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Fails the Bechdel test

The Man in the Iron Mask

1998. Directed by Randall Wallace, written by Alexandre Dumas and Randall Wallace.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

1 / 3

Fails

  1. Yes 1. At least two women
    8 women characters. 6 of them speak.
  2. No 2. Who talk to each other
    Our parser found no scene where two women talk to each other.
  3. No 3. About something besides a man
    Not reached: the film fails an earlier rule.

Second opinion

Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.

Poster for The Man in the Iron Mask

The film

Paris is starving, but the King of France is more interested in money and bedding women. When a young soldier dies for the sake of a shag, Aramis, Athos and Porthos band together with a plan to replace the king. Unknown to many, there is a 2nd king, a twin, hidden at birth, then imprisoned for 6 years behind an iron mask. All that remains now is D'Artagnan, will he stand against his long time friends, or do what is best for his country?.

Released
13 Mar 1998
Genres
Action, Adventure, Drama
Rated
PG-13
IMDb
6.5 / 10
Metascore
49 / 100
Awards
3 wins & 4 nominations total
Elsewhere
View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

  • Women
  • Men
  • Not in the cast list
  • Bigger name, more lines
  1. Aramis 134 lines, man
  2. Athos 123 lines, man
  3. Louis 120 lines, man
  4. D'Artagnan 116 lines, man
  5. Porthos 70 lines, man
  6. Phillippe 36 lines, man
  7. Anne 33 lines, woman
  8. Michelle 22 lines
  9. Lieutenant 18 lines
  10. Raoul 15 lines, man
Full cast, 30 people
  • Leonardo DiCaprio as King Louis XIV / Philippe
  • Gabriel Byrne as D'Artagnan
  • Jeremy Irons as Aramis
  • John Malkovich as Athos
  • Gérard Depardieu as Porthos
  • Anne Parillaud as Queen Mother Anne
  • Judith Godrèche as Christine
  • Edward Atterton as Lt. Andre
  • Peter Sarsgaard as Raoul
  • Hugh Laurie as King's Advisor
  • David Lowe as King's Advisor
  • Brigitte Boucher as Madame Rotund
  • Karine Belly as Wench
  • Emmanuel Guttierez as King's Friend
  • Christian Erickson as Ballroom Guard
  • François Montagut as Blond Musketeer
  • Andrew Wallace as Peasant Boy
  • Cécile Auclert as Serving Woman
  • Sonia Backers as Serving Woman
  • Vincent Nemeth as Customer
  • Joe Sheridan as Fortress Keeper
  • Olivier Hémon as Fortress Head Guard
  • Michael Morris as Bastille Gate Guard
  • Emmanuel Patron as Fortress Guard
  • Leonor Varela as Ballroom Beauty
  • Laura Fraser as Bedroom Beauty
  • Brigitte Auber as Queen Mother's Attendant
  • Jean-Pol Brissart as Monk
  • Michael Hofland as Ruffian
  • François Guillaume as Ponceau (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 135

Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.

Show the numbers
ScenesWomen's linesMen's lines
1 to 303
4 to 602
7 to 9131
10 to 12048
13 to 1505
16 to 1845
19 to 21057
22 to 24333
25 to 2709
28 to 3008
31 to 3302
34 to 36018
37 to 39052
40 to 4204
43 to 45015
46 to 4807
49 to 5105
52 to 5407
55 to 5727
58 to 60016
61 to 6374
64 to 6615
67 to 6902
70 to 7206
73 to 75054
76 to 7812
79 to 81128
82 to 84017
85 to 87013
88 to 90012
91 to 93013
94 to 9632
97 to 99925
100 to 102212
103 to 10502
106 to 108015
109 to 11147
112 to 114450
115 to 11703
118 to 12022
121 to 12304
124 to 126019
127 to 12903
130 to 13202
133 to 135045

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, 6 are women's.

44 lines from women, 681 from men.

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

8 women and 19 men in the cast. 6 women and 23 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 13 of 801. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 191 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

  • First line by a woman
  • Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 4% of the words (359), men 96% (7,996). Women have 6% 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

Exhibit E: behind the camera

2 of the 14 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 15% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by
Randall Wallace (man)
Written by
Randall Wallace (man)
From the novel by
Alexandre Dumas (man)
Produced by
Paul Hitchcock (man), Randall Wallace (man), Russell Smith (man), René Dupont (man)
Shot by
Peter Suschitzky (man)
Edited by
William Hoy (man)
Music by
Nick Glennie-Smith (man)
Production design by
Anthony Pratt (man)
Costumes by
James Acheson (man)
Cast by
Cathy Sandrich Gelfond (woman), Amanda Mackey (woman)

The crew, department by department

  • Production

    2 women, 7 men

  • Costume & Make-Up

    0 women, 2 men

  • Directing

    0 women, 2 men

  • Writing

    0 women, 2 men

  • Art

    0 women, 1 men

  • Camera

    0 women, 1 men

  • Other crew

    1 women, 0 men

  • Editing

    0 women, 1 men

  • Women
  • Men
  • Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit F: how old the stars were

Women: 31 on average. Men: 39 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Judith Godrèche 25, Anne Parillaud 37

Men

Leonardo DiCaprio 23, Peter Sarsgaard 27, Edward Atterton 36, Hugh Laurie 38, John Malkovich 44, Gabriel Byrne 47, Jeremy Irons 49, Gérard Depardieu 49

Exhibit G: the money

It made 5.2 times what it cost.

Budget
$35 million
Box office
$183 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 135 scenes and 801 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

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