Passes the Bechdel test

The Whistleblower

Name: The Whistleblower
Released: 2011

2011. Directed by Larysa Kondracki, written by Larysa Kondracki and Eilis Kirwan.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
18 women characters. 15 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 31 scenes out of 266.
Yes 3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.

Second opinion

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

The film

Inspired by true events, Kathy (Rachel Weisz) is an American police officer who takes a job working as a peacekeeper in post-war Bosnia. Her expectations of helping to rebuild a devastated country are dashed when she uncovers a dangerous reality of corruption, cover-up and intrigue amid a world of private contractors and multinational diplomatic doubletalk.

Released: 27 Oct 2011
Genres: Biography, Crime, Drama
Rated: R
IMDb: 7.1 / 10
Metascore: 59 / 100
Awards: 8 wins & 10 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Kathy 246 lines, woman
Jan 44 lines, man
Madeleine 34 lines, woman
Bill Hynes 24 lines, man
Carmen 23 lines, woman
Raya 22 lines, woman
Laura Levin 21 lines, woman
Peter Ward 20 lines, man
Viko 19 lines, man
Milena 17 lines, woman

Full cast, 43 people

Rachel Weisz as Kathryn Bolkovac
Vanessa Redgrave as Madeleine Rees
Monica Bellucci as Laura Leviani
David Strathairn as Peter Ward
Nikolaj Lie Kaas as Jan Van Der Velde
Benedict Cumberbatch as Nick Kaufman
Liam Cunningham as Bill Hines
Paula Schramm as Luba
David Hewlett as Fred Murray
William Hope as Blakely
Luke Treadaway as Jim Higgins
Alexandru Potocean as Viko
Rayisa Kondracki as Irka
Jeanette Hain as Halyna
Sergej Trifunović as Ivan
Vlad Ivanov as Tanjo
Alin Panc as Roman
Danny John-Jules as Duke
Pilou Asbæk as Bas
Paul Jerricho as Tim Sebastian
Stuart Graham as McVeigh
Roxana Condurache as Raya
Coca Bloos as Milena
Anna Schafer as Zoe
Anca Androne as Zenia
Florin Busuioc as Danik
Victoria Raileanu as Julia
Dorotheea Petre as Mara
Rosabell Laurenti Sellers as Erin
Roxana Guttman as Zlata Sehik
Alexandra Radescu as Tanya
Cristina Cristian as Fadila
Adriana Butoi as Marie
Catherine McNally as Cop
Geoffrey Pounsett as UN Security Guard
Radu Bânzaru as Barman
Mihai Ghior as Intern
Sabrina Iaschevici as 17-Year-Old Girl
Ion Sapdaru as Border Guard
Ionut Grama as Human Rights Worker
Bryan Jardine as Judge Twiss
Erwin Simsensohn as Drunk IPTF Officer
Collin Blair as IPTF Officer - Angry Man (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 6 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 17% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 266

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 6	18	8
7 to 12	15	0
13 to 18	0	5
19 to 24	11	10
25 to 30	12	8
31 to 36	5	3
37 to 42	5	2
43 to 48	20	2
49 to 54	9	7
55 to 60	29	7
61 to 66	26	0
67 to 72	12	4
73 to 78	5	3
79 to 84	4	3
85 to 90	18	0
91 to 96	32	1
97 to 102	13	7
103 to 108	15	3
109 to 114	2	3
115 to 120	1	0
121 to 126	5	1
127 to 132	2	4
133 to 138	14	3
139 to 144	10	12
145 to 150	17	7
151 to 156	17	4
157 to 162	8	5
163 to 168	8	11
169 to 174	1	0
175 to 180	4	2
181 to 186	12	5
187 to 192	4	1
193 to 198	6	11
199 to 204	6	4
205 to 210	12	6
211 to 216	15	1
217 to 222	8	0
223 to 228	9	10
229 to 234	11	3
235 to 240	6	0
241 to 246	8	7
247 to 252	1	3
253 to 258	1	1
259 to 264	3	0
265 to 266	3	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.

LUBA: God I'm drunk... Where's this damn door? RAYA: Watch it! That's my hair! Let me try.

RAYA: I know I'm late. I tried to leave, but-- HALYNA: It's three in the morning.

KATHY: I thought this was peanut butter but-- CARMEN: It's ass paste? I know. I bought it too. Let's get out of here. I need a drink.

CARMEN: Fuck me, we're outnumbered. Good odds. KATHY: Hon, they're all yours. CARMEN: Okay, fine, if you insist. Mine's a Jaegermeister.

CARMEN: What the hell happened last night? KATHY: Let's move. We're gonna be late.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 71 are women's.

443 lines from women, 180 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

18 women and 23 men in the cast. 15 women and 20 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 2 of 750. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 12 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 69% of the words (5,634), men 31% (2,486). Women have 71% of the lines, so their lines run shorter 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

8 of the 18 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 43% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Larysa Kondracki (woman)
Written by: Larysa Kondracki (woman), Eilis Kirwan (gender not listed)
Produced by: Christina Piovesan (woman), Igor A. Nola (man), Celine Rattray (woman)
Shot by: Kieran McGuigan (man), Adam Swica (man)
Edited by: Julian Clarke (man)
Music by: Mychael Danna (man)
Production design by: Caroline Foellmer (gender not listed)
Costumes by: Gersha Phillips (woman)
Cast by: Jenny Lewis (woman), Sara Kay (woman), Stefany Pohlmann (woman), Galina Bilik (gender not listed), Jane Anderson (gender not listed), Mihai Ghior (gender not listed)