Passes the Bechdel test

The Zone of Interest

Name: The Zone of Interest
Released: 2024

2024. Directed by Jonathan Glazer, written by Jonathan Glazer and Martin Amis.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
11 women characters. 3 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 12 scenes out of 147.
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

German-occupied Poland, summer of 1943. More than anything, Hedwig, an indefatigable mother of five, wants to keep her well-organised life as is. After all, she has worked her fingers to the bone to create a fragrant slice of paradise to raise her children, and nothing will change that. If only her husband, the distinguished SS officer and Auschwitz commander Rudolf Hoess, weren't always burdened by his duties. But perfection is a fleeting illusion. As the oblivious life of the commandant's wife unravels in cloudless bliss, Rudolf finds himself swamped with work, saddled with testing a new ventilation design and overseeing the installation of a highly effective Topf and Sons multi-muffle, non-stop incineration oven system. Indeed, it's hard to imagine that just a hair's breadth away from the peaceful and idyllic Höss household, the unimaginable horrors of the Final Solution were unfolding in full swing. And as noisome fumes and muffled, blood-curdling noises blemish Hedwig's verdant utopia, a question emerges. When evil becomes banal and apathy requires no effort, what separates man from beast?

Released: 20 Feb 2024
Genres: Drama, History, War
Rated: PG-13
IMDb: 7.3 / 10
Metascore: 92 / 100
Awards: Won 2 Oscars. 73 wins & 187 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Rudolf 102 lines, man
Hedwig 97 lines, woman
Linna 31 lines, woman
German Woman Friend 2 7 lines, woman
Claus 6 lines, man
German Woman Friend 6 lines, woman
Sander 6 lines, man
Prufer 5 lines, man
Bischoff 4 lines, man
Elfryda 4 lines, woman

Full cast, 65 people

Christian Friedel as Rudolf Höss
Sandra Hüller as Hedwig Höss
Johann Karthaus as Claus Höss
Luis Noah Witte as Hans Höss
Nele Ahrensmeier as Inge-Brigit Höss
Lilli Falk as Heideraud Höss
Anastazja Drobniak as Annagret Höss
Cecylia Pekala as Annagret Höss
Kalman Wilson as Annagret Höss
Medusa Knopf as Elfriede
Maximilian Beck as Schwarzer
Andrey Isaev as Bronek
Julia Babiarz as Young Polish Housemaid
Stephanie Petrowitz as Sophie
Martyna Poznanski as Marta
Zuzanna Kobiela as Aniela
Benjamin Utzerath as Fritz Sander, Topf & Sons
Thomas Neumann as Karl Prüfer, Topf & Sons
Klaudiusz Kaufmann as Obersturmbannführer Bischoff
Justyna Szklarska as Prisoner Gardener #1
Kacper Piwko as Prisoner Gardener #2
Marie Rosa Tietjen as Hedwig's Friend #1
Antje Falk as Hedwig's Friend #2
Jakub Sierenberg as SS Officer #1
Joerg Sierenberg as SS Officer #2
Joerg Giessler as SS Officer #3
Heiko Lange as SS Officer #4
Marek Łukasik as SS Officer #5
Bernhard Schirmer as SS Horseman
Julia Polaczek as Aleksandra Bystroń-Kołodziejczyk
Shenja Lacher as Gauleiter Fritz Bracht (voice)
Imogen Kogge as Hedwig's Mother
Wiktoria Wisniewska as Heideraud's School Friend
Paulina Burzyk as Claus' Girlfriend
Anna Marciniszyn as Redheaded Woman
Agnieszka Wierny as Aleksandra's Mother
Patryk Mika as Polish Partisan at Table
Tomasz Piwko as Kapo Bohner
Carsten Koch as War-Wounded Soldier #1
Heinz Nielow as War-Wounded Soldier #2
Christine Schröder as Woman in Park with Dog
Marnius Fislage as Höss' Adjutant
Ralph Herforth as Oswald Pohl
Daniel Holzberg as Gerhard Maurer
Rainer Haustein as Richard Glücks
Daniel Hoffman as Dr. Meindl, Steyr-Daimier-Puch
Wolfgang Lampl as Hans Burger
Oscar Lebeck as Glücks' Adjutant
Christian Willy as SS Doctor
Freya Kreutzkam as Eleanor Pohl
Leo Meier as IKL Announcer (voice)
Barbara Koszałka as Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum Cleaner
Izabela Bara as Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum Cleaner
Anna Kuwik as Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum Cleaner
Mariola Karczewska as Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum Cleaner
Halina Drzymota as Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum Cleaner
Dominika Matonóg as Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum Cleaner
Ewelina Kaczor as Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum Cleaner
Małgorzata Żurek as Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum Cleaner
Barbara Jakubowska as Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum Cleaner
Elżbieta Bronka as Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum Cleaner
Zuzanna Janusik as Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum Cleaner
Sascha Maaz as Arthur Liebehenschel (uncredited)
Ralf Zillmann as Hoffmann (uncredited)
Christopher Manavi as Minor Role (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 6% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 147

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 4	0	0
5 to 8	0	4
9 to 12	5	6
13 to 16	4	8
17 to 20	20	0
21 to 24	0	11
25 to 28	1	2
29 to 32	0	3
33 to 36	0	0
37 to 40	11	11
41 to 44	0	4
45 to 48	0	4
49 to 52	27	6
53 to 56	36	0
57 to 60	10	9
61 to 64	17	10
65 to 68	1	1
69 to 72	0	7
73 to 76	0	4
77 to 80	0	1
81 to 84	0	2
85 to 88	0	0
89 to 92	0	0
93 to 96	6	0
97 to 100	7	0
101 to 104	3	4
105 to 108	0	7
109 to 112	0	6
113 to 116	0	0
117 to 120	0	17
121 to 124	0	8
125 to 128	3	4
129 to 132	2	1
133 to 136	0	0
137 to 140	0	0
141 to 144	0	0
145 to 147	0	0

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.

HEDWIG: This one needs mending please. ANIELA: Yes.

GERMAN WOMAN: She was admiring a jacket I had and HEDWIG: She thought you meant the country.

HEDWIG: The same thing happened when Helga GERMAN WOMAN FRIEND: Oh, it was so funny. Of all the dresses she could have picked out, she chose one that belonged to some little Jewess half her size. I got th…

GERMAN WOMAN FRIEND: Oh I forgot to tell you something. HEDWIG: No. Really?

HEDWIG: Remember I told you about Brigitte HEDWIG: The ermine one? GERMAN WOMAN FRIEND: Yes. HEDWIG: Did I tell you? Revision 12.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 52 are women's.

153 lines from women, 140 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

11 women and 15 men in the cast. 3 women and 14 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 9 of 312. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 46 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 55% of the words (957), men 45% (781). Women have 52% of the lines, so their lines run longer 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

5 of the 15 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 36% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Jonathan Glazer (man)
Written by: Jonathan Glazer (man)
From the novel by: Martin Amis (man)
Produced by: James Wilson (man), Ewa Puszczyńska (woman)
Shot by: Łukasz Żal (man)
Edited by: Paul Watts (man)
Music by: Mica Levi (non-binary) (non-binary)
Production design by: Chris Oddy (man)
Costumes by: Małgorzata Karpiuk (woman)
Cast by: Simone Bär (woman), Magdalena Szwarcbart (gender not listed), Alexandra Montag (woman), Jacqueline Rietz (woman), Gniewko Falana (gender not listed)