Fails the Bechdel test

Apt Pupil

Name: Apt Pupil
Released: 1998

1998. Directed