Fails the Bechdel test
The Queen
2006. Directed by Stephen Frears, written by Peter Morgan.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
7 women characters. 4 of them speak. -
No
2. Who talk to each other
Our parser found no scene where two women talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Not reached: the film fails an earlier rule.
Second opinion
Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3, though someone marked that rating as dubious.
The film
Diana, the "People's Princess" has died in a car accident in Paris. The Queen (Dame Helen Mirren) and her family decide that for the best, they should remain hidden behind the closed doors of Balmoral Castle. The heartbroken public do not understand and request that the Queen comforts her people. This also puts pressure on newly elected Tony Blair (Michael Sheen), who constantly tries to convince the monarchy to address the public.
- Released
- 17 Nov 2006
- Genres
- Biography, Drama
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 7.3 / 10
- Metascore
- 90 / 100
- Awards
- Won 1 Oscar. 97 wins & 97 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Elizabeth 209 lines, woman
- Tony 158 lines, man
- Prince Philip 55 lines, man
- Janvrin 45 lines, man
- Charles 38 lines, man
- Cherie 29 lines, woman
- Alastair 22 lines, man
- Queen Mother 17 lines, woman
- Rince Philip 10 lines, man
- Anvrin 9 lines
Full cast, 26 people
- Helen Mirren as The Queen
- Michael Sheen as Tony Blair
- James Cromwell as Prince Philip
- Helen McCrory as Cherie Blair
- Alex Jennings as Prince Charles
- Roger Allam as Robin Janvrin
- Sylvia Syms as Queen Mother
- Paul Barrett as Trevor Rees-Jones
- Tim McMullan as Stephen Lamport
- Douglas Reith as Lord Airlie
- Mark Bazeley as Alastair Campbell
- Robin Soans as Equerry
- Lola Peploe as Janvrin's Secretary
- Joyce Henderson as Balmoral Maid
- Pat Laffan as Head Ghillie
- Amanda Hadingue as Queen's Dresser
- John McGlynn as Balmoral Head Ghillie
- Gray O'Brien as Charles' Valet
- Dolina MacLennan as Balmoral Switchboard Operator
- Julian Firth as Blair's Aide
- Earl Cameron as Portrait Artist
- Elliot Levey as TV Director
- Anthony Debaeck as Catholic Priest
- Wolfgang Pissors as German Reporter
- Xavier Castano as French Bodyguard
- Stephen Samson as Greenkeeper
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 11% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 148
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 4 | 7 | 7 |
| 5 to 8 | 14 | 6 |
| 9 to 12 | 1 | 9 |
| 13 to 16 | 24 | 17 |
| 17 to 20 | 0 | 2 |
| 21 to 24 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 to 28 | 3 | 4 |
| 29 to 32 | 12 | 18 |
| 33 to 36 | 0 | 5 |
| 37 to 40 | 8 | 18 |
| 41 to 44 | 2 | 11 |
| 45 to 48 | 11 | 15 |
| 49 to 52 | 8 | 5 |
| 53 to 56 | 0 | 4 |
| 57 to 60 | 6 | 22 |
| 61 to 64 | 0 | 8 |
| 65 to 68 | 16 | 31 |
| 69 to 72 | 19 | 22 |
| 73 to 76 | 19 | 37 |
| 77 to 80 | 2 | 8 |
| 81 to 84 | 2 | 13 |
| 85 to 88 | 12 | 22 |
| 89 to 92 | 0 | 9 |
| 93 to 96 | 4 | 2 |
| 97 to 100 | 7 | 5 |
| 101 to 104 | 3 | 17 |
| 105 to 108 | 2 | 7 |
| 109 to 112 | 3 | 3 |
| 113 to 116 | 20 | 7 |
| 117 to 120 | 2 | 2 |
| 121 to 124 | 5 | 7 |
| 125 to 128 | 7 | 9 |
| 129 to 132 | 2 | 1 |
| 133 to 136 | 12 | 9 |
| 137 to 140 | 8 | 2 |
| 141 to 144 | 3 | 5 |
| 145 to 148 | 29 | 23 |
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, 41 are women's.
273 lines from women, 392 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
7 women and 19 men in the cast. 4 women and 29 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 2 of 748.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 27 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 39% of the words (2,861), men 61% (4,499). Women have 41% 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
Two women
0
Two men
33
Exhibit E: behind the camera
6 of the 12 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 29% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Stephen Frears (man)
- Written by
- Peter Morgan (man)
- Produced by
- Andy Harries (man), Christine Langan (woman), Tracey Seaward (woman)
- Shot by
- Affonso Beato (man)
- Edited by
- Lucia Zucchetti (woman)
- Music by
- Alexandre Desplat (man)
- Production design by
- Alan MacDonald (man)
- Costumes by
- Consolata Boyle (woman)
- Cast by
- Leo Davis (woman), Vanessa Baker (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Art
2 women, 13 men, 29 not listed
-
Other crew
5 women, 4 men, 30 not listed
-
Production
7 women, 11 men, 13 not listed
-
Camera
1 women, 8 men, 17 not listed
-
Sound
1 women, 9 men, 10 not listed
-
Lighting
0 women, 2 men, 13 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
3 women, 1 men, 10 not listed
-
Editing
2 women, 1 men, 4 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 57 on average. Men: 50 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Helen McCrory 38, Helen Mirren 61, Sylvia Syms 72
Men
Michael Sheen 37, Tim McMullan 43, Alex Jennings 49, Roger Allam 52, Douglas Reith 53, James Cromwell 66
Exhibit G: the money
It made 8.2 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $15 million
- Box office
- $123 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 148 scenes and 748 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
