Fails the Bechdel test
Withnail and I
1987. Directed by Bruce Robinson, written by Bruce Robinson.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
0 / 3
Fails
-
No
1. At least two women
Fewer than two women characters. -
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
London, 1969 - two 'resting' (unemployed and unemployable) actors, Withnail and Marwood, fed up with damp, cold, piles of washing-up, mad drug dealers and psychotic Irishmen, decide to leave their squalid Camden flat for an idyllic holiday in the countryside, courtesy of Withnail's uncle Monty's country cottage. But when they get there, it rains non-stop, there's no food, and their basic survival skills turn out to be somewhat limited. Matters are not helped by the arrival of Uncle Monty, who shows an uncomfortably keen interest in Marwood...
- Released
- 19 Jun 1987
- Genres
- Comedy, Drama
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.5 / 10
- Metascore
- 87 / 100
- Awards
- 1 win & 2 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Withnail 285 lines, man
- I 269 lines, man
- Monty 89 lines, man
- Danny 21 lines, man
- Parkin 14 lines, man
- Jake 9 lines, man
- Raymond 7 lines, man
Full cast, 14 people
- Richard E. Grant as Withnail
- Paul McGann as ...& I
- Richard Griffiths as Monty
- Ralph Brown as Danny
- Michael Elphick as Jake
- Daragh O'Malley as Irishman
- Michael Wardle as Isaac Parkin
- Una Brandon-Jones as Mrs. Parkin
- Noel Johnson as General
- Irene Sutcliffe as Waitress
- Llewellyn Rees as Tea Shop Proprietor
- Robert Oates as Policeman 1
- Anthony Wise as Policeman 2
- Eddie Tagoe as Presuming Ed
Who talks, scene by scene
We couldn't read who says what in this film's script, so there's no dialogue chart for it yet.
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, 0 are women's.
0 lines from women, 694 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
2 women and 12 men in the cast. 0 women and 4 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
No woman speaks.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 694 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 0% of the words (0), men 100% (10,746).
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
28
Exhibit E: behind the camera
2 of the 10 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 22% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Bruce Robinson (man)
- Written by
- Bruce Robinson (man)
- Produced by
- Paul M. Heller (man)
- Shot by
- Peter Hannan (man)
- Edited by
- Alan Strachan (man)
- Music by
- David Dundas (man), Rick Wentworth (gender not listed)
- Production design by
- Michael Pickwoad (man)
- Costumes by
- Andrea Galer (woman)
- Cast by
- Mary Selway (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
1 women, 5 men, 2 not listed
-
Editing
1 women, 1 men, 3 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 1 men, 4 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 2 men, 2 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 1 men, 3 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 1 men, 2 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 2 men, 2 not listed
-
Directing
2 women, 2 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 67 on average. Men: 38 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Irene Sutcliffe 62, Una Brandon-Jones 71
Men
Paul McGann 27, Richard E. Grant 30, Ralph Brown 30, Daragh O'Malley 33, Richard Griffiths 39, Michael Elphick 40, Noel Johnson 70
Exhibit G: the money
What it cost and made, where TMDB lists it.
- Budget
- Not listed
- Box office
- $1.5 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 1 scenes and 694 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
