Fails the Bechdel test
The Four Feathers
2002. Directed by Shekhar Kapur, written by A.E.W. Mason and Michael Schiffer and Hossein Amini.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
0 / 3
Fails
-
No
1. At least two women
Fewer than two women characters. -
No
2. Who talk to each other
Our parser found no scene where two women talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Not reached: the film fails an earlier rule.
Second opinion
Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.
The film
Harry Feversham is a British Army officer. When his regiment is sent to fight in the Sudan, he resigns his commission. His three closest friends and fellow officers view him as a coward and each send him a white feather, a symbol of cowardice. His fiancée has the same view and does the same. Humiliated by this, Feversham sets off to the Sudan to redeem his honour.
- Released
- 20 Sep 2002
- Genres
- Adventure, Drama, Romance
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 6.5 / 10
- Metascore
- 49 / 100
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Durrance 208 lines, man
- Harry 176 lines, man
- Ethne 161 lines, woman
- Trench 44 lines, man
- Abou Fatma 42 lines, man
- Castelton 31 lines
- Caroline 28 lines
- Willoughby 28 lines, man
- Colonel Hamilton 21 lines, man
- Colonel Sutch 18 lines, man
Full cast, 50 people
- Heath Ledger as Harry Faversham
- Wes Bentley as Jack Durrance
- Kate Hudson as Ethne Eustace
- Djimon Hounsou as Abou Fatma
- Alex Jennings as Colonel Hamilton
- Michael Sheen as William Trench
- Lucy Gordon as Isabelle
- James Cosmo as Col. Sutch
- Angela Douglas as Aunt Mary
- Daniel Caltagirone as Gustave
- Mohamed Bouich as Sudanese Storyteller
- Campbell Brown as Dervish Ansar
- Andy Coumbe as Colonel Other Regiment
- Karim Doukkali as Egyptian Orderly
- Megan Hall as Millie
- James Hillier as Drunken Corporal
- Nick Holder as British Lion
- Alexandra Kabi as Woman in Red Veil
- Julio Lewis as Saadi
- Craig McDonald as Wounded Captain
- Lionel Mahop as Dervish Captain
- Richard Manlove as British Corporal
- Kris Marshall as Edward Castleton
- Manar Mohamed as Youssef
- Marouazi Mohammed as Dervish Sniper
- Nider Mohamed as Mullah
- Anna Diafe Ndiaye as Dinka Slavegirl
- Medoune Ndiaye as Gentle Faced Porter
- Deobia Oparei as Idris-Es-Saier
- Mohamen Mehdi Ouazanni as Hassan
- Charles Pemberton as Impressario
- Rupert Penry-Jones as Tom Willoughby
- Tim Pigott-Smith as General Feversham
- Mohamed Quatib as Ibrahim
- Laila Rouass as Maya
- Hugh Ross as Regimental Priest
- Thioumbe Samb as Dinka Slavegirl
- Mark Tonderai as Egyptian Orderly
- Alek Wek as Aquol
- Alex Zorbas as Egyptian Orderly
- Bruce Lawrence as British Soldier
- Rhidian Bridge as British Soldier (uncredited)
- Gary Bunn as British Soldier (uncredited)
- Christian Coulson as Drummer Boy (uncredited)
- James Embree as British Cavalry Officer (uncredited)
- Natalie Hallam as High Class Lady (uncredited)
- Hugo Hedley as British Troop (uncredited)
- Serena Lorien as Crying Widow (uncredited)
- Cassie Newby as Period Dancer (uncredited)
- Benjamin Uttley as General Wolseley's Aide-de-Camp (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 1 scene, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 11% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 16
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 1 | 0 | 8 |
| 2 to 2 | 36 | 108 |
| 3 to 3 | 20 | 5 |
| 4 to 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 5 to 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 to 6 | 0 | 3 |
| 7 to 7 | 0 | 7 |
| 8 to 8 | 0 | 25 |
| 9 to 9 | 48 | 226 |
| 10 to 10 | 2 | 7 |
| 11 to 11 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 to 12 | 0 | 1 |
| 13 to 13 | 39 | 120 |
| 14 to 14 | 23 | 63 |
| 15 to 15 | 0 | 6 |
| 16 to 16 | 0 | 2 |
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 22 are women's.
168 lines from women, 585 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
13 women and 22 men in the cast. 4 women and 18 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 41 of 844.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 99 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 15% of the words (4,045), men 85% (22,572). Women have 22% of the lines, so their lines run shorter than men's.
Exhibit D: 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
0
Two men
36
Exhibit E: behind the camera
2 of the 15 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 24% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Shekhar Kapur (man)
- Written by
- Michael Schiffer (man), Hossein Amini (man)
- From the novel by
- A.E.W. Mason (man)
- Produced by
- Robert Jaffe (man), Marty Katz (man), Paul Feldsher (man), Stanley R. Jaffe (man)
- Shot by
- Robert Richardson (man)
- Edited by
- Steven Rosenblum (man)
- Music by
- James Horner (man)
- Production design by
- Allan Cameron (man)
- Costumes by
- Ruth Myers (woman)
- Cast by
- Ros Hubbard (woman), John Hubbard (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Costume & Make-Up
5 women, 0 men, 4 not listed
-
Production
2 women, 7 men
-
Sound
1 women, 5 men
-
Art
0 women, 4 men, 1 not listed
-
Writing
0 women, 3 men
-
Camera
0 women, 2 men
-
Other crew
0 women, 1 men
-
Directing
0 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 35 on average. Men: 35 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Lucy Gordon 22, Kate Hudson 23, Angela Douglas 61
Men
Heath Ledger 23, Wes Bentley 24, Daniel Caltagirone 30, Michael Sheen 33, Djimon Hounsou 38, Alex Jennings 45, James Cosmo 54
Exhibit G: the money
It made 85% of what it cost.
- Budget
- $35 million
- Box office
- $29.9 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 16 scenes and 844 lines of dialogue. How the test works
