Passes the Bechdel test

The Wife

Name: The Wife
Released: 2018

2018. Directed by Björn Runge, written by Jane Anderson and Meg Wolitzer.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
13 women characters. 13 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 6 scenes out of 59.
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

Behind any great man, there's always a greater woman - and you're about to meet her. Joan Castleman (Glenn Close): a highly intelligent and still-striking beauty - the perfect devoted wife. Forty years spent sacrificing her own talent, dreams and ambitions to fan the flames of her charismatic husband Joe (Jonathan Pryce) and his skyrocketing literary career. Ignoring his infidelities and excuses because of his "art" with grace and humour. Their fateful pact has built a marriage upon uneven compromises. And Joan's reached her breaking point. On the eve of Joe's Nobel Prize for Literature, the crown jewel in a spectacular body of work, Joan's coup de grace is to confront the biggest sacrifice of her life and secret of his career.

Released: 27 Sep 2018
Genres: Drama
Rated: R
IMDb: 7.2 / 10
Metascore: 77 / 100
Awards: Nominated for 1 Oscar. 19 wins & 30 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Joe 301 lines, man
Joan 265 lines, woman
David 77 lines, man
Bone 65 lines, man
Young Joe 64 lines, man
Young Joan 48 lines, woman
Arvid Engdahl 25 lines, man
Linnea 23 lines, woman
Susannah 16 lines, woman
Walter 14 lines, man

Full cast, 30 people

Glenn Close as Joan Castleman
Jonathan Pryce as Joe Castleman
Christian Slater as Nathaniel Bone
Max Irons as David Castleman
Harry Lloyd as Young Joe
Annie Starke as Young Joan
Elizabeth McGovern as Elaine Mozell
Johan Widerberg as Walter Bark
Karin Franz Körlof as Linnea
Richard Cordery as Hal Bowman
Jan Mybrand as Arvid Engdahl
Anna Azcárate as Mrs Lindelöf
Peter Forbes as James Finch
Fredric Gildea as Mr Lagerfelt
Jane Garioni as Constance Finch
Alix Wilton Regan as Susannah Castleman
Nick Fletcher as King Gustav
Mattias Nordkvist as Dr Ekeberg
Suzanne Bertish as Dusty Berkowitz
Gráinne Keenan as Carol Castleman
Isabelle von Meyenburg as Nobel Hostess
Morgane Polanski as Smithie Girl Lorraine
Twinnie Lee Moore as Flight Attendant Monica
John Moraitis as Lovejoy
Michael Benz as White
Johanna Andersson as Hotel Manager
Catharina Christie as Hotel Doctor
Carolin Stoltz as Hotel Nurse
Håkan Pettersson as Gustav
Ossian Skarsgård as Young David (voice)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 59

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	13	14
3 to 4	1	9
5 to 6	12	25
7 to 8	28	19
9 to 10	10	25
11 to 12	5	12
13 to 14	10	13
15 to 16	4	4
17 to 18	15	27
19 to 20	25	49
21 to 22	3	0
23 to 24	2	2
25 to 26	1	2
27 to 28	3	9
29 to 30	28	71
31 to 32	16	1
33 to 34	2	10
35 to 36	2	4
37 to 38	16	11
39 to 40	12	13
41 to 42	24	43
43 to 44	20	23
45 to 46	38	49
47 to 48	19	22
49 to 50	20	59
51 to 52	4	8
53 to 54	7	24
55 to 56	8	12
57 to 58	34	22
59 to 59	21	6

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.

SUSANNAH: Mom, when do you want to bring out the champagne? JOAN: Oh, I don’t know. The sooner the better. Then they'll all go home. JOAN: Hello my baby’s baby, I’m ready for a nap. SUSANNAH: Poor, Mommy.

SMITHIE GIRL LORRAINE: After the Jewish vaudeville entertainer? YOUNG JOAN: That's Fanny Brice. Fanny Price is the character from "Mansfield Park".

FLIGHT ATTENDANT MONICA: Mrs. Castleman, would you like a cookie? JOAN: Thank you, no.

LINNEA: Very nice to meet you. JOAN: You as well.

LINNEA: How beautiful. Did you write that? LINNEA: It is time for bed. God natt sov gott. [Good night, sleep well] JOAN: Yes, good night.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 41 are women's.

403 lines from women, 588 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

13 women and 14 men in the cast. 13 women and 13 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

A woman speaks the first line. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 19 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 33% of the words (3,338), men 67% (6,848). Women have 41% 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

9 of the 15 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 34% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Björn Runge (man)
Written by: Jane Anderson (woman)
From the novel by: Meg Wolitzer (woman)
Produced by: Claudia Bluemhuber (woman), Jo Bamford (gender not listed), Piers Tempest (man), Rosalie Swedlin (woman), Meta Louise Foldager Sørensen (woman)
Shot by: Ulf Brantås (man)
Edited by: Lena Dahlberg-Runge (gender not listed)
Music by: Jocelyn Pook (woman)
Production design by: Mark Leese (gender not listed)
Costumes by: Trisha Biggar (woman)
Cast by: Elaine Grainger (woman), Susanne Scheel (woman)