Passes the Bechdel test
Suffragette
2015. Directed by Sarah Gavron, written by Abi Morgan.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
14 women characters. 14 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 21 scenes out of 155. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3.
The film
A drama that tracks the story of the foot soldiers of the early feminist movement, women who were forced underground to pursue a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse with an increasingly brutal State. These women were not primarily from the genteel educated classes, they were working women who had seen peaceful protest achieve nothing. Radicalized and turning to violence as the only route to change, they were willing to lose everything in their fight for equality--their jobs, their homes, their children, and their lives. Maud was one such foot soldier. The story of her fight for dignity is as gripping and visceral as any thriller, it is also heartbreaking and inspirational.
- Released
- 12 Oct 2015
- Genres
- Drama, History
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 6.9 / 10
- Metascore
- 64 / 100
- Awards
- 17 wins & 21 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Maud 184 lines, woman
- Violet 81 lines, woman
- Edith 63 lines, woman
- Sonny 54 lines, man
- Steed 43 lines, man
- Taylor 30 lines, man
- Alice 26 lines, woman
- Emily 23 lines, woman
- Lloyd George 20 lines, man
- Hugh 18 lines, man
Full cast, 31 people
- Carey Mulligan as Maud Watts
- Helena Bonham Carter as Edith Ellyn
- Brendan Gleeson as Arthur Steed
- Anne-Marie Duff as Violet Miller
- Meryl Streep as Emmeline Pankhurst
- Ben Whishaw as Sonny Watts
- Romola Garai as Alice Haughton
- Samuel West as Benedict Haughton
- Geoff Bell as Norman Taylor
- Natalie Press as Emily Davison
- Adrian Schiller as David Lloyd George
- Amanda Lawrence as Miss Withers
- Adam Michael Dodd as George Watts
- Grace Stottor as Maggie Miller
- Lorraine Stanley as Mrs Coleman
- Morgan Watkins as Detective Malcolm Walsop
- Finbar Lynch as Hugh Ellyn
- Nick Hendrix as Government Minister
- Shelley Longworth as Miss Samson
- Sarah Finigan as Mrs Garston
- Drew Edwards as Male Laundry Worker
- Adam Nagaitis as Mr Cummins
- Lee Nicholas Harris as Police Constable
- Joyce Henderson as Female Prison Guard
- Susie Baxter as Landlady
- Lisa Dillon as Mrs Drayton
- Matt Blair as Mr. Drayton
- Jo Neary as Woman Prisoner
- Col Needham as Committee Member
- John Cummins as Epsom Groundsman
- Kevin Hudson as The Muffin Man (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 3% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 155
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 | 2 |
| 5 to 8 | 3 | 0 |
| 9 to 12 | 6 | 5 |
| 13 to 16 | 17 | 9 |
| 17 to 20 | 25 | 7 |
| 21 to 24 | 14 | 1 |
| 25 to 28 | 2 | 14 |
| 29 to 32 | 24 | 9 |
| 33 to 36 | 30 | 26 |
| 37 to 40 | 18 | 8 |
| 41 to 44 | 19 | 11 |
| 45 to 48 | 1 | 3 |
| 49 to 52 | 23 | 0 |
| 53 to 56 | 16 | 13 |
| 57 to 60 | 12 | 6 |
| 61 to 64 | 18 | 1 |
| 65 to 68 | 0 | 2 |
| 69 to 72 | 16 | 3 |
| 73 to 76 | 3 | 12 |
| 77 to 80 | 4 | 8 |
| 81 to 84 | 24 | 9 |
| 85 to 88 | 4 | 0 |
| 89 to 92 | 10 | 1 |
| 93 to 96 | 2 | 0 |
| 97 to 100 | 25 | 12 |
| 101 to 104 | 26 | 12 |
| 105 to 108 | 8 | 5 |
| 109 to 112 | 6 | 13 |
| 113 to 116 | 0 | 0 |
| 117 to 120 | 0 | 0 |
| 121 to 124 | 16 | 6 |
| 125 to 128 | 28 | 7 |
| 129 to 132 | 5 | 2 |
| 133 to 136 | 1 | 1 |
| 137 to 140 | 7 | 3 |
| 141 to 144 | 6 | 0 |
| 145 to 148 | 0 | 0 |
| 149 to 152 | 12 | 2 |
| 153 to 155 | 6 | 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.
VIOLET: You ready? VIOLET: This is my eldest, Maggie. MAUD: Hello Maggie.
MAUD: Violet! Where were you? We waited and- MAUD: Violet. VIOLET: It’s nothing. I’m all right. MAUD: Mrs Haughton’s inside.
VIOLET: Maud, you speak for me. MAUD: I can’t. ALICE: It is written down. MAUD: No, I'm not. I'm not good at...
ALICE: Please, we have no time. VIOLET: You can do it. You tell ‘em. Good luck Maud.
VIOLET: Oi Maud, Mrs Ellyn’s invited you to tea. MAUD: Has she? VIOLET: She says you’ve gone and woken up the dinosaurs of Westminster.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 67 are women's.
438 lines from women, 213 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
14 women and 14 men in the cast. 14 women and 20 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 8 of 669.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 12 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 61% of the words (3,623), men 39% (2,277). Women have 67% 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
44
Two men
13
Exhibit F: behind the camera
7 of the 10 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 43% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Sarah Gavron (woman)
- Written by
- Abi Morgan (woman)
- Produced by
- Alison Owen (woman), Faye Ward (woman)
- Shot by
- Eduard Grau (man)
- Edited by
- Barney Pilling (man)
- Music by
- Alexandre Desplat (man)
- Production design by
- Alice Normington (woman)
- Costumes by
- Jane Petrie (woman)
- Cast by
- Fiona Weir (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Costume & Make-Up
4 women, 6 men, 3 not listed
-
Production
9 women, 4 men
-
Camera
1 women, 4 men, 4 not listed
-
Sound
1 women, 5 men, 2 not listed
-
Art
3 women, 2 men, 2 not listed
-
Visual Effects
0 women, 2 men, 4 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 2 men, 3 not listed
-
Directing
2 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 43 on average. Men: 49 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Carey Mulligan 30, Romola Garai 33, Natalie Press 35, Anne-Marie Duff 45, Helena Bonham Carter 49, Meryl Streep 66
Men
Ben Whishaw 35, Samuel West 49, Geoff Bell 52, Brendan Gleeson 60
Exhibit H: the money
It made 1.1 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $14 million
- Box office
- $16 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 155 scenes and 669 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
