Fails the Bechdel test
Witness
1985. Directed by Peter Weir, written by William Kelley and Pamela Wallace and Earl W. Wallace.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
6 women characters. 5 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
Women do talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Every conversation between women that our parser found mentions a man.
Second opinion
Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3, though someone marked that rating as dubious.
The film
An 8 year old Amish boy and his mother are traveling to Philadelphia, on their way to visit the mother's sister. While waiting at the train station, the young boy witnesses a brutal murder inside one of the bathroom stalls. Police detective John Book is assigned to investigate the murder of the man, who was an undercover cop. Soon after, Book finds out that he's in great danger when the culprits know about his investigation and hides out in the Amish community. There, he learns the way of living among the Amish locals, which consists of non-violence and agriculture. Book soon starts a romance with the mother of the little boy, but their romance is forbidden by the Amish standards. But, it's not long before the bad guys find out Book's whereabouts.
- Released
- 08 Feb 1985
- Genres
- Crime, Drama, Romance
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.3 / 10
- Metascore
- 76 / 100
- Awards
- Won 2 Oscars. 14 wins & 32 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Book 182 lines, man
- Rachel 146 lines, woman
- Schaeffer 62 lines, man
- Eli 43 lines, man
- Elaine 28 lines, woman
- Samuel 26 lines, man
- Carter 19 lines, man
- Hochstetler 16 lines, man
- Stoltzfus 9 lines, man
- Mcelroy 6 lines, man
Full cast, 47 people
- Harrison Ford as John Book
- Kelly McGillis as Rachel
- Josef Sommer as Schaeffer
- Lukas Haas as Samuel
- Jan Rubeš as Eli Lapp
- Alexander Godunov as Daniel Hochleitner
- Danny Glover as McFee
- Brent Jennings as Carter
- Patti LuPone as Elaine
- Angus MacInnes as Fergie
- Frederick Rolf as Stoltzfus
- Viggo Mortensen as Moses Hochleitner
- John Garson as Bishop Tchantz
- Beverly May as Mrs. Yoder
- Ed Crowley as Sheriff
- Timothy Carhart as Zenovich
- Sylvia Kauders as Tourist Lady
- Marian Swan as Mrs. Schaeffer
- Maria Bradley as Schaeffer's Daughter
- Rozwill Young as T-Bone
- Paul S. Nuss as Amish
- Emily Tracy as Amish
- Fred Steinharter as Amish
- John D. King as Amish
- Paul Goss as Amish
- Annemarie Vallerio as Amish
- Bruce E. Camburn as Amish
- William Francis as Town Man
- Tom Kennedy as Ticket Seller
- Ardyth Kaiser as Couple in Garage
- Thomas Quinn as Couple in Garage
- Eugene Dooley as Detective
- Victoria Scott D'Angelo as Detective
- Richard Chaves as Detective
- Tim Moyer as Detective
- Nino Del Buono as Detective
- James Frank Clark as Detective
- Joseph Kelly as Detective
- Norman Carter as Detective
- Craig Clement as Detective
- Robert Earl Jones as Custodian
- Michael Levering as Hoodlum
- Cara Giallanza as Hoodlum
- Anthony Dean Rubeš as Hoodlum
- Bernie Styles as Counterman
- Blossom Terry as Mother in Station
- Jennifer Mancuso as Little Girl
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 4% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 165
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 | 0 |
| 9 to 12 | 1 | 3 |
| 13 to 16 | 3 | 5 |
| 17 to 20 | 7 | 24 |
| 21 to 24 | 5 | 28 |
| 25 to 28 | 1 | 4 |
| 29 to 32 | 12 | 8 |
| 33 to 36 | 31 | 10 |
| 37 to 40 | 5 | 4 |
| 41 to 44 | 4 | 5 |
| 45 to 48 | 2 | 19 |
| 49 to 52 | 3 | 12 |
| 53 to 56 | 8 | 6 |
| 57 to 60 | 7 | 8 |
| 61 to 64 | 8 | 7 |
| 65 to 68 | 10 | 19 |
| 69 to 72 | 10 | 21 |
| 73 to 76 | 11 | 21 |
| 77 to 80 | 2 | 4 |
| 81 to 84 | 0 | 24 |
| 85 to 88 | 0 | 11 |
| 89 to 92 | 17 | 35 |
| 93 to 96 | 6 | 15 |
| 97 to 100 | 0 | 7 |
| 101 to 104 | 1 | 3 |
| 105 to 108 | 3 | 5 |
| 109 to 112 | 2 | 8 |
| 113 to 116 | 14 | 17 |
| 117 to 120 | 1 | 0 |
| 121 to 124 | 0 | 9 |
| 125 to 128 | 2 | 8 |
| 129 to 132 | 1 | 10 |
| 133 to 136 | 0 | 0 |
| 137 to 140 | 1 | 4 |
| 141 to 144 | 0 | 2 |
| 145 to 148 | 0 | 2 |
| 149 to 152 | 1 | 5 |
| 153 to 156 | 0 | 0 |
| 157 to 160 | 0 | 9 |
| 161 to 164 | 2 | 6 |
| 165 to 165 | 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, 32 are women's.
181 lines from women, 388 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
6 women and 20 men in the cast. 5 women and 9 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 8 of 591.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 36 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 35% of the words (1,824), men 65% (3,416). Women have 32% 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
3
Two men
38
Exhibit E: behind the camera
2 of the 12 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 20% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Peter Weir (man)
- Written by
- William Kelley (man), Earl W. Wallace (man)
- Story by
- William Kelley (man), Earl W. Wallace (man), Pamela Wallace (woman)
- Produced by
- Edward S. Feldman (man)
- Shot by
- John Seale (man)
- Edited by
- Thom Noble (man)
- Music by
- Maurice Jarre (man)
- Production design by
- Stan Jolley (man)
- Cast by
- Dianne Crittenden (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
1 women, 9 men, 6 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 1 men, 5 not listed
-
Production
2 women, 4 men, 1 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 5 men
-
Directing
2 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Writing
1 women, 4 men
-
Art
0 women, 4 men
-
Editing
1 women, 2 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 31 on average. Men: 38 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Kelly McGillis 27, Patti LuPone 35
Men
Lukas Haas 8, Brent Jennings 33, Alexander Godunov 35, Angus MacInnes 37, Danny Glover 38, Harrison Ford 42, Josef Sommer 50, Jan Rubeš 64
Exhibit G: the money
It made 9.7 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $12 million
- Box office
- $116 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 165 scenes and 591 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
