Fails the Bechdel test
The Avengers
1998. Directed by Jeremiah S. Chechik, written by Sydney Newman and Don MacPherson.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
5 women characters. 3 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
Women do talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Every conversation between women that our parser found mentions a man.
Second opinion
Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3.
The film
British Ministry Agent John Steed, under direction from "Mother", investigates a diabolical plot by archvillain Sir August de Wynter to rule the world with his weather control machine. Steed investigates the beautiful Doctor Mrs. Emma Peel, the only suspect, but simultaneously falls for her and joins forces with her to combat Sir August.
- Released
- 14 Aug 1998
- Genres
- Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 3.8 / 10
- Metascore
- 12 / 100
- Awards
- 4 wins & 17 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Emma 250 lines, woman
- Steed 227 lines, man
- Valentine 56 lines
- Mother 55 lines, man
- Father 27 lines, woman
- Voice 27 lines
- Dr. Darling 22 lines, man
- Invisible Jones 18 lines, man
- Peter 14 lines
- Sir August 12 lines, man
Full cast, 20 people
- Ralph Fiennes as John Steed
- Uma Thurman as Emma Peel
- Sean Connery as Sir August de Wynter
- Patrick Macnee as Invisible Jones (voice)
- Jim Broadbent as Mother
- Fiona Shaw as Father
- Suzy Eddie Izzard as Bailey
- Eileen Atkins as Alice
- John Wood as Trubshaw
- Carmen Ejogo as Brenda
- Keeley Hawes as Tamara
- Shaun Ryder as Donavan
- Nicholas Woodeson as Dr. Darling
- Michael Godley as Butler
- Richard Lumsden as Boodle's Porter
- Solly Assa as Bob
- Nadim Sawalha as World Council of Ministers
- Christopher Godwin as World Council of Ministers
- David Webber as World Council of Ministers
- Roger Lloyd Pack as Professor
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 14% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 168
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 | 4 | 0 |
| 5 to 8 | 1 | 0 |
| 9 to 12 | 5 | 9 |
| 13 to 16 | 16 | 17 |
| 17 to 20 | 24 | 40 |
| 21 to 24 | 9 | 12 |
| 25 to 28 | 9 | 10 |
| 29 to 32 | 9 | 9 |
| 33 to 36 | 12 | 15 |
| 37 to 40 | 7 | 8 |
| 41 to 44 | 2 | 3 |
| 45 to 48 | 19 | 20 |
| 49 to 52 | 1 | 13 |
| 53 to 56 | 6 | 6 |
| 57 to 60 | 13 | 13 |
| 61 to 64 | 1 | 4 |
| 65 to 68 | 26 | 23 |
| 69 to 72 | 11 | 20 |
| 73 to 76 | 2 | 2 |
| 77 to 80 | 21 | 24 |
| 81 to 84 | 7 | 11 |
| 85 to 88 | 12 | 15 |
| 89 to 92 | 10 | 11 |
| 93 to 96 | 1 | 1 |
| 97 to 100 | 0 | 2 |
| 101 to 104 | 0 | 0 |
| 105 to 108 | 0 | 0 |
| 109 to 112 | 0 | 0 |
| 113 to 116 | 2 | 2 |
| 117 to 120 | 0 | 1 |
| 121 to 124 | 0 | 1 |
| 125 to 128 | 12 | 15 |
| 129 to 132 | 1 | 8 |
| 133 to 136 | 7 | 0 |
| 137 to 140 | 11 | 5 |
| 141 to 144 | 4 | 1 |
| 145 to 148 | 10 | 4 |
| 149 to 152 | 6 | 4 |
| 153 to 156 | 0 | 0 |
| 157 to 160 | 0 | 10 |
| 161 to 164 | 0 | 1 |
| 165 to 168 | 12 | 19 |
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, 45 are women's.
293 lines from women, 359 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
5 women and 13 men in the cast. 3 women and 7 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
A woman speaks the first line.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 36 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 39% of the words (2,156), men 61% (3,397). Women have 45% 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
1
Two men
10
Exhibit E: behind the camera
1 of the 9 people in these jobs is a woman.
Across the whole crew, 11% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Jeremiah S. Chechik (man)
- Written by
- Don MacPherson (man)
- Produced by
- Jerry Weintraub (man)
- Shot by
- Roger Pratt (man)
- Edited by
- Mick Audsley (man)
- Music by
- Joel McNeely (man)
- Production design by
- Stuart Craig (man)
- Costumes by
- Anthony Powell (man)
- Cast by
- Susie Figgis (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
3 women, 16 men, 10 not listed
-
Art
2 women, 13 men, 9 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 12 men, 6 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
0 women, 5 men, 7 not listed
-
Production
3 women, 3 men, 6 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 9 men, 2 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 7 men, 1 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 2 men, 4 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 39 on average. Men: 59 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Carmen Ejogo 24, Uma Thurman 28, Fiona Shaw 40, Eileen Atkins 64
Men
Ralph Fiennes 35, Jim Broadbent 49, Sean Connery 67, John Wood 68, Patrick Macnee 76
Exhibit G: the money
It made 81% of what it cost.
- Budget
- $60 million
- Box office
- $48.6 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 168 scenes and 761 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
