Passes the Bechdel test

The Interpreter

Name: The Interpreter
Released: 2005

2005. Directed by Sydney Pollack, written by Martin Stellman and Brian Ward and Charles Randolph.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
15 women characters. 6 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 5 scenes out of 231.
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

Escalating events begin when U.N. interpreter Silvia Broome alleges that she has overheard a death threat against an African head of state, spoken in a rare dialect few people other than Silvia can understand. With the words "The Teacher will never leave this room alive," in an instant, Silvia's life is turned upside down as she becomes a hunted target of the killers. Placed under the protection of federal agent Tobin Keller, Silvia's world only grows more nightmarish. As Keller digs deeper into his eyewitnesses' past and her secretive world of global connections, the more suspicious he becomes that she herself might be involved in the conspiracy. With every step of the way, he finds more reasons to mistrust her. Is Sylvia a victim? A suspect? Or something else entirely? And can Tobin, coping with his own personal heartache, keep her safe? Though they must depend on one another, Silvia and Tobin couldn't be more different. Silvia's strengths are words, diplomacy and the subtleties of meaning, while Tobin is all about instinct, action and reading into the most primal human behaviors. Now, as the danger of a major assassination on U.S. soil grows and Silvia's life hangs in the balance, Silvia and Tobin play out a gripping dance of evasion and revelation that keeps them both guessing as they race to stop a terrifying international crisis before it's too late.

Released: 22 Apr 2005
Genres: Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Rated: PG-13
IMDb: 6.4 / 10
Metascore: 62 / 100
Awards: 3 wins & 2 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Tobin 224 lines, man
Silvia 125 lines, woman
Dot 55 lines, woman
Chief Wu 33 lines, man
Rory 33 lines, man
Jon 24 lines, man
Nils Lud 20 lines, man
Doug 17 lines, man
Shari 14 lines
Audrey 11 lines, woman

Full cast, 68 people

Nicole Kidman as Silvia Broome
Sean Penn as Tobin Keller
Catherine Keener as Dot Woods
Jesper Christensen as Nils Lud
Yvan Attal as Philippe
Earl Cameron as Zuwanie
George Harris as Kuman-Kuman
Michael Wright as Marcus
Clyde Kusatsu as Police Chief Lee Wu
Eric Keenleyside as Rory Robb
Hugo Speer as Simon Broome
Maz Jobrani as Mo
Yusuf Gatewood as Doug
Curtiss Cook as Ajene Xola
Byron Utley as Jean Gamba
Robert Clohessy as FBI Agent King
Terry Serpico as FBI Agent Lewis
David Fonteno as Phillip Ostroff
John Knox as Fred Jameson
David Zayas as Charlie Russell
Lynne Deragon as American Ambassador Davis
Christopher Evan Welch as Jonathan Williams
Manuel Mawelele as African Boy
Dino Mulima as African Boy
Litto as African Boy
Adrian Martinez as Roland
Tsai Chin as Luan
Francine Roussel as Isobel
Enid Graham as Jenny
Lou Ferguson as Matoban Ambassador
Okwui Okpokwasili as Tour Guide
Vladimir Bibic as G.A. President
Jacques Sebag as French Ambassador
Pietro González as Chilean Ambassador
Patrick Ssenjovu as Jad Jamal
Michael McGrath as Jonathan Ferris
Paul de Sousa as Portuguese Janitor
Chris McKinney as Forensic Officer
Martha Elliott as Woman on Bus
Jim Ward as U.N. Security Officer
Trevor Archer as U.N. Security Officer
Ricardo Walker as U.N. Security Officer
Harry O'Reilly as U.N. Security Officer
Kirby Mitchell as U.N. Security Officer
Guy A. Fortt as U.N. Security Officer
Ramsey Faragallah as Polygraph Technician
John Di Benedetto as Mechanic
Bridget L. Doerksen as Stripper
Ana Maria Lupo as Stripper
Nelson Landrieu as Spanish Speaking Interpreter
Leonid Citer as Russian Interpreter
Satish Joshi as Secretary General
Sophie Traub as Young Silvia
Monty Ashton-Lewis as Young Simon
Pat Kiernan as Pat Kiernan
Margot Staub as News Reporter
Harry Prichett as News Reporter
Ed Onipede Blunt as News Reporter
Diane Winter as British Airways Ticket Agent
Gerry Robert Byrne as U.N. Tourist
Lisa Marie Palmieri as UN VIP Delegate
Brevard Hudson as Interperter
Sydney Pollack as Jay Pettigrew (uncredited)
Michael Arthur as United Nations Cop (uncredited)
Hélène Cardona as French Interpreter (voice) (uncredited)
Wayne Chang as Secret Service Agent (uncredited)
Dana Eskelson as Secret Service Agent #1 (uncredited)
Von Decarlo as Woman on Bus (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 5 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 12% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 231

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 5	0	10
6 to 10	0	7
11 to 15	0	4
16 to 20	5	1
21 to 25	4	1
26 to 30	0	1
31 to 35	0	1
36 to 40	0	0
41 to 45	0	0
46 to 50	7	11
51 to 55	2	3
56 to 60	15	36
61 to 65	18	35
66 to 70	0	10
71 to 75	24	33
76 to 80	2	27
81 to 85	7	1
86 to 90	4	4
91 to 95	0	1
96 to 100	5	7
101 to 105	5	22
106 to 110	0	9
111 to 115	0	11
116 to 120	2	9
121 to 125	13	8
126 to 130	14	24
131 to 135	2	20
136 to 140	0	7
141 to 145	13	11
146 to 150	14	28
151 to 155	1	0
156 to 160	6	3
161 to 165	0	0
166 to 170	1	0
171 to 175	1	0
176 to 180	5	4
181 to 185	1	1
186 to 190	0	0
191 to 195	5	2
196 to 200	2	8
201 to 205	1	12
206 to 210	8	14
211 to 215	4	6
216 to 220	0	9
221 to 225	7	7
226 to 230	2	4
231 to 231	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.

AUDREY: I said it would spill. You poor thing. SILVIA: Thanks. AUDREY: You want to ...

AUDREY: They're only trying to scare. They don't want you to help the police. SILVIA: Great.

SILVIA: The light flashes. AUDREY: Sorry. "Monday Morning Quarterback"? SILVIA: Deciduer cafe du Commerce. AUDREY: Merci.

DOT: You can say yes or no. SILVIA: Can I ask you something?

SILVIA: It's in Ku. SILVIA: "You cannot understand if you have not felt a machete cut your flesh. You cannot understand if you have not watched soldiers throw dice for … DOT: Two minutes.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 33 are women's.

200 lines from women, 412 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

15 women and 39 men in the cast. 6 women and 15 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 26 of 698. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 26 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 31% of the words (1,680), men 69% (3,799). Women have 33% 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: Sydney Pollack (man)
Written by: Charles Randolph (man), Scott Frank (man), Steven Zaillian (man)
Story by: Martin Stellman (man), Brian Ward (man)
Produced by: Eric Fellner (man), Tim Bevan (man), Kevin Misher (man)
Shot by: Darius Khondji (man)
Edited by: William Steinkamp (man)
Music by: James Newton Howard (man)
Production design by: Jon Hutman (man)
Costumes by: Sarah Edwards (woman)
Cast by: Ellen Lewis (woman), Juliet Taylor (woman)