Passes the Bechdel test

The Persian Version

Name: The Persian Version
Released: 2023

2023. Directed by Maryam Keshavarz, written by Maryam Keshavarz.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
17 women characters. 11 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 32 scenes out of 195.
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

Leila, an Iranian-American woman who is actually a lesbian, finds herself unexpectedly pregnant. When her father's heart surgery brings Leila's family together, she has to confess her indiscretion to them. As Leila's colorful lifestyle clashes with the expectations of her strict and business-savvy mother, Shireen, the two unexpectedly find common ground when Leila's grandmother reveals an incredible secret.

Released: 05 Dec 2023
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Rated: R
IMDb: 6.2 / 10
Metascore: 61 / 100
Awards: 4 wins & 5 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Leila 230 lines, woman
Shirin 159 lines, woman
Young Shirin 55 lines, woman
Maximillian 39 lines, man
Mamanjoon 30 lines, woman
Young Leila 24 lines, woman
Doctor Anahita 21 lines, woman
Abbas 20 lines, man
Maximillian/Hedwig 19 lines, man
Shivaz 19 lines, man

Full cast, 54 people

Layla Mohammadi as Leila
Niousha Noor as Shireen
Kamand Shafieisabet as Young Shireen
Bijan Daneshmand as Ali Reza
Bella Warda as Mamanjoon
Chiara Stella as Young Leila
Tom Byrne as Maximillian
Shervin Alenabi as Young Ali Reza
Parmida Vand as Nurse Roja
Sachli Gholamalizad as Young Mamanjoon
Arty Froushan as Majid
Samuel Tehrani as Shivaz
Jerry Habibi as Abbas
Parsa Kaffash as Vahid
Reza Diako as Hamid
Andrew Malik as Eman
Mia Foo as Elena
Boshra Dastournezhad as Soussan
Ash Goldeh as Babajoon
M. Mehdi Tahmasebi as Zal
Kamyab Falahati as Rostam
Satya Nikhil Polisetti as Raj Patel
Kathryn Barnett as Dr. Manzano
Cemre Ebüzziya as Dr. Anahita
Alexander Dane as Instructor
Michael Mannai as Teacher
Giovanni Lelli as Surgeon
Saeid Salehi as Airport Officer
Aylin Dilara White as Phone Receptionist
Rana Caliskan as Hospital Administrator
Melek Sani as Aunt Mahdis
Vani Murazi as Priya Anand
Derin Arduman as Grocery Clerk
Ned Mardin as Lawyer
Florans Atlantis as Nasir
Kenneth Fine as Jim
Sean Yazici as Young Majid
Kartal Bilcanli as Young Abbas
Nima Tavanaei as Young Hamid
Mohammadmoeid Zalaghi as Young Zal
Seyhan Kiskacioglu as Young Rostam
Ege Ares Sirali as Young Eman
Zahra Khonshnafs as Farrah Alavi
Siamak Bahramzadeh as Wedding Singer / Dr. Alavi
Tina Mahdizadehsari as Ob/Gyn
Sanem Rahmani as Nurse
Magde Karagoz as Calm Nurse
Bircan Çaglar as Nervous Nurse
Nick Grau as News Reporter
Parmis Abrari as Iranian Student
Kamila Korkmaz as American Student
Barbaros Arikan as Daniel Azizam
Matona Zulu as Store Employee
Soufi Ahora as Young Boy

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 5 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 195

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	11	0
6 to 10	8	0
11 to 15	4	1
16 to 20	7	1
21 to 25	16	0
26 to 30	26	1
31 to 35	8	4
36 to 40	18	8
41 to 45	10	0
46 to 50	24	3
51 to 55	22	0
56 to 60	22	1
61 to 65	17	9
66 to 70	2	0
71 to 75	4	0
76 to 80	4	0
81 to 85	23	4
86 to 90	24	1
91 to 95	12	1
96 to 100	38	19
101 to 105	21	31
106 to 110	33	3
111 to 115	8	2
116 to 120	28	16
121 to 125	6	0
126 to 130	9	0
131 to 135	12	0
136 to 140	17	3
141 to 145	5	1
146 to 150	11	3
151 to 155	16	3
156 to 160	6	2
161 to 165	5	0
166 to 170	8	0
171 to 175	43	49
176 to 180	13	10
181 to 185	9	4
186 to 190	3	0
191 to 195	32	3

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.

AMERICAN BULLY: You smelly terrorist! LEILA: Meanwhile, in Iran ...

LEILA: The only way to survive was not to put my faith in any of the rules. YOUNG LEILA: Hold your horses! YOUNG LEILA: Not science, not politics ...

CUSTOMS OFFICIAL: Take them for a body search. SHIRIN: Leila! Why are you squirming so much? CUSTOMS OFFICIAL: You alright little girl? YOUNG LEILA: I have a really bad rash.

LEILA: We brought a little America to Persia. YOUNG LEILA: Victory!

ELENA: Leila -- LEILA: Fuck. ELENA: Is that you? LEILA: Elena, hi, how are you?

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 76 are women's.

585 lines from women, 183 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

17 women and 26 men in the cast. 11 women and 22 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 7 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 81% of the words (5,788), men 19% (1,387). Women have 76% 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

Two men

Exhibit F: behind the camera

6 of the 15 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 33% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Maryam Keshavarz (woman)
Written by: Maryam Keshavarz (woman)
Produced by: Maryam Keshavarz (woman), Anne Carey (woman), Luca Borghese (man), Ben Howe (man), Peter Block (man), Cory Neal (man)
Shot by: André Jäger (man)
Edited by: JoAnne Yarrow (woman), Abolfazl Talooni (man)
Music by: Rostam Batmanglij (man)
Production design by: Fırat Yünlüel (man)
Costumes by: Burcu Yamak (gender not listed)
Cast by: Lindsey Weissmueller (woman)