Passes the Bechdel test

12 and Holding

Name: 12 and Holding
Released: 2006

2006. Directed by Michael Cuesta, written by Anthony Cipriano.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
5 women characters. 4 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 4 scenes out of 164.
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

After his twin brother is accidentally killed by vengeful bullies, a 12-year old boy and his friends face the harsh realities of death, teenage hormones, and family dysfunction.

Released: 07 Jul 2006
Genres: Drama
Rated: R
IMDb: 7.4 / 10
Metascore: 65 / 100
Awards: 5 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Jacob 144 lines, man
Malee 117 lines, woman
Leonard 91 lines, man
Kenny 63 lines, man
Grace 60 lines, woman
Gus 57 lines, man
Yacco 47 lines, woman
Ashley 38 lines, woman
Rudy 38 lines, man
Jim 31 lines, man

Full cast, 18 people

Zoe Weizenbaum as Malee Chuang
Conor Donovan as Jacob / Rudy Carges
Jesse Camacho as Leonard Fisher
Jeremy Renner as Gus Maitland
Annabella Sciorra as Carla Chuang
Jayne Atkinson as Ashley Carges
Linus Roache as Jim Carges
Marcia DeBonis as Grace Fisher
Tom McGowan as Patrick Fisher
Michael C. Fuchs as Kenny
Martin Campetta as Jeff
Joseph Foster as Keith Gardner
Max Miner as Tommy
Adam LeFevre as Gabe Artunion
Bruce Altman as Coach Gilmore
Mark Linn-Baker as Mr. Farmer
Tony Roberts as Doctor
Merritt Wever as Debbie Poole

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 164

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	5
5 to 8	0	3
9 to 12	7	4
13 to 16	17	17
17 to 20	3	25
21 to 24	2	31
25 to 28	0	16
29 to 32	4	5
33 to 36	12	5
37 to 40	19	17
41 to 44	13	20
45 to 48	0	5
49 to 52	0	7
53 to 56	13	12
57 to 60	13	22
61 to 64	4	16
65 to 68	5	4
69 to 72	3	2
73 to 76	12	23
77 to 80	5	25
81 to 84	10	24
85 to 88	6	16
89 to 92	10	1
93 to 96	0	0
97 to 100	0	0
101 to 104	1	0
105 to 108	19	28
109 to 112	15	21
113 to 116	10	10
117 to 120	0	13
121 to 124	6	16
125 to 128	6	3
129 to 132	3	4
133 to 136	6	4
137 to 140	14	20
141 to 144	6	8
145 to 148	5	0
149 to 152	3	4
153 to 156	7	25
157 to 160	0	9
161 to 164	10	13

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.

MALEE: Mom, I need help. YACCO: Any parent is "parent of the year" next to you, you selfish prick.

DEBBIE: I don't think therapy is helping. YACCO: Why do you say that? Are you still "cutting"? DEBBIE: It feels much better than it looks. Really. MALEE: Ma, I... Oops.

MALEE: Why do I have to do this? It's Christmas break. YACCO: You'll be one step ahead in January. MALEE: Just because you're an atheist, I don't get to celebrate the holidays. MALEE: Don't you find it hard not believing in anything?

YACCO: Malee, dinner! YACCO: Malee? Oh my God! YACCO: What did you do? MALEE: I got a new look. You know, for Spring. What do you think?

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 36 are women's.

269 lines from women, 483 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

5 women and 10 men in the cast. 4 women and 11 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 10 of 804. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 52 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 36% of the words (2,604), men 64% (4,676).

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

2 of the 13 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 18% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Michael Cuesta (man)
Written by: Anthony Cipriano (man)
Produced by: Brian Bell (man), Michael Cuesta (man), Jenny Schweitzer (gender not listed), Leslie Urdang (woman)
Shot by: Romeo Tirone (man)
Edited by: Kane Platt (man), Eric Carlson (man)
Music by: Pierre Földes (man)
Production design by: Lucio Seixas (gender not listed)
Costumes by: Marina Draghici (gender not listed)
Cast by: Judy Henderson (woman)