Passes the Bechdel test

Tamara Drewe

Name: Tamara Drewe
Released: 2010

2010. Directed by Stephen Frears, written by Posy Simmonds and Moira Buffini.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
13 women characters. 12 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 7 scenes out of 219.
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

The Independent journalist Tamara Drewe returns to Dorset, Ewedown, to sell the Winnard Farm that belonged to her deceased mother. Her neighbor Beth Hardiment runs a writers retreat with her unfaithful and womanizer husband Nicholas Hardiment who is a successful writer of Inchcombe adventures and cheats on Beth every now and then with younger women. Tamara was the sweetheart of the handyman Andy Cobb, whose family owned the Winnard Farm but lost it to Tamara's family, and when she sees him, she rekindles her love for him. However, when Tamara travels to interview the unpleasant drummer of the Swipe band Ben Sergeant, he has just found that his girlfriend Fran is having an affair with the other musician Steven Culley and he breaks up with the band. Tamara and Ben have a love affair and Ben moves to Winnard. Meanwhile, Ben's teenager fan Jody Long and her best friend Casey Shaw who are bored in Ewedown feel happy with the presence of Ben in the village. When Ben proposes to Tamara, they travel to London to spend a couple of days in the big city. Meanwhile, the jealous Casey breaks in Tamara's house and uses her computer to send an e-mail pretending to be Tamara that will change the lives of the dwellers and end in a tragedy.

Released: 10 Sep 2010
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Rated: R
IMDb: 6.2 / 10
Metascore: 64 / 100
Awards: 3 wins & 3 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Tamara 178 lines, woman
Nicholas 169 lines, man
Beth 161 lines, woman
Glen 119 lines, man
Jody 115 lines, woman
Andy 107 lines, man
Casey 80 lines, woman
Ben 79 lines, man
Zoe 15 lines, woman
Poppy 10 lines, woman

Full cast, 21 people

Gemma Arterton as Tamara Drewe
Roger Allam as Nicholas Hardiment
Bill Camp as Glen McCreavy
Dominic Cooper as Ben Sergeant
Jessica Barden as Jody Long
Luke Evans as Andy Cobb
Tamsin Greig as Beth Hardiment
Charlotte Christie as Casey Shaw
Alex Kelly as Jody's Mum
James Naughtie as Interviewer
John Bett as Diggory
Josie Taylor as Zoe
Bronagh Gallagher as Eustacia
Pippa Haywood as Tess
Susan Wooldridge as Penny Upminster
Amanda Lawrence as Mary
Joel Fry as Steve Culley
Emily Bruni as Caitlin
Tom Allen as Vintner
Lola Frears as Poppy Hardiment
Patricia Quinn as Posh Hippy

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 5 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 2% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 219

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 5	1	2
6 to 10	10	6
11 to 15	12	15
16 to 20	7	0
21 to 25	14	13
26 to 30	9	9
31 to 35	10	10
36 to 40	1	1
41 to 45	19	17
46 to 50	9	17
51 to 55	12	33
56 to 60	36	28
61 to 65	13	19
66 to 70	23	17
71 to 75	15	14
76 to 80	17	13
81 to 85	0	3
86 to 90	20	22
91 to 95	6	5
96 to 100	23	20
101 to 105	14	7
106 to 110	32	14
111 to 115	11	26
116 to 120	5	2
121 to 125	9	0
126 to 130	18	2
131 to 135	21	15
136 to 140	8	0
141 to 145	17	6
146 to 150	13	20
151 to 155	23	17
156 to 160	19	6
161 to 165	29	0
166 to 170	1	3
171 to 175	11	2
176 to 180	32	20
181 to 185	11	6
186 to 190	21	26
191 to 195	15	13
196 to 200	4	20
201 to 205	0	0
206 to 210	1	0
211 to 215	12	4
216 to 219	10	14

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.

BETH: Do you think I should be reminding them to drink enough? It's very hot out there... MARY: Beth - they're writers, not babies. You run round after `em too much.

CASEY: Frock horrors. This weeks top of the shocks goes to Katie Pound in an off the shoulder lime by Roberto. JODY: She looks like a bug. Wankers! CASEY: You wanna sack your stylist girl. JODY: Bet they did that on purpose, dressed her up like an insect. Casey agrees. They zoom away.

TESS: At least you've been published. I'm seething with envy; I'd love to be published. EUSTACIA: I publish myself on the internet. TESS: Oh, do you earn money doing that? EUSTACIA: No.

TAMARA: Big glass of rioja please. And I need a room. ZOE: Sure, how many nights? TAMARA: Don't know. Just one. ZOE: You here on business?

BETH: She's had the writers down there helping her all day. I hope she realises they're here to work... POPPY: Can't believe what a difference her nose makes. BETH: Well I think it's a mistake; taken away all her character. POPPY: Come on; she looks ten times better.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 55 are women's.

594 lines from women, 487 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

13 women and 7 men in the cast. 12 women and 7 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 3 of 1,104. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 23 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 53% of the words (6,337), men 47% (5,625). Women have 55% 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

Two men

Exhibit F: behind the camera

5 of the 11 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 48% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Stephen Frears (man)
Written by: Moira Buffini (woman)
Produced by: Tracey Seaward (woman), Alison Owen (woman), Paul Trijbits (man)
Shot by: Ben Davis (man)
Edited by: Mick Audsley (man)
Music by: Alexandre Desplat (man)
Production design by: Alan MacDonald (man)
Costumes by: Consolata Boyle (woman)
Cast by: Leo Davis (woman)