Passes the Bechdel test
The Iron Lady
2012. Directed by Phyllida Lloyd, written by Abi Morgan.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
11 women characters. 10 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 10 scenes out of 137. -
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
Elderly and a virtual prisoner in her own home due to her concerned staff and daughter Carol, Margaret Thatcher, Britain's first woman prime minister, looks back on her life as she clears out her late husband Denis's clothes for the Oxfam shop. Denis is seen as being her rock as she first enters parliament and then runs for the leadership of the Conservative Party, culminating in her eventual premiership. Now his ghost joins her to comment on her successes and failures, sometimes to her annoyance, generally to her comfort until ultimately, as the clothes are sent to the charity shop, Denis departs from Margaret's life forever.
- Released
- 13 Jan 2012
- Genres
- Biography, Drama
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 6.4 / 10
- Metascore
- 52 / 100
- Awards
- Won 2 Oscars. 27 wins & 48 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Margaret 244 lines, woman
- Denis 94 lines, man
- Carol 46 lines, woman
- June 14 lines, woman
- Alfred 13 lines, man
- Doctor 10 lines, man
- Susie 9 lines, woman
- Howe 8 lines, man
- Pym 8 lines, man
- Heath 7 lines, man
Full cast, 60 people
- Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher
- Jim Broadbent as Denis Thatcher
- Olivia Colman as Carol Thatcher
- Roger Allam as Gordon Reece
- Susan Brown as June
- Nick Dunning as Jim Prior
- Nicholas Farrell as Airey Neave
- Iain Glen as Alfred Roberts
- Richard E. Grant as Michael Heseltine
- Anthony Stewart Head as Geoffrey Howe
- Harry Lloyd as Young Denis Thatcher
- Michael Maloney as Doctor
- Michael Pennington as Michael Foot
- Alexandra Roach as Young Margaret Thatcher
- Amanda Root as Amanda
- Pip Torrens as Ian Gilmour
- Julian Wadham as Francis Pym
- David Westhead as Shadow Minister
- Angus Wright as John Nott
- Alice da Cunha as Cleaner
- Phoebe Waller-Bridge as Susie
- Victoria Bewick as Muriel Roberts
- Emma Dewhurst as Beatrice Roberts
- Sylvestra Le Touzel as Hostess 1949
- Michael Culkin as Host 1949
- Stephanie Jacob as Female Guest 1949
- Robert Portal as Grey Suited Guest 1949
- Richard Dixon as Male Guest - 1949
- Clifford Rose as James R
- Michael Cochrane as William
- Jeremy Clyde as James T
- Michael Simkins as Peter
- Eloise Webb as Young Carol
- Alexander Beardsley as Young Mark
- John Sessions as Edward Heath
- Richard Syms as House of Commons Speaker
- John Harding as Cabinet Minister
- Simon Chandler as Cabinet Minister
- Stephen Boxer as Cabinet Minister
- Jasper Jacob as Cabinet Minister
- Rupert Vansittart as Cabinet Minister
- Robin Kermode as John Major - Cabinet Minister
- Andrew Havill as Cabinet Minister
- Michael Elwyn as Cabinet Minister
- Peter Pacey as Cabinet Minister
- Jeremy Child as Cabinet Minister
- James Smith as Lord Carrington - Cabinet Minister
- Hugh Ross as Cabinet Minister
- Chris Campbell as Cabinet Minister
- Paul Bentley as Douglas Hurd - Cabinet Minister
- Martin Wimbush as Cabinet Minister
- Simon Slater as Cabinet Minister
- David Cann as TV Interviewer
- Christopher Luscombe as Voice Coach
- Angela Curran as Crawfie
- David Rintoul as Admiral Fieldhouse
- Nicholas Jones as Admiral Leach
- Richard Goulding as Naval Attaché
- Matthew Marsh as Alexander Haig
- Willie Jonah as Kenneth Kaunda
