Fails the Bechdel test
The Seventh Seal
1958. Directed by Ingmar Bergman, written by Ingmar Bergman.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
14 women characters. 3 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
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.
The film
A Knight and his squire are home from the crusades. Black Death is sweeping their country. As they approach home, Death appears to the knight and tells him it is his time. The knight challenges Death to a chess game for his life. The Knight and Death play as the cultural turmoil envelopes the people around them as they try, in different ways, to deal with the upheaval the plague has caused.
- Released
- 13 Oct 1958
- Genres
- Drama, Fantasy
- Rated
- Not Rated
- IMDb
- 8.1 / 10
- Metascore
- 88 / 100
- Awards
- 9 wins & 2 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Knight 120 lines, man
- Jons 100 lines, man
- Jof 91 lines, man
- Mia 75 lines, woman
- Death 53 lines, man
- Plog 50 lines, man
- Skat 30 lines, man
- Painter 18 lines, man
- Raval 17 lines, man
- Tyan 13 lines, woman
Full cast, 45 people
- Gunnar Björnstrand as Jöns
- Bengt Ekerot as Death
- Nils Poppe as Jof
- Max von Sydow as Antonius Block
- Bibi Andersson as Mia
- Inga Gill as Lisa
- Maud Hansson as Witch
- Inga Landgré as Karin
- Gunnel Lindblom as Mute Girl
- Bertil Anderberg as Raval
- Anders Ek as Monk
- Åke Fridell as Plog
- Gunnar Olsson as Albertus Pictor
- Erik Strandmark as Jonas Skat
- Lars Lind as Young Monk (uncredited)
- Benkt-Åke Benktsson as Merchant at Inn (uncredited)
- Tor Borong as Farmer at Inn (uncredited)
- Gudrun Brost as Woman at Inn (uncredited)
- Harry Asklund as Landlord (uncredited)
- Ulf Johansson as Knight Commander (uncredited)
- Sten Ardenstam as Knight (uncredited)
- Gordon Löwenadler as Knight (uncredited)
- Karl Widh as Man with Crutches (uncredited)
- Tommy Karlsson as Mikael (uncredited)
- Siv Aleros as Flagellant (uncredited)
- Bengt Gillberg as Flagellant (uncredited)
- Lars Granberg as Flagellant (uncredited)
- Gunlög Hagberg as Flagellant (uncredited)
- Gun Hammargren as Flagellant (uncredited)
- Uno Larsson as Flagellant (uncredited)
- Lennart Lilja as Flagellant (uncredited)
- Monica Lindman as Flagellant (uncredited)
- Helge Sjökvist as Flagellant (uncredited)
- Georg Skarstedt as Flagellant (uncredited)
- Ragnar Sörman as Flagellant (uncredited)
- Lennart Tollén as Flagellant (uncredited)
- Caya Wickström as Flagellant (uncredited)
- Catherine Berg as Young Kneeling Woman (uncredited)
- Mona Malm as Young Pregnant Woman (uncredited)
- Tor Isedal as Man (uncredited)
- Josef Norman as Old Man at Inn (uncredited)
- Gösta Prüzelius as Man (uncredited)
- Fritjof Tall as Man (uncredited)
- Nils Whiten as Old Man Addressed by Monk (uncredited)
- Lena Bergman as Young Kneeling Woman (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
We couldn't read who says what in this film's script, so there's no dialogue chart for it yet.
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, 19 are women's.
114 lines from women, 494 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
14 women and 31 men in the cast. 3 women and 10 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 37 of 628.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 84 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 17% of the words (1,347), men 83% (6,778). Women have 19% 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
27
Exhibit E: behind the camera
None of the 8 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 17% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Ingmar Bergman (man)
- Written by
- Ingmar Bergman (man)
- Produced by
- Allan Ekelund (man)
- Shot by
- Gunnar Fischer (man)
- Edited by
- Lennart Wallén (man)
- Music by
- Erik Nordgren (man)
- Production design by
- P.A. Lundgren (man)
- Costumes by
- Manne Lindholm (gender not listed)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
0 women, 2 men, 3 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
0 women, 0 men, 2 not listed
-
Production
0 women, 2 men
-
Writing
0 women, 2 men
-
Art
0 women, 1 men
-
Other crew
1 women, 0 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 25 on average. Men: 41 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Maud Hansson 19, Bibi Andersson 21, Gunnel Lindblom 25, Inga Landgré 29, Inga Gill 31
Men
Max von Sydow 27, Bengt Ekerot 37, Bertil Anderberg 44, Gunnar Björnstrand 47, Nils Poppe 48
Exhibit G: the money
It made 2.1 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $150,000
- Box office
- $311,212
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 1 scenes and 628 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
