Passes the Bechdel test
The Wicker Man
1974. Directed by Robin Hardy, written by Anthony Shaffer and David Pinner.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
11 women characters. 10 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 2 scenes out of 67. -
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
On Sunday, April 29, 1973, Sergeant Neil Howie with the West Highland Constabulary flies solo to Summerisle off the coast of Scotland. He is there to follow up on a letter addressed specifically to him from an anonymous source on Summerisle reporting that a twelve year old girl who lives on the island, Rowan Morrison, the daughter of May Morrison, has long been missing. The correspondence includes a photograph of Rowan. Upon his arrival on Summerisle, Howie finds that the locals are a seemingly simple minded lot who provide little information beyond the fact that they know of no Rowan Morrison and do not know the girl in the photo. Mrs. Morrison admits to having a daughter, seven year old Myrtle, but no Rowan. As Howie speaks to more and more people, he begins to believe that Rowan does or did live on the island, but that the locals are hiding their knowledge of her. He also begins to see that the locals all have pagan beliefs, their "religion" which centers on procreation as the source of life. That procreation does not necessarily need to be within marriage, and openly flaunts the act of sex, both in private and in public. These beliefs do not sit well against Howie's strict Christian morals, he who regularly attends church, prays, and accepts communion. Everything that happens on the island seems to be dictated by Lord Summerisle, whose ancestors bought the island generations ago. Howie begins to believe that Rowan was murdered, she a sacrifice by the islanders to their higher power to ensure a bountiful apple crop - the main crop of the island - which did not materialize last season. With May Day approaching, Howie not only tries to find out if Rowan was indeed murdered/sacrificed, which includes trying to locate her body, but if there will be another sacrifice on this important day within the cycle of life.
- Released
- 07 Aug 1974
- Genres
- Horror, Mystery, Thriller
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.5 / 10
- Metascore
- 87 / 100
- Awards
- 3 wins & 6 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Howie 130 lines, man
- Honie 34 lines
- Lord Summerisle 27 lines, man
- Harbour Master 15 lines, man
- Miss Rose 15 lines, woman
- Lennox 11 lines, man
- Willow 11 lines, woman
- Mctaggart 7 lines
- Old Gardener 7 lines, man
- Chorus 4 lines
Full cast, 48 people
- Edward Woodward as Sergeant Neil Howie
- Christopher Lee as Lord Summerisle
- Britt Ekland as Willow MacGreagor
- Diane Cilento as Miss Rose
- Ingrid Pitt as Librarian
- Roy Boyd as Broome
- Lesley Mackie as Daisy
- Walter Carr as School Master
- Irene Sunters as May Morrison
- Lindsay Kemp as Alder MacGreagor
- Ian Campbell as Oak
- Kevin Collins as Old Fisherman
- Aubrey Morris as Old Gardener / Gravedigger
- Russell Waters as Harbour Master
- Donald Eccles as T.H. Lennox
- Gerry Cowper as Rowan Morrison
- Leslie Blackater as Hairdresser
- Peter Brewis as Musician
- Barbara Rafferty as Woman with Baby
- Juliet Cadzow as Villager
- Ross Campbell as Communicant
- Penny Cluer as Gillie
- Michael Cole as Musician
- Ian Cutler as Musician
- Myra Forsyth as Mrs Grimmond
- John Hallam as McTaggert
- Alison Hughes as Fiancée to Howie
- Charles Kearney as Butcher
- Fiona Kennedy as Holly
- John McGregor as Baker
- Jimmy Mackenzie as Briar
- Jennifer Martin as Myrtle Morrison
- Bernard Murray as Musician
- Helen Norman as Villager
- Lorraine Peters as Girl on Grave
- Tony Roper as Postman
- John Sharp as Doctor Ewan
- Elizabeth Sinclair as Villager
- Andrew Tompkins as Musician
- Ian Wilson as Communicant
- Richard Wren as Ash Buchanan
- John Young as Fishmonger
- Robin Hardy as Minister (uncredited)
- Muriel Greenslade as Old Woman in Library (uncredited)
- Annie Ross as Willow MacGreagor (voice) (uncredited)
- George Oliver as Parishioner (uncredited)
- Fred Wood as Parishioner (Singing Hymn In Church) (uncredited)
- Paul Giovanni as Folk Singer (Delected Scenes/Director's Cut)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 35% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 67
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 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 3 to 4 | 0 | 1 |
| 5 to 6 | 0 | 8 |
| 7 to 8 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 to 10 | 5 | 15 |
| 11 to 12 | 4 | 13 |
| 13 to 14 | 1 | 3 |
| 15 to 16 | 0 | 0 |
| 17 to 18 | 0 | 0 |
| 19 to 20 | 1 | 3 |
| 21 to 22 | 3 | 4 |
| 23 to 24 | 11 | 17 |
| 25 to 26 | 6 | 9 |
| 27 to 28 | 0 | 3 |
| 29 to 30 | 0 | 2 |
| 31 to 32 | 2 | 27 |
| 33 to 34 | 1 | 2 |
| 35 to 36 | 0 | 4 |
| 37 to 38 | 0 | 1 |
| 39 to 40 | 0 | 33 |
| 41 to 42 | 1 | 12 |
| 43 to 44 | 2 | 3 |
| 45 to 46 | 7 | 8 |
| 47 to 48 | 0 | 1 |
| 49 to 50 | 0 | 1 |
| 51 to 52 | 0 | 18 |
| 53 to 54 | 1 | 8 |
| 55 to 56 | 1 | 3 |
| 57 to 58 | 0 | 2 |
| 59 to 60 | 1 | 2 |
| 61 to 62 | 0 | 0 |
| 63 to 64 | 0 | 1 |
| 65 to 66 | 4 | 7 |
| 67 to 67 | 0 | 13 |
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.
HISS ROSE: that 's enough, girls! l:t • s No,-1 time to pay attention to me. Daisy , ,,rill you tel 1 us please what the maypole represents? Daisy sits… MISS ROSE: Really Daisy, I've told you often enough. Al1yone?
MISS ROSE: Only as a comparative religion. UISS ROSE: Where you would expect it to be. In the earth.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 18 are women's.
51 lines from women, 227 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
11 women and 19 men in the cast. 10 women and 13 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 50 of 429.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 61 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 18% of the words (1,195), men 82% (5,307).
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
2
Two men
22
Exhibit F: behind the camera
2 of the 9 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 21% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Robin Hardy (man)
- Written by
- Anthony Shaffer (man)
- From the novel by
- David Pinner (man)
- Produced by
- Peter Snell (man)
- Shot by
- Harry Waxman (man)
- Edited by
- Eric Boyd-Perkins (gender not listed)
- Music by
- Paul Giovanni (man)
- Costumes by
- Sue Yelland (woman)
- Cast by
- Maggie Cartier (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
2 women, 2 men, 2 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 1 men, 2 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 2 men
-
Other crew
0 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 0 men, 2 not listed
-
Writing
0 women, 2 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 35 on average. Men: 41 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Lesley Mackie 22, Britt Ekland 31, Ingrid Pitt 36, Diane Cilento 40, Irene Sunters 45
Men
Roy Boyd 35, Lindsay Kemp 35, Edward Woodward 43, Christopher Lee 51
Exhibit H: the money
It made 1.1 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $810,000
- Box office
- $885,371
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 67 scenes and 429 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
