Passes the Bechdel test

The Debt

Name: The Debt
Released: 2011

2011. Directed by John Madden, written by Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman and Peter Straughan.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
4 women characters. 2 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 2 scenes out of 170.
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 espionage thriller begins in 1997, as shocking news reaches retired Mossad secret agents Rachel Singer (Dame Helen Mirren) and Stephan Gold (Tom Wilkinson) about their former colleague David Peretz (Ciarán Hinds). All three have been venerated for decades by their country because of the mission that they undertook back in 1965, when the trio (Jessica Chastain, Marton Csokas, and Sam Worthington) tracked down Nazi war criminal Dieter Vogel (Jesper Christensen) in East Berlin. At great risk, and at considerable personal cost, the team's mission was accomplished--or was it? The suspense builds in and across two different time periods, with startling action and surprising revelations.

Released: 31 Aug 2011
Genres: Drama, Thriller
Rated: R
IMDb: 6.8 / 10
Metascore: 65 / 100
Awards: 13 wins & 5 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Rachel 188 lines, woman
Stephan 157 lines, man
David 93 lines, man
Vogel 75 lines, man
Sarah 20 lines, woman
Boyfriend 10 lines, man
Receptionist 10 lines, woman
Nurse 9 lines
Worker 7 lines, man
Ivan Schevchuk 4 lines, man

Full cast, 10 people

Helen Mirren as Rachel Singer
Tom Wilkinson as Stefan Gold
Sam Worthington as Young David Peretz
Ciarán Hinds as David Peretz
Jessica Chastain as Young Rachel Singer
Marton Csokas as Young Stefan Gold
Jesper Christensen as Dieter Vogel
Romi Aboulafia as Sarah Gold
Adar Beck as Politicians Wife
Morris Perry as Ivan Schevchuk

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 170

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	7	1
5 to 8	4	3
9 to 12	23	9
13 to 16	0	0
17 to 20	0	0
21 to 24	8	4
25 to 28	0	1
29 to 32	2	3
33 to 36	1	2
37 to 40	6	20
41 to 44	1	1
45 to 48	8	14
49 to 52	0	7
53 to 56	0	6
57 to 60	15	21
61 to 64	8	16
65 to 68	2	4
69 to 72	0	2
73 to 76	6	5
77 to 80	0	0
81 to 84	1	0
85 to 88	2	4
89 to 92	6	23
93 to 96	9	24
97 to 100	16	53
101 to 104	4	29
105 to 108	0	0
109 to 112	20	33
113 to 116	5	6
117 to 120	19	15
121 to 124	5	0
125 to 128	3	2
129 to 132	5	8
133 to 136	3	3
137 to 140	20	17
141 to 144	2	0
145 to 148	0	0
149 to 152	0	0
153 to 156	2	3
157 to 160	1	4
161 to 164	10	11
165 to 168	0	5
169 to 170	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.

RACHEL: ...Yes, thank you. SARAH: If you'd rather read something else, mother..... RACHEL: No, that's fine.

RACHEL: Am I late? I'm sorry.... Can I place an advertisement? RECEPTIONIST: 100 grivna for twenty words. 5 grivna a word after that. RACHEL: Here... RECEPTIONIST: Thanks.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 38 are women's.

224 lines from women, 359 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

4 women and 6 men in the cast. 2 women and 3 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 2 of 611. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 30 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 34% of the words (1,750), men 66% (3,365). Women have 38% 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 16 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 30% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: John Madden (man)
Written by: Jane Goldman (woman), Peter Straughan (man), Matthew Vaughn (man), Assaf Bernstein (man), Ido Rosenblum (man)
Produced by: Matthew Vaughn (man), Kris Thykier (man), Eduardo Rossoff (gender not listed), Eitan Evan (man)
Shot by: Ben Davis (man)
Edited by: Alexander Berner (man)
Music by: Thomas Newman (man)
Production design by: Jim Clay (man)
Costumes by: Natalie Ward (woman)
Cast by: Michelle Guish (woman)