Fails the Bechdel test
Taking Sides
2001. Directed by István Szabó, written by Ronald Harwood.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
0 / 3
Fails
-
No
1. At least two women
Fewer than two women characters. -
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
Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.
The film
A tale based on the life of Wilhelm Furtwangler, the controversial conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic whose tenure coincided with the controversial Nazi era. One of the most spectacular and renowned conductors of the 1930s, Furtwangler's reputation rivalled that of Toscanini's. After the war, he was investigated as part of the Allies' de-Nazification program. In the bombed-out Berlin of the immediate post-war period, the Allies slowly bring law and order, and justice, to bear in an occupied Germany. An American Major is given the Furtwangler file, and is told to find everything he can and to prosecute the man ruthlessly. Tough and hard-nosed, Major Steve Arnold sets out to investigate a world of which he knows nothing. Orchestra members vouch for Furtwangler's morality. He did what he could to protect Jewish players from his orchestra. To the Germans, deeply respectful of their musical heritage, Furtwangler was a demigod; to Major Arnold, he is just a lying, weak-willed Nazi.
- Released
- 07 Mar 2002
- Genres
- Drama, Music, War
- Rated
- Not Rated
- IMDb
- 7.1 / 10
- Metascore
- 61 / 100
- Awards
- 9 wins & 3 nominations
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Steve 235 lines, man
- David 57 lines, man
- Emmi 46 lines, woman
- Rode 43 lines, man
- Dymshitz 24 lines, man
- Werner 12 lines, man
- Schlee 11 lines, man
- Wallace 10 lines, man
- Martin 6 lines, man
- Adams 3 lines, man
Full cast, 25 people
- Harvey Keitel as Steve Arnold
- Stellan Skarsgård as Wilhelm Furtwängler
- Moritz Bleibtreu as David Wills
- R. Lee Ermey as General Wallace
- Birgit Minichmayr as Emmi Straube
- Ulrich Tukur as Helmut Rode
- Oleg Tabakov as Colonel Dymshitz
- Hanns Zischler as Rudolf Werner
- Armin Rohde as Schlee
- Daniel White as Sergeant Adams
- August Zirner as Ed Martin
- Thomas Thieme as Reichsminister
- Jed Curtis as Colonel Green
- Garrick Hagon as Major Richards
- Robin Renucci as Captain Vernay
- Markus Heinicke as Attendant
- Aleksandar Tesla as Projectionist
- Jarreth J. Merz as US Soldier
- Holger Schober as Steve's Driver
- Frank Lebœuf as French Aide
- Philip Bowen as US Aide
- Thomas Morris as British Sergant
- Peter Döring as British Officer
- Rinat Shaham as Jazz Singer
- Henry Schindler as U.K. Aide
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 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 63
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 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 to 4 | 0 | 2 |
| 5 to 6 | 0 | 19 |
| 7 to 8 | 0 | 2 |
| 9 to 10 | 12 | 16 |
| 11 to 12 | 4 | 36 |
| 13 to 14 | 2 | 23 |
| 15 to 16 | 0 | 20 |
| 17 to 18 | 6 | 42 |
| 19 to 20 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 to 22 | 1 | 2 |
| 23 to 24 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 to 26 | 4 | 35 |
| 27 to 28 | 1 | 9 |
| 29 to 30 | 0 | 2 |
| 31 to 32 | 1 | 1 |
| 33 to 34 | 1 | 4 |
| 35 to 36 | 2 | 6 |
| 37 to 38 | 1 | 1 |
| 39 to 40 | 0 | 42 |
| 41 to 42 | 0 | 20 |
| 43 to 44 | 0 | 14 |
| 45 to 46 | 0 | 25 |
| 47 to 48 | 0 | 0 |
| 49 to 50 | 2 | 2 |
| 51 to 52 | 2 | 4 |
| 53 to 54 | 5 | 56 |
| 55 to 56 | 0 | 12 |
| 57 to 58 | 2 | 17 |
| 59 to 60 | 0 | 2 |
| 61 to 62 | 0 | 2 |
| 63 to 63 | 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, 10 are women's.
46 lines from women, 416 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
1 women and 21 men in the cast. 1 women and 15 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 34 of 477.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 107 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 7% of the words (511), men 93% (7,319). Women have 10% 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
0
Two men
28
Exhibit E: behind the camera
4 of the 10 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 45% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- István Szabó (man)
- Written by
- Ronald Harwood (man)
- Produced by
- Yves Pasquier (gender not listed)
- Shot by
- Lajos Koltai (man)
- Edited by
- Sylvie Landra (woman)
- Production design by
- Ken Adam (man)
- Costumes by
- Györgyi Szakács (man)
- Cast by
- Caroline Hutchings (woman), Heta Mantscheff (woman), Gillian Hawser (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
3 women, 0 men, 2 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 2 men
-
Camera
0 women, 1 men
-
Costume & Make-Up
0 women, 1 men
-
Directing
0 women, 1 men
-
Editing
1 women, 0 men
-
Writing
0 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 24 on average. Men: 55 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Birgit Minichmayr 24
Men
Moritz Bleibtreu 30, Ulrich Tukur 44, Armin Rohde 46, Stellan Skarsgård 50, Hanns Zischler 54, R. Lee Ermey 57, Harvey Keitel 62, Oleg Tabakov 66, Daniel White 89
Exhibit G: the money
What it cost and made, where TMDB lists it.
- Budget
- $20 million
- Box office
- Not listed
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 63 scenes and 477 lines of dialogue. How the test works
