Fails the Bechdel test
War Horse
2011. Directed by Steven Spielberg, written by Lee Hall and Richard Curtis and Michael Morpurgo.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
3 women characters. 2 of them speak. -
No
2. Who talk to each other
Our parser found no scene where two women talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Not reached: the film fails an earlier rule.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.
The film
On the outbreak of the First World War, Albert's beloved horse 'Joey' is sold to the Cavalry by his Father. After being sent to France, in a bid to survive, Joey has an unexpected journey across war torn Europe. Albert enlists in the British Army, and is wounded during the Battle of the Somme. Whilst recovering in Hospital, he learns of a Horse, found in no mans land.
- Released
- 25 Dec 2011
- Genres
- Adventure, Drama, History
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 7.2 / 10
- Metascore
- 72 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 6 Oscars. 15 wins & 76 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Albert 110 lines, man
- Grandfather 50 lines, man
- Geordie 47 lines, man
- Emilie 40 lines, woman
- Dad 35 lines, man
- Peter 33 lines, man
- Captain Nicholls 31 lines, man
- Lyons 28 lines, man
- Major Stewart 23 lines, man
- Auctioneer 22 lines, man
Full cast, 57 people
- Jeremy Irvine as Albert Narracott
- Peter Mullan as Ted Narracott
- Emily Watson as Rose Narracott
- Niels Arestrup as Grandfather
- David Thewlis as Lyons
- Tom Hiddleston as Capt. James Nicholls
- Benedict Cumberbatch as Maj. Jamie Stewart
- Céline Buckens as Emilie
- Toby Kebbell as Geordie Soldier
- Patrick Kennedy as Lt. Charlie Waverly
- Leonard Carow as Michael
- David Kross as Gunther
- Matt Milne as Andrew Easton
- Robert Emms as David Lyons
- Eddie Marsan as Sgt. Fry
- Nicolas Bro as Friedrich
- Rainer Bock as Brandt
- Hinnerk Schönemann as Soldier
- Gary Lydon as Si Easton
- Geoff Bell as Sgt. Sam Perkins
- Liam Cunningham as Army Doctor
- Sebastian Hülk as German Officer at Farm
- Gerard McSorley as Market Auctioneer
- Tony Pitts as Sgt. Martin
- Irfan Hussein as Sgt. Maj. Singh
- Pip Torrens as Maj. Tompkins
- Philippe Nahon as French Auctioneer
- Jean-Claude Lecas as Butcher
- Justin Brett as Motorbike Rider
- Seamus O'Neill as Devon Farmer #1
- Pat Laffan as Devon Farmer #2
- Michael Ryan as British Trench Solder #1
- Peter McNeil O'Connor as British Trench Solder #2
- Trystan Pütter as German Trench Soldier #1
- Gunnar Cauthery as German Trench Soldier #2
- Julian Wadham as Trench Captain
- Anian Zollner as Senior German Officer
- Michael Kranz as Junior German Officer
- Hannes Wegener as German Officer
- David Dencik as Base Camp Officer
- Edward Bennett as Cavalry Recruiting Officer
- Johnny Harris as Infantry Recruitment Officer
- Philip Hill-Pearson as Wounded Soldier
- Tam Dean Burn as Medic in Trench
- Alan Williams as Hospital Orderly
- Thomas Arnold as Shouting German Officer
- Maximilian Brückner as German Artillery Officer
- Markus Tomczyk as German Artillery Soldier
- Peter Benedict as German Officer on Bridge
- Callum Armstrong as Bagpiper
- Roy Holder as Fred Goddard
- Paul Alexander as Dave Hill
- Maggie Ollerenshaw as Narracott's Neighbor
- Beth Ogden as David Lyons' Girlfriend
- Martin Dew as Lyons' Cronie
- Michael Morpurgo as Auction guest (uncredited)
- Finder's Key as Joey
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 7% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 96
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 | 2 |
| 5 to 6 | 0 | 43 |
| 7 to 8 | 0 | 17 |
| 9 to 10 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 to 12 | 0 | 32 |
| 13 to 14 | 2 | 11 |
| 15 to 16 | 0 | 39 |
| 17 to 18 | 0 | 8 |
| 19 to 20 | 2 | 4 |
| 21 to 22 | 0 | 0 |
| 23 to 24 | 0 | 2 |
| 25 to 26 | 1 | 1 |
| 27 to 28 | 0 | 1 |
| 29 to 30 | 0 | 1 |
| 31 to 32 | 0 | 10 |
| 33 to 34 | 0 | 23 |
| 35 to 36 | 0 | 25 |
| 37 to 38 | 0 | 16 |
| 39 to 40 | 0 | 0 |
| 41 to 42 | 0 | 22 |
| 43 to 44 | 0 | 23 |
| 45 to 46 | 0 | 14 |
| 47 to 48 | 0 | 17 |
| 49 to 50 | 0 | 5 |
| 51 to 52 | 0 | 0 |
| 53 to 54 | 14 | 14 |
| 55 to 56 | 5 | 0 |
| 57 to 58 | 6 | 22 |
| 59 to 60 | 5 | 3 |
| 61 to 62 | 7 | 8 |
| 63 to 64 | 3 | 14 |
| 65 to 66 | 0 | 15 |
| 67 to 68 | 0 | 1 |
| 69 to 70 | 0 | 52 |
| 71 to 72 | 0 | 5 |
| 73 to 74 | 0 | 8 |
| 75 to 76 | 0 | 0 |
| 77 to 78 | 0 | 1 |
| 79 to 80 | 0 | 7 |
| 81 to 82 | 0 | 62 |
| 83 to 84 | 0 | 7 |
| 85 to 86 | 0 | 16 |
| 87 to 88 | 0 | 1 |
| 89 to 90 | 0 | 4 |
| 91 to 92 | 0 | 8 |
| 93 to 94 | 0 | 44 |
| 95 to 96 | 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, 7 are women's.
45 lines from women, 611 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
3 women and 51 men in the cast. 2 women and 43 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 110 of 708.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 263 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 8% of the words (526), men 92% (6,225). Women have 7% 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
0
Two men
45
Exhibit E: behind the camera
6 of the 15 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 28% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Steven Spielberg (man)
- Written by
- Lee Hall (man), Richard Curtis (man)
- From the novel by
- Michael Morpurgo (man)
- Produced by
- Steven Spielberg (man), Kathleen Kennedy (woman)
- Shot by
- Janusz Kamiński (man)
- Edited by
- Michael Kahn (man)
- Music by
- John Williams (man)
- Production design by
- Rick Carter (man)
- Costumes by
- Joanna Johnston (woman)
- Cast by
- Jina Jay (woman), Antoinette Boulat (woman), Simone Bär (woman), Alexandra Montag (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
6 women, 12 men, 2 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
6 women, 1 men, 10 not listed
-
Visual Effects
0 women, 5 men, 12 not listed
-
Other crew
1 women, 8 men, 6 not listed
-
Art
2 women, 6 men, 3 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 10 men, 1 not listed
-
Production
5 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 4 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 30 on average. Men: 39 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Céline Buckens 15, Emily Watson 44
Men
Jeremy Irvine 21, Toby Kebbell 29, Tom Hiddleston 30, Patrick Kennedy 34, Benedict Cumberbatch 35, David Thewlis 48, Peter Mullan 52, Niels Arestrup 62
Exhibit G: the money
It made 2.7 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $66 million
- Box office
- $178 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 96 scenes and 708 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
