Fails the Bechdel test
The Imitation Game
2014. Directed by Morten Tyldum, written by Graham Moore and Andrew Hodges.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
11 women characters. 3 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
Women do talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Every conversation between women that our parser found mentions a man.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 2 out of 3.
The film
It is based on the real life story of legendary cryptanalyst Alan Turing. The film portrays the nail-biting race against time by Turing and his brilliant team of code-breakers at Britain's top-secret Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park, during the darkest days of World War II.
- Released
- 25 Dec 2014
- Genres
- Biography, Drama, Thriller
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 8 / 10
- Metascore
- 71 / 100
- Awards
- Won 1 Oscar. 49 wins & 169 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Alan Turing 164 lines, man
- Joan Clarke 80 lines, woman
- Hugh Alexander 42 lines, man
- Detective Nock 29 lines, man
- On Alan 23 lines, man
- John Cairncross 20 lines, man
- Helen 16 lines, woman
- Headmaster 15 lines, man
- Stewart Menzies 14 lines, man
- Commander Denniston 13 lines, man
Full cast, 46 people
- Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turing
- Keira Knightley as Joan Clarke
- Matthew Goode as Hugh Alexander
- Rory Kinnear as Detective Robert Nock
- Allen Leech as John Cairncross
- Matthew Beard as Peter Hilton
- Charles Dance as Commander Denniston
- Mark Strong as Stewart Menzies
- James Northcote as Jack Good
- Tom Goodman-Hill as Sergeant Staehl
- Steven Waddington as Superintendent Smith
- Ilan Goodman as Keith Furman
- Jack Tarlton as Charles Richards
- Alex Lawther as Young Alan Turing
- Jack Bannon as Christopher Morcom
- Tuppence Middleton as Helen
- Dominic Charman as Sherborne Student 1
- James G. Nunn as Sherborne Student 2
- Charlie Manton as Sherborne Student 3
- David Charkham as Joan's Father
- Victoria Wicks as Joan's Mother
- Andrew Havill as Teacher
- Laurence Kennedy as Headmaster
- Tim van Eyken as MI6 Agent
- Will Bowden as Military Policeman
- Miranda Bell as Margaret
- Tim Steed as Electrical Assistant
- Hayley Joanne Bacon as Woman in Crowd (uncredited)
- Nicholas Blatt as Ministry Man (uncredited)
- Ancuta Breaban as Wren (uncredited)
- Alex Corbet Burcher as Dancer (uncredited)
- Grace Calder as Assistant Wren (uncredited)
- Richard Campbell as Crossword Man in Pub (uncredited)
- Daniel Chapple as MI6 Agent (uncredited)
- Lisa Colquhoun as Joan Clarke's Friend (uncredited)
- Alexander Cooper as Bletchley Park Agent (uncredited)
- Leigh Dent as Passerby (uncredited)
- Sam Exley as Military Policeman 3 (uncredited)
- Dennis Good as Civilian (uncredited)
- Debra Leigh-Taylor as Evacuee (uncredited)
- Stuart Matthews as Bletchley Park Operative (uncredited)
- Joseph Oliveira as MI6 Agent (uncredited)
- David G. Robinson as Police Sergeant White (uncredited)
- Mark Underwood as Crossword Man (uncredited)
- Nicola-Jayne Wells as First Aid Nurse (uncredited)
- Joshua Wichard as German Spy Plane Pilot (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 9% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 125
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 3 | 0 | 2 |
| 4 to 6 | 0 | 1 |
| 7 to 9 | 0 | 24 |
| 10 to 12 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 to 15 | 0 | 41 |
| 16 to 18 | 0 | 11 |
| 19 to 21 | 0 | 7 |
| 22 to 24 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 to 27 | 0 | 2 |
| 28 to 30 | 0 | 3 |
| 31 to 33 | 0 | 15 |
| 34 to 36 | 0 | 11 |
| 37 to 39 | 0 | 7 |
| 40 to 42 | 0 | 0 |
| 43 to 45 | 11 | 9 |
| 46 to 48 | 2 | 16 |
| 49 to 51 | 7 | 10 |
| 52 to 54 | 1 | 4 |
| 55 to 57 | 0 | 5 |
| 58 to 60 | 6 | 5 |
| 61 to 63 | 1 | 4 |
| 64 to 66 | 9 | 18 |
| 67 to 69 | 0 | 4 |
| 70 to 72 | 0 | 14 |
| 73 to 75 | 8 | 19 |
| 76 to 78 | 3 | 23 |
| 79 to 81 | 19 | 25 |
| 82 to 84 | 3 | 1 |
| 85 to 87 | 1 | 6 |
| 88 to 90 | 6 | 26 |
| 91 to 93 | 2 | 6 |
| 94 to 96 | 0 | 7 |
| 97 to 99 | 0 | 9 |
| 100 to 102 | 0 | 2 |
| 103 to 105 | 0 | 6 |
| 106 to 108 | 4 | 28 |
| 109 to 111 | 0 | 0 |
| 112 to 114 | 0 | 1 |
| 115 to 117 | 0 | 9 |
| 118 to 120 | 16 | 6 |
| 121 to 123 | 0 | 0 |
| 124 to 125 | 0 | 3 |
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, 20 are women's.
99 lines from women, 390 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
11 women and 35 men in the cast. 3 women and 22 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 144 of 537.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 143 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 20% of the words (2,655), men 80% (10,412).
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
5
Two men
50
Exhibit E: behind the camera
4 of the 11 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 28% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Morten Tyldum (man)
- Written by
- Graham Moore (man)
- Produced by
- Nora Grossman (woman), Ido Ostrowsky (man), Teddy Schwarzman (man)
- Shot by
- Óscar Faura (man)
- Edited by
- William Goldenberg (man)
- Music by
- Alexandre Desplat (man)
- Production design by
- Maria Djurkovic (woman)
- Costumes by
- Sammy Sheldon (woman)
- Cast by
- Nina Gold (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Camera
0 women, 6 men, 5 not listed
-
Art
3 women, 3 men, 4 not listed
-
Sound
1 women, 8 men, 1 not listed
-
Production
3 women, 5 men
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 1 men, 3 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Visual Effects
2 women, 0 men, 2 not listed
-
Other crew
1 women, 2 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 29 on average. Men: 40 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Keira Knightley 29
Men
Matthew Beard 25, James Northcote 27, Allen Leech 33, Matthew Goode 36, Rory Kinnear 36, Benedict Cumberbatch 38, Tom Goodman-Hill 46, Mark Strong 51, Charles Dance 68
Exhibit G: the money
It made 16.7 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $14 million
- Box office
- $234 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 125 scenes and 537 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
