Passes the Bechdel test

The Brutalist

Name: The Brutalist
Released: 2025

2025. Directed by Brady Corbet, written by Brady Corbet and Mona Fastvold.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
12 women characters. 10 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 4 scenes out of 165.
Yes 3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.

Second opinion

Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 2 out of 3.

The film

When visionary architect László Toth and his wife Erzsébet flee Europe to rebuild their legacy and witness the birth of modern America, their lives are changed forever by a mysterious and wealthy client. The seemingly charming industrialist Harrison Van Buren offers László and his family the American Dream on a silver platter by commissioning him to design a grand modernist monument and help shape the landscape of the country he now calls home. It will be the most ambitious project of his career, one that will take László and Erzsébet to both monumental heights and devastating lows.

Released: 24 Jan 2025
Genres: Drama
Rated: R
IMDb: 7.2 / 10
Metascore: 91 / 100
Awards: Won 3 Oscars. 140 wins & 362 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Laszlo 332 lines, man
Van Buren 185 lines, man
Erzsebet 176 lines, woman
Harry Lee 74 lines, man
Attila 65 lines, man
Gordon 39 lines, man
Maggie Lee 34 lines, woman
Leslie Woodrow 32 lines, man
Zsofia 27 lines, woman
Audrey 21 lines, woman

Full cast, 38 people

Adrien Brody as László Tóth
Felicity Jones as Erzsébet Tóth
Guy Pearce as Harrison Lee Van Buren Sr
Joe Alwyn as Harry Lee
Raffey Cassidy as Zsófia
Stacy Martin as Maggie Lee
Isaach de Bankolé as Gordon
Alessandro Nivola as Attila
Ariane Labed as Older Zsófia
Michael Epp as Jim Simpson
Emma Laird as Audrey
Jonathan Hyde as Leslie Woodrow
Peter Polycarpou as Michael Hoffman
Maria Sand as Michelle Hoffman
Salvatore Sansone as Orazio
Zephan Amissah as Teenage William
Charlie Esoko as Young William
Levente Orbán as Hungarian Refugee
Benett Vilmányi as Binyamin
Peter Deutsch as Habbi Zuniz
Abigél Szőke as Nun
Daniel Washington as HIAS Representative 1
András Borgula as HIAS Representative 2
Zsolt Páll as Border Officer
Anna Mészöly as Prostitute 1
Mariann Hermányi as Servant
Nicholas Wittman as Volunteer at Church
Robert Jackson as Townsperson 1
Peter Linka as Townsperson 2
Jeremy Wheeler as Party Guest
Stephen Saracco as Construction Supervisor
Jaymes Butler as Bar Manager
David Puskas as Hired Man
Laurent Winkler as Guest
Hermina Fátyol as Madame
Dóra Sztarenki as Woman Dancing with László
Natalie Shinnick as Receptionist
Zalán Döbör-Hodászi as Drunk Guy

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 5% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 165

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	6	9
5 to 8	13	10
9 to 12	3	2
13 to 16	6	42
17 to 20	0	19
21 to 24	5	6
25 to 28	0	15
29 to 32	4	34
33 to 36	6	6
37 to 40	0	18
41 to 44	0	29
45 to 48	1	2
49 to 52	0	66
53 to 56	0	9
57 to 60	8	36
61 to 64	6	63
65 to 68	0	29
69 to 72	0	9
73 to 76	4	29
77 to 80	2	27
81 to 84	21	41
85 to 88	17	12
89 to 92	18	17
93 to 96	0	45
97 to 100	28	45
101 to 104	15	13
105 to 108	2	7
109 to 112	4	38
113 to 116	40	16
117 to 120	2	20
121 to 124	1	11
125 to 128	7	23
129 to 132	15	17
133 to 136	1	3
137 to 140	2	4
141 to 144	7	6
145 to 148	31	13
149 to 152	1	7
153 to 156	1	1
157 to 160	0	1
161 to 164	2	0
165 to 165	10	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.

ERZSEBET: The property is beautiful. MAGGIE LEE: Isn't it?

ERZSEBET: Did you ever manage to find the place? MAGGIE LEE: After driving around for hours in the dark looking for this damned camouflaged mailbox- ERZSEBET: -and then what?! MAGGIE LEE: I noticed something a little funny about the other dinner guests.

ERZSEBET: The service is in here? MICHELLE HOFFMAN: For the overflow. ERZSEBET: Because of the holiday? MICHELLE HOFFMAN: The community is growing.

ERZSEBET: Life is difficult there. Have you thought this through? ZSOFIA: It is our obligation.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 27 are women's.

289 lines from women, 800 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

12 women and 26 men in the cast. 10 women and 22 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 8 of 1,151. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 85 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 25% of the words (3,284), men 75% (9,894). Women have 27% 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

3 of the 15 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 33% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Brady Corbet (man)
Written by: Brady Corbet (man), Mona Fastvold (woman)
Produced by: Nick Gordon (man), D.J. Gugenheim (man), Andrew Lauren (man), Trevor Matthews (man), Andrew Morrison (man), Brian Young (man) and 1 more
Shot by: Lol Crawley (man)
Edited by: Dávid Jancsó (man)
Music by: Daniel Blumberg (man)
Production design by: Judy Becker (woman)
Costumes by: Kate Forbes (woman)