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 8% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 137
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 | 0 |
| 4 to 6 | 7 | 2 |
| 7 to 9 | 22 | 7 |
| 10 to 12 | 4 | 2 |
| 13 to 15 | 0 | 3 |
| 16 to 18 | 6 | 5 |
| 19 to 21 | 2 | 1 |
| 22 to 24 | 23 | 6 |
| 25 to 27 | 16 | 3 |
| 28 to 30 | 9 | 1 |
| 31 to 33 | 8 | 7 |
| 34 to 36 | 15 | 6 |
| 37 to 39 | 27 | 0 |
| 40 to 42 | 11 | 19 |
| 43 to 45 | 3 | 5 |
| 46 to 48 | 5 | 13 |
| 49 to 51 | 27 | 13 |
| 52 to 54 | 3 | 5 |
| 55 to 57 | 9 | 11 |
| 58 to 60 | 5 | 0 |
| 61 to 63 | 1 | 0 |
| 64 to 66 | 1 | 2 |
| 67 to 69 | 2 | 1 |
| 70 to 72 | 1 | 3 |
| 73 to 75 | 6 | 2 |
| 76 to 78 | 13 | 14 |
| 79 to 81 | 3 | 7 |
| 82 to 84 | 7 | 2 |
| 85 to 87 | 13 | 23 |
| 88 to 90 | 2 | 0 |
| 91 to 93 | 4 | 3 |
| 94 to 96 | 9 | 5 |
| 97 to 99 | 5 | 5 |
| 100 to 102 | 2 | 3 |
| 103 to 105 | 7 | 12 |
| 106 to 108 | 2 | 5 |
| 109 to 111 | 6 | 6 |
| 112 to 114 | 0 | 1 |
| 115 to 117 | 3 | 4 |
| 118 to 120 | 12 | 5 |
| 121 to 123 | 1 | 4 |
| 124 to 126 | 2 | 5 |
| 127 to 129 | 2 | 7 |
| 130 to 132 | 6 | 9 |
| 133 to 135 | 19 | 12 |
| 136 to 137 | 13 | 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.
MARGARET: Eat your egg. JUNE: Goodness! There you are. MARGARET: Yes. MARGARET: Here we are.
JUNE: Beautiful day. Oh, you've made a start. Carol's coming soon, I'll get some bags. Anything you want to go to Mark, I'll bring up a suitcase f… MARGARET: No no no no. The grey.
MARGARET: Oh, I haven't had a chance to look at that yet, dear. JUNE: Sorry.
MARGARET: Blot it...Blot it.. JUNE: Sorry ?
MARGARET: I'll go. BEATRICE: Leave it.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 58 are women's.
344 lines from women, 249 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
11 women and 46 men in the cast. 10 women and 44 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
A woman speaks the first line.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 10 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 59% of the words (4,295), men 41% (2,926). Women have 58% of the lines, so their lines run longer 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
28
Two men
13
Exhibit F: behind the camera
7 of the 11 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 38% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Phyllida Lloyd (woman)
- Written by
- Abi Morgan (woman)
- Produced by
- Damian Jones (man), Anita Overland (woman), Colleen Woodcock (woman)
- Shot by
- Elliot Davis (man)
- Edited by
- Justine Wright (woman)
- Music by
- Thomas Newman (man)
- Production design by
- Simon Elliott (gender not listed)
- Costumes by
- Consolata Boyle (woman)
- Cast by
- Nina Gold (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Costume & Make-Up
2 women, 5 men, 2 not listed
-
Production
4 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 4 men, 1 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 1 men, 2 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 1 men
-
Other crew
0 women, 0 men, 1 not listed
-
Editing
1 women, 0 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 55 on average. Men: 56 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Olivia Colman 37, Meryl Streep 62, Susan Brown 65
Men
Iain Glen 50, Nick Dunning 52, Richard E. Grant 54, Anthony Stewart Head 57, Roger Allam 58, Jim Broadbent 62
Exhibit H: the money
It made 8.9 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $13 million
- Box office
- $116 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 137 scenes and 645 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
