Passes the Bechdel test

The Father

Name: The Father
Released: 2021

2021. Directed by Florian Zeller, written by Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller.

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 89.
Yes 3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.

Second opinion

Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.

The film

Having scared off his latest caregiver, Anthony, an ailing octogenarian Londoner gradually succumbing to dementia, feels abandoned when his concerned daughter, Anne, tells him she's moving to Paris. Confused and upset, debilitated by his rapid mental decline and warped perspective, Anthony loses his grip on reality as he struggles to navigate the opaque landscape of the present and past. As a result, fading memories and glimpses of lucidity trigger sudden mood swings, distorting Anthony's surroundings, loved ones, and even time. But why has his younger daughter stopped visiting? And who are the strangers that burst in on Anthony?

Released: 26 Feb 2021
Genres: Drama, Mystery
Rated: PG-13
IMDb: 8.2 / 10
Metascore: 88 / 100
Awards: Won 2 Oscars. 39 wins & 171 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Anthony 387 lines, man
Anne 225 lines, woman
Paul 82 lines, man
Woman 81 lines, woman
Laura 80 lines, woman
Man 56 lines, man
Doctor 3 lines
Voice 3 lines
Final Script 1 lines
Lucy 1 lines

Full cast, 8 people

Anthony Hopkins as Anthony
Olivia Colman as Anne
Mark Gatiss as The Man
Olivia Williams as The Woman
Imogen Poots as Laura
Rufus Sewell as Paul
Ayesha Dharker as Dr. Sarai
Roman Zeller as Boy

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 1% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 89

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 2	0	0
3 to 4	2	0
5 to 6	26	25
7 to 8	0	0
9 to 10	19	22
11 to 12	0	2
13 to 14	1	31
15 to 16	0	25
17 to 18	1	21
19 to 20	19	18
21 to 22	3	4
23 to 24	5	7
25 to 26	2	0
27 to 28	1	0
29 to 30	6	0
31 to 32	23	9
33 to 34	33	41
35 to 36	0	0
37 to 38	18	18
39 to 40	9	13
41 to 42	1	33
43 to 44	0	8
45 to 46	2	3
47 to 48	6	9
49 to 50	1	0
51 to 52	0	0
53 to 54	3	2
55 to 56	4	3
57 to 58	3	4
59 to 60	24	42
61 to 62	11	11
63 to 64	0	0
65 to 66	0	0
67 to 68	51	81
69 to 70	7	5
71 to 72	0	0
73 to 74	0	2
75 to 76	0	1
77 to 78	1	0
79 to 80	40	27
81 to 82	18	10
83 to 84	0	0
85 to 86	0	1
87 to 88	46	47
89 to 89	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.

ANNE: Hello. LAURA: Hello. Not too early, am I? ANNE: No, no. Not at all. Come in. Come in. LAURA: Thanks.

ANNE: Hello. LAURA: Hello. Not too late, am I? ANNE: No, no. Not at all. Come in. Come in. LAURA: Thank you.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

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

386 lines from women, 525 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

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

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 2 of 919. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 45 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 38% of the words (2,896), men 62% (4,818). 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

1 of the 13 people in these jobs is a woman. Across the whole crew, 30% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Florian Zeller (man)
Written by: Florian Zeller (man), Christopher Hampton (man)
Produced by: Simon Friend (gender not listed), Christophe Spadone (gender not listed), Jean-Louis Livi (man), David Parfitt (man), Philippe Carcassonne (man)
Shot by: Ben Smithard (man)
Edited by: Yorgos Lamprinos (man)
Music by: Ludovico Einaudi (man)
Production design by: Peter Francis (man)
Costumes by: Anna Mary Scott Robbins (woman)