allen Kluge (gender not listed)
Production design by: Dante Ferretti (man)
Costumes by: Dante Ferretti (man)
Cast by: Ellen Lewis (woman)

The crew, department by department

Production

7 women, 18 men, 11 not listed
Other crew

2 women, 9 men, 20 not listed
Sound

3 women, 10 men, 8 not listed
Art

4 women, 6 men, 9 not listed
Camera

0 women, 8 men, 8 not listed
Costume & Make-Up

4 women, 3 men, 7 not listed
Directing

1 women, 7 men, 3 not listed
Visual Effects

0 women, 3 men, 4 not listed

Women
Men
Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit F: how old the stars were

Men: 53 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Men

Andrew Garfield 33, Adam Driver 33, Yosuke Kubozuka 37, Tadanobu Asano 43, Shinya Tsukamoto 56, Ciarán Hinds 63, Liam Neeson 64, Issey Ogata 64, Yoshi Oida 83

Exhibit G: the money

It made 52% of what it cost.

Budget: $46 million
Box office: $23.8 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 139 scenes and 728 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

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