Fails the Bechdel test
The Song of Names
2019. Directed by François Girard, written by Jeffrey Caine and Norman Lebrecht.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
4 women characters. 3 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
Women do talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Every conversation between women that our parser found mentions a man.
Second opinion
Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.
The film
Dovidl Rapoport and Martin Simmonds grew up as best friends, each considering the other like a brother. Their close relationship was despite their rocky start upon their initial meeting at age nine, when Dovidl's father, Zygmunt Rapoport, of Jewish faith from Warsaw, brought Dovidl, a violin prodigy, to London both to continue his violin tutelage and to get him out of Poland in 1939, with Martin's parents, Gilbert and Enid Simmonds, they an upper class musical family, taking Dovidl in as Zygmunt returned to Warsaw to rejoin the rest of his family. That rocky start was due to Gilbert giving Dovidl seemingly favored status as a guest in their house, as Gilbert vowed to Zygmunt that they would maintain Dovidl's Jewish faith (despite Dovidl growing further and further away from that aspect of his life as he grew into his late teen and early adult years), and in Dovidl's musical gifts far outstripping Martin's, he a talented enough pianist in his own right. That friendship hit an abrupt end of sorts when Dovidl failed to show up for his first major featured concert in London in 1951, he seemingly disappearing into thin air on his own volition. Dovidl's failure to perform that evening led to financial ruin for the Simmonds, with Gilbert passing of a heart attack a few months later arguably a further result. It's now 1986, and Martin, prominently working in the music business in London, has searched for Dovidl over all these years partly in wanting to deal with what he considers unfinished business, and as he believes that Dovidl may not have had someone to look out for him as he would have. Martin comes into evidence of Dovidl's recent whereabouts. Two parallel stories are then told, the first Martin and Dovidl's time together from 1939 to 1951 which may provide some clues as to why Dovidl left, and the second as Martin follows the leads to locate his "brother".
- Released
- 25 Dec 2019
- Genres
- Drama, Music, Mystery
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 6.5 / 10
- Metascore
- 51 / 100
- Awards
- 8 wins & 11 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Martin 281 lines, man
- Dovidl 158 lines, man
- Gilbert 62 lines, man
- Helen 53 lines, woman
- Anna 40 lines, woman
- Feinman 13 lines, man
- Enid 11 lines, woman
- Froggatt 11 lines, man
- Billy 10 lines, man
- Ellen 10 lines
Full cast, 45 people
- Tim Roth as Martin Simmonds
- Clive Owen as Dovidl Rapoport
- Catherine McCormack as Helen Simmonds
- Suzy Eddie Izzard as Radio Presenter
- Saul Rubinek as Feinman
- Jonah Hauer-King as Dovidl 17-23
- Gerran Howell as Martin 17-21
- Luke Doyle as Dovidl 9-13
- Misha Handley as Martin 9-13
- Stanley Townsend as Gilbert
- Julian Wadham as Arbuthnot Bailey
- Richard Bremmer as Billy
- Max Macmillan as Peter Stemp
- Matt Devere as Milkman
- Amy Sloan as Enid Simmonds
- Tamás Puskás as Professor Carl Flesch
- Jakub Kotyński as Zygmunt Rapoport
- Richard Bremmer as Billy the Busker
- Schwartz Zoltán as Jozef Weschler
- Julian Wadham as Mr. Bailey
- István Darvas as Bar Mitzvah Rabbi
- Alex Bisping as Warsaw Taxi Driver
- Lidia Bogaczówna as Asylum Nurse
- Magdalena Cielecka as Anna Wozniak
- Zsófi Tóth as Young Anna Wozniak
- Saul Rubinek as Mr. Feinman
