Fails the Bechdel test

Air

Name: Air
Released: 2023

2023. Directed by Ben Affleck, written by Alex Convery.

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 0 out of 3.

The film

The movie explores how Nike's basketball shoe division was struggling in 1984 due to low sales, and how the company's Marketing VP Rob Strasser and CEO Phil Knight tasked basketball talent scout Sonny Vaccaro to find a new spokesperson for their shoes. Although they considered third draft pick Michael Jordan off limits due to his preference for Adidas and Converse, Vaccaro convinced them that Jordan was a generational talent, and that Nike should pursue him and try to convince Jordan to sign with Nike.

Released: 05 Apr 2023
Genres: Drama, Sport
Rated: R
IMDb: 7.4 / 10
Metascore: 73 / 100
Awards: 5 wins & 49 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Sonny 404 lines, man
Strasser 156 lines, man
Phil Knight 101 lines, man
David Falk 68 lines, man
Deloris Jordan 37 lines, woman
Peter Moore 25 lines, man
Stu Inman 17 lines, man
Tinker Hatfield 14 lines
Michael Jordan 13 lines, man
Pop Herring 11 lines, man

Full cast, 36 people

Matt Damon as Sonny Vaccaro
Jason Bateman as Rob Strasser
Ben Affleck as Phil Knight
Chris Messina as David Falk
Viola Davis as Deloris Jordan
Julius Tennon as James Jordan
Damian Young as Michael Jordan
Chris Tucker as Howard White
Matthew Maher as Peter Moore
Gustaf Skarsgård as Horst Dassler
Barbara Sukowa as Kathy Dassler
Jay Mohr as John Fisher
Joel Gretsch as John O'Neil
Michael O'Neill as Joe Dean
Marlon Wayans as George Raveling
Asanté Deshon as 7-Eleven Clerk
Billy Smith as Bill
Al Madrigal as Tim
Jackson Damon as Stan
Dan Bucatinsky as Richard
Jessica Green as Katrina Sainz
Gabrielle Bourne as Tiffany
Joshua Funk as Yes Man
Andy Hirsch as Robinson
Tami Jordan as Sports Book Clerk
Jeff Cook as Jeff
Albert Stroth as Al
Mackenzie Rayne as Susan
Jerry Plummer as Waiter
Ari Davis as Restaurant Guest (uncredited)
Ure Egbuho as Nike Lab Technician (uncredited)
Dempsey Gibson as Parent (uncredited)
Geoffrey Gould as Workshop Worker (uncredited)
Richard Allan Jones as Nike Staff (uncredited)
Tom Papa as Stu Inman (uncredited)
LeChristopher Williams as Runner (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 5% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 74

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	1
3 to 4	0	78
5 to 6	0	49
7 to 8	0	5
9 to 10	0	0
11 to 12	0	52
13 to 14	0	41
15 to 16	0	47
17 to 18	0	29
19 to 20	0	7
21 to 22	0	0
23 to 24	0	36
25 to 26	0	44
27 to 28	0	13
29 to 30	0	8
31 to 32	0	2
33 to 34	5	10
35 to 36	21	23
37 to 38	0	0
39 to 40	0	29
41 to 42	0	0
43 to 44	0	13
45 to 46	0	8
47 to 48	0	7
49 to 50	0	59
51 to 52	1	12
53 to 54	0	22
55 to 56	0	30
57 to 58	0	23
59 to 60	3	21
61 to 62	0	43
63 to 64	3	8
65 to 66	1	35
67 to 68	0	38
69 to 70	3	15
71 to 72	0	43
73 to 74	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, 4 are women's.

37 lines from women, 851 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

7 women and 25 men in the cast. 1 women and 15 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 442 of 934. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 441 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 5% of the words (503), men 95% (9,945). Women have 4% 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

Two men

Exhibit E: behind the camera

3 of the 15 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 32% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Ben Affleck (man)
Written by: Alex Convery (man)
Produced by: Ben Affleck (man), Matt Damon (man), Peter Guber (man), Jason Michael Berman (man), Jeff Robinov (man), Madison Ainley (man) and 1 more
Shot by: Robert Richardson (man)
Edited by: William Goldenberg (man)
Production design by: François Audouy (man)
Costumes by: Charlese Antoinette Jones (woman)
Cast by: Mary Vernieu (woman), Lindsay Graham Ahanonu (woman)