Passes the Bechdel test
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
2012. Directed by John Madden, written by Ol Parker and Deborah Moggach.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
14 women characters. 7 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 9 scenes out of 206. -
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
Seven elderly Britons, for a variety of reasons, respond to an online ad and travel to Jaipur, India, where they find run-down hotel with a young, exuberant, and optimistic host. Evelyn Greenslade (Dame Judi Dench), newly widowed, wants a low-cost experience, Graham Dashwood (Tom Wilkinson) seeks a long-ago love, Douglas Ainslie (Bill Nighy) and Jean Ainslie (Dame Penelope Wilton) have lost their pension in a family investment, Muriel Donnelly (Dame Maggie Smith) needs cheap hip surgery, Madge Hardcastle (Celia Imrie) seeks a rich husband, and Norman Cousins (Ronald Pickup) is chasing women. India affects each in different ways, enchanting Douglas and Evelyn while driving Jean deeper into bitterness. Their host, young Sonny (Dev Patel), has dreams but little cash or skill; he also has a girlfriend whom his mother dismisses. Stories cross and discoveries await each one.
- Released
- 25 May 2012
- Genres
- Comedy, Drama, Romance
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 7.2 / 10
- Metascore
- 62 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 1 BAFTA Award. 4 wins & 22 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Evelyn 123 lines, woman
- Sonny 116 lines, man
- Douglas 94 lines, man
- Jean 79 lines, woman
- Madge 74 lines, woman
- Graham 73 lines, man
- Muriel 72 lines, woman
- Norman 66 lines, man
- Mrs Kapoor 34 lines, woman
- Sunaina 32 lines, woman
Full cast, 32 people
- Bill Nighy as Douglas Ainslie
- Maggie Smith as Muriel Donnelly
- Tom Wilkinson as Graham Dashwood
- Judi Dench as Evelyn Greenslade
- Dev Patel as Sonny Kapoor
- Penelope Wilton as Jean Ainslie
- Celia Imrie as Madge Hardcastle
- Ronald Pickup as Norman Cousins
- Tina Desai as Sunaina
- Lillete Dubey as Mrs. Kapoor
- Diana Hardcastle as Carol Parr
- Ramona Marquez as Madge's Grandchild
- Sara Stewart as Madge's Daughter
- Hugh Dickson as Judge
- Patrick Pearson as Graham's Colleague
- Liza Tarbuck as Nurse
- Lucy Robinson as Judith
- Louise Brealey as Hairdresser
- Richard Cubison as Douglas' Golf Partner
- Paul Bhattacharjee as Dr Ghujarapartinder
- Siddharth Makkar as Jay
- Seema Azmi as Anokhi
- Honey Chhaya as Young Wasim
- Nina Kulkarni as Guarika
- Jay Villiers as Evelyn's Son
- Paul Bentall as Evelyn's Lawyer
- Glen Davies as Taxi Driver
- Rajendra Gupta as Manoj
- Catherine Terris as Graham's C;leaner
- Vishnu Sharma as Mr Maruthi
- Simon Wilson as Madge's Son-in-Law
- James Rawlings as Estate Agent
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 5 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 13% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 206
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 | 2 | 6 |
| 6 to 10 | 21 | 7 |
| 11 to 15 | 13 | 8 |
| 16 to 20 | 6 | 11 |
| 21 to 25 | 9 | 7 |
| 26 to 30 | 9 | 9 |
| 31 to 35 | 13 | 7 |
| 36 to 40 | 5 | 6 |
| 41 to 45 | 3 | 1 |
| 46 to 50 | 9 | 9 |
| 51 to 55 | 11 | 19 |
| 56 to 60 | 0 | 0 |
| 61 to 65 | 0 | 0 |
| 66 to 70 | 7 | 11 |
| 71 to 75 | 8 | 2 |
| 76 to 80 | 17 | 18 |
| 81 to 85 | 18 | 22 |
| 86 to 90 | 13 | 23 |
| 91 to 95 | 23 | 13 |
| 96 to 100 | 37 | 26 |
| 101 to 105 | 5 | 0 |
| 106 to 110 | 19 | 23 |
| 111 to 115 | 9 | 5 |
| 116 to 120 | 17 | 20 |
| 121 to 125 | 12 | 20 |
| 126 to 130 | 4 | 14 |
| 131 to 135 | 4 | 10 |
| 136 to 140 | 0 | 0 |
| 141 to 145 | 13 | 7 |
| 146 to 150 | 1 | 10 |
| 151 to 155 | 1 | 0 |
| 156 to 160 | 5 | 0 |
| 161 to 165 | 17 | 17 |
| 166 to 170 | 19 | 11 |
| 171 to 175 | 17 | 13 |
| 176 to 180 | 16 | 1 |
| 181 to 185 | 1 | 2 |
| 186 to 190 | 4 | 11 |
| 191 to 195 | 53 | 22 |
| 196 to 200 | 0 | 0 |
| 201 to 205 | 7 | 8 |
| 206 to 206 | 0 | 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.
JEAN: Good morning. Muriel says nothing. JEAN: Lovely day. Still nothing from Muriel. JEAN: Lovely. MURIEL: Long old life, isn't it?
CAROL: I beg your pardon? MADGE: Oh god.
CAROL: What business? MADGE: Import-Export.
ANOKHI: Tarkha dhal. Chapati. MURIEL: I'm not eating that.
SUNAINA: I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry . I don't know what your name is, but I'm incredibly sorry. MADGE: Don't be. Most action I've had in weeks. SUNAINA: If you could just please not
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 53 are women's.
448 lines from women, 399 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
14 women and 16 men in the cast. 7 women and 7 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 5 of 972.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 17 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 50% of the words (5,592), men 50% (5,686). Women have 53% 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
29
Two men
14
Exhibit F: behind the camera
4 of the 12 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 36% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- John Madden (man)
- Written by
- Ol Parker (man)
- From the novel by
- Deborah Moggach (woman)
- Produced by
- Graham Broadbent (man), Peter Czernin (man)
- Shot by
- Ben Davis (man)
- Edited by
- Chris Gill (man)
- Music by
- Thomas Newman (man)
- Production design by
- Alan MacDonald (man)
- Costumes by
- Louise Stjernsward (woman)
- Cast by
- Michelle Guish (woman), Seher Aly Latif (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Costume & Make-Up
3 women, 2 men, 3 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 1 men, 3 not listed
-
Production
2 women, 2 men
-
Directing
0 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 2 men
-
Writing
1 women, 1 men
-
Camera
0 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 60 on average. Men: 55 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Tina Desai 24, Lillete Dubey 58, Celia Imrie 59, Penelope Wilton 65, Maggie Smith 77, Judi Dench 77
Men
Dev Patel 21, Bill Nighy 62, Tom Wilkinson 64, Ronald Pickup 71
Exhibit H: the money
It made 15.1 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $10 million
- Box office
- $151 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 206 scenes and 972 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
