Passes the Bechdel test

The Danish Girl

Name: The Danish Girl
Released: 2016

2016. Directed by Tom Hooper, written by Lucinda Coxon and David Ebershoff.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
17 women characters. 9 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 2 scenes out of 150.
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

Copenhagen, Denmark, 1926. Einar Wegener and his wife Gerda are a happily married couple. Both are artists, Einar preferring landscapes and she portraits. One day Einar poses for a portrait of Gerda's while wearing a dress. This is initially done as a lark, as is the later attendance at a party dressed as a woman. However, Einar soon discovers that she is in fact a woman and over time prefers being Lili. At first she and Gerda try to have her situation "cured" but this leads nowhere (other than to many doctors trying to have Lili locked up as a pervert and/or lunatic). Her voyage of self-discovery will ultimately lead to her undergoing the first ever sex-change operation.

Released: 22 Jan 2016
Genres: Biography, Drama
Rated: R
IMDb: 7.1 / 10
Metascore: 66 / 100
Awards: Won 1 Oscar. 32 wins & 82 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Gerda 274 lines, woman
Einar 153 lines, man
Lili 92 lines, man
Hans 76 lines, man
Henrik 40 lines, man
Ulla 34 lines, woman
Einar/Lili 23 lines, man
Warnekros 21 lines, man
Hexler 17 lines, man
Rasmussen 15 lines, man

Full cast, 39 people

Eddie Redmayne as Lili
Alicia Vikander as Gerda
Matthias Schoenaerts as Hans
Ben Whishaw as Henrik
Sebastian Koch as Warnekros
Pip Torrens as Dr. Hexler
Nicholas Woodeson as Dr. Buson
Amber Heard as Ulla
Emerald Fennell as Elsa
Adrian Schiller as Rasmussen
Henry Pettigrew as Niels
Sophie Kennedy Clark as Ursula
Miltos Yerolemou as Dr. Mai
Jake Graf as Henri
Tusse Silberg as Older Woman
Claus Bue as Man at Window
Peter Krag as Stage Doorman
Angela Curran as Dresser
Richard Dixon as Fonnesbech
Paul Bigley as Man in Gallery
Nancy Crane as American Woman
Nicola Sloane as Brothel Madame
Sonya Cullingford as Striptease Artist
Clare Fettarappa as Receptionist
Victoria Emslie as Gallery Employee
Raphael Acloque as Man in Park 1
Alexander Devrient as Man in Park 2
Philip Arditti as Dr. McBride
Cosima Shaw as Hospital Receptionist
Rebecca Root as Nurse
Issy van Randwyck as Manageress
Aisha Fabienne Ross as Shop Assistant 1
Holly Weston as Shop Assistant 2
Eleanor Hafner as Shop Assistant 3
Maya Lindh as Shop Assistant 4
Rebecca Clay as Scent Customer
Erich Redman as Concierge
Johanna Smitz as Ballerina (uncredited)
Stephen Parker as Fonnesbech Client (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 150

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	5	2
5 to 8	11	10
9 to 12	17	12
13 to 16	1	2
17 to 20	19	14
21 to 24	26	23
25 to 28	26	18
29 to 32	0	2
33 to 36	4	3
37 to 40	14	44
41 to 44	12	12
45 to 48	0	2
49 to 52	5	6
53 to 56	1	21
57 to 60	13	31
61 to 64	4	6
65 to 68	11	15
69 to 72	9	7
73 to 76	0	0
77 to 80	10	16
81 to 84	21	38
85 to 88	14	11
89 to 92	10	13
93 to 96	13	4
97 to 100	4	6
101 to 104	0	31
105 to 108	10	20
109 to 112	4	7
113 to 116	3	6
117 to 120	12	10
121 to 124	7	5
125 to 128	6	4
129 to 132	12	16
133 to 136	3	0
137 to 140	16	26
141 to 144	2	3
145 to 148	9	9
149 to 150	2	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.

GERDA: Both of them...? ULLA: And at the same time! ULLA: Married people are so delightfully easy to shock.

GERDA: Well you're a pretty girl, you'll have to get used to that. GERDA: It's fine. You're just feeling self-conscious. ELSA: Gerda - !

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 42 are women's.

336 lines from women, 455 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

17 women and 18 men in the cast. 9 women and 14 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

A woman speaks the first line. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 37 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 40% of the words (2,277), men 60% (3,366). Women have 42% 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

6 of the 14 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 46% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Tom Hooper (man)
Written by: Lucinda Coxon (woman)
From the novel by: David Ebershoff (gender not listed)
Produced by: Tim Bevan (man), Eric Fellner (man), Anne Harrison (woman), Tom Hooper (man), Gail Mutrux (woman)
Shot by: Danny Cohen (man)
Edited by: Melanie Oliver (woman)
Music by: Alexandre Desplat (man)
Production design by: Eve Stewart (woman)
Costumes by: Paco Delgado (man)
Cast by: Nina Gold (woman)