Passes the Bechdel test
127 Hours
2011. Directed by Danny Boyle, written by Aron Ralston and Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
12 women characters. 4 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 3 scenes out of 215. -
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, though someone marked that rating as dubious.
The film
127 Hours is the true story of mountain climber Aron Ralston's remarkable adventure to save himself after a fallen boulder crashes on his arm and traps him in an isolated canyon in Utah. Over the next five days Ralston examines his life and survives the elements to finally discover he has the courage and the wherewithal to extricate himself by any means necessary, scale a 65 foot wall and hike over eight miles before he can be rescued. Throughout his journey, Ralston recalls friends, lovers, family, and the two hikers he met before his accident. Will they be the last two people he ever had the chance to meet?
- Released
- 28 Jan 2011
- Genres
- Biography, Drama
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.5 / 10
- Metascore
- 82 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 6 Oscars. 23 wins & 150 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Aron 149 lines, man
- Kristi 21 lines, woman
- Megan 21 lines, woman
- Rana 13 lines, woman
- Erik 6 lines, man
- Mom 3 lines, woman
- Realtime 3 lines
- Voice 3 lines
- Wayne 3 lines
- Mark 2 lines
Full cast, 39 people
- James Franco as Aron Ralston
- Kate Mara as Kristi Moore
- Amber Tamblyn as Megan McBride
- Clémence Poésy as Rana
- Lizzy Caplan as Sonja Ralston
- Kate Burton as Aron's Mom
- Treat Williams as Aron's Dad
- Sean Bott as Aron's Friend
- Fenton Quinn as Blue John
- John Lawrence as Brion
- Pieter Jan Brugge as Eric Meijer
- Rebecca C. Olson as Monique Meijer
- Jeffrey Wood as Andy Meijer
- Norman Lehnert as Dan
- Darin Scott as Zach
- Koleman Stinger as Aron Age 5
- Bailee Michelle Johnson as Sonja Age 10
- Parker Hadley as Aron Age 15
- Peter Joshua Hull as Boy on Sofa
- Terry S. Mercer as Helicopter Pilot
- Xmas Lutu as Helicopter Co-Pilot
- Luke Drake as Aron's Friend (uncredited)
- Robert Bear as Aron's Friend (uncredited)
- Brad Johnson as Aron's Friend (uncredited)
- Stacey Ann Turner as Aron's Friend (uncredited)
- Zachary Haycock as Reporter (uncredited)
- Lonzo Liggins as Reporter (uncredited)
- Samantha Marsden as Media Person / Basketball Game Fan (uncredited)
- Johnny Ahn as Basketball Fan (uncredited)
- Christopher K. Hagadone as Basketball Fan (uncredited)
- Kelsie Mathews as Basketball Fan (uncredited)
- Amy Savannah as Basketball Fan (uncredited)
- Adam Colvin as Summer Party Man (uncredited)
- Elizabeth Hales as Patron (uncredited)
- Kelly Higgins as Fan (uncredited)
- Aron Ralston as Self (uncredited)
- Jessica Ralston as Self (uncredited)
- Kyle Paul as Best Man (uncredited)
- Priscilla Poland as Bridesmaid (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 5 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 9% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 215
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 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 to 10 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 to 15 | 0 | 1 |
| 16 to 20 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 to 25 | 0 | 0 |
| 26 to 30 | 14 | 16 |
| 31 to 35 | 14 | 9 |
| 36 to 40 | 15 | 13 |
| 41 to 45 | 0 | 1 |
| 46 to 50 | 0 | 1 |
| 51 to 55 | 0 | 0 |
| 56 to 60 | 0 | 1 |
| 61 to 65 | 0 | 0 |
| 66 to 70 | 0 | 7 |
| 71 to 75 | 0 | 6 |
| 76 to 80 | 0 | 3 |
| 81 to 85 | 0 | 1 |
| 86 to 90 | 3 | 2 |
| 91 to 95 | 0 | 6 |
| 96 to 100 | 0 | 5 |
| 101 to 105 | 0 | 1 |
| 106 to 110 | 0 | 0 |
| 111 to 115 | 0 | 0 |
| 116 to 120 | 0 | 6 |
| 121 to 125 | 0 | 0 |
| 126 to 130 | 1 | 0 |
| 131 to 135 | 0 | 17 |
| 136 to 140 | 0 | 0 |
| 141 to 145 | 0 | 0 |
| 146 to 150 | 0 | 0 |
| 151 to 155 | 0 | 1 |
| 156 to 160 | 0 | 2 |
| 161 to 165 | 0 | 4 |
| 166 to 170 | 0 | 7 |
| 171 to 175 | 0 | 6 |
| 176 to 180 | 0 | 1 |
| 181 to 185 | 0 | 11 |
| 186 to 190 | 0 | 1 |
| 191 to 195 | 0 | 0 |
| 196 to 200 | 0 | 6 |
| 201 to 205 | 0 | 17 |
| 206 to 210 | 3 | 4 |
| 211 to 215 | 10 | 6 |
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.
KRISTI: Sure, I'm Kristi. MEGAN: Megan.
KRISTI: Okay but don't look and no grabbing now, if I do... MEGAN: Oh whatever, you love it. KRISTI: Shhh!
KRISTI: Yeah, we'd like that. What time? MEGAN: Where?
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 27 are women's.
60 lines from women, 162 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
12 women and 16 men in the cast. 4 women and 3 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 4 of 245.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 88 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 15% of the words (482), men 85% (2,786). Women have 27% of the lines, so their lines run shorter 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
7
Two men
1
Exhibit F: behind the camera
2 of the 12 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 25% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Danny Boyle (man)
- Written by
- Simon Beaufoy (man), Danny Boyle (man)
- Produced by
- Danny Boyle (man), Christian Colson (man), John Smithson (man)
- Shot by
- Anthony Dod Mantle (man), Enrique Chediak (man)
- Edited by
- Jon Harris (man)
- Music by
- A.R. Rahman (man)
- Production design by
- Suttirat Anne Larlarb (woman)
- Cast by
- Donna Isaacson (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
5 women, 14 men, 34 not listed
-
Production
7 women, 20 men, 21 not listed
-
Sound
6 women, 19 men, 12 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 11 men, 23 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
5 women, 4 men, 18 not listed
-
Art
2 women, 3 men, 18 not listed
-
Visual Effects
0 women, 2 men, 17 not listed
-
Lighting
0 women, 3 men, 9 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 33 on average. Men: 50 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Kate Mara 27, Amber Tamblyn 27, Clémence Poésy 28, Lizzy Caplan 28, Kate Burton 53
Men
James Franco 32, Treat Williams 58, Fenton Quinn 61
Exhibit H: the money
It made 2.0 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $18 million
- Box office
- $35.7 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 215 scenes and 245 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