- Joanna Caplan as Broche Rapoport
- Jesse Noah Gruman as Zygmunt Rapoport (7)
- Howard Jerome as Katzenberg
- Chaim Paskesz as Frumkin
- Pinchasz Weisberger as Chaim Frumkin
- Daniel Mutlu as Young Rebbe
- Declan Hannigan as Desk Clerk
- Wayne Brett as Security Man
- Jack Martin Haendler as 1986 Conductor
- Ralph Berkin as Orchestra Manager Sanderson
- Jeffrey Caine as Tom Noble
- Tamás Masa as Sabbathsong Klezmer Band
- Bálint Szabó as Sabbathsong Klezmer Band
- Izsák Farkas as Sabbathsong Klezmer Band
- Sándor Csányi as Sabbathsong Klezmer Band
- Endre Kertész as Sabbathsong Klezmer Band
- György Szentkirályi as Sabbathsong Klezmer Band
- Zoltán Langer as Sabbathsong Klezmer Band
- Szabolcs Andrasics as Sabbathsong Klezmer Band
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 4% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 115
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 | 5 | 23 |
| 4 to 6 | 3 | 3 |
| 7 to 9 | 0 | 12 |
| 10 to 12 | 0 | 20 |
| 13 to 15 | 1 | 19 |
| 16 to 18 | 0 | 27 |
| 19 to 21 | 4 | 34 |
| 22 to 24 | 0 | 12 |
| 25 to 27 | 8 | 36 |
| 28 to 30 | 0 | 36 |
| 31 to 33 | 0 | 4 |
| 34 to 36 | 0 | 35 |
| 37 to 39 | 0 | 6 |
| 40 to 42 | 0 | 17 |
| 43 to 45 | 4 | 23 |
| 46 to 48 | 0 | 39 |
| 49 to 51 | 4 | 7 |
| 52 to 54 | 8 | 31 |
| 55 to 57 | 8 | 7 |
| 58 to 60 | 12 | 12 |
| 61 to 63 | 14 | 20 |
| 64 to 66 | 7 | 14 |
| 67 to 69 | 0 | 14 |
| 70 to 72 | 0 | 31 |
| 73 to 75 | 0 | 11 |
| 76 to 78 | 0 | 1 |
| 79 to 81 | 0 | 5 |
| 82 to 84 | 0 | 18 |
| 85 to 87 | 0 | 15 |
| 88 to 90 | 0 | 1 |
| 91 to 93 | 14 | 25 |
| 94 to 96 | 0 | 9 |
| 97 to 99 | 1 | 2 |
| 100 to 102 | 3 | 12 |
| 103 to 105 | 0 | 0 |
| 106 to 108 | 0 | 1 |
| 109 to 111 | 0 | 3 |
| 112 to 114 | 8 | 5 |
| 115 to 115 | 0 | 0 |
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, 15 are women's.
104 lines from women, 590 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
4 women and 21 men in the cast. 3 women and 17 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 4 of 726.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 107 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 16% of the words (1,068), men 84% (5,805). Women have 15% of the lines, so their lines run longer 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
1
Two men
49
Exhibit E: behind the camera
2 of the 11 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 28% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- François Girard (man)
- Written by
- Jeffrey Caine (man)
- From the novel by
- Norman Lebrecht (gender not listed)
- Produced by
- Robert Lantos (man), Lyse Lafontaine (woman), Nick Hirschkorn (gender not listed)
- Shot by
- David Franco (man)
- Edited by
- Michel Arcand (man)
- Music by
- Howard Shore (man)
- Production design by
- François Séguin (man)
- Cast by
- Susie Figgis (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
4 women, 8 men, 5 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 7 men, 2 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
3 women, 0 men, 1 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
-
Camera
1 women, 1 men
-
Visual Effects
0 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
-
Writing
0 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 47 on average. Men: 52 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Catherine McCormack 47
Men
Jonah Hauer-King 24, Gerran Howell 28, Clive Owen 55, Tim Roth 58, Stanley Townsend 58, Saul Rubinek 71, Saul Rubinek 71
Exhibit G: the money
What it cost and made, where TMDB lists it.
- Budget
- Not listed
- Box office
- $1.1 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 115 scenes and 726 lines of dialogue. How the test works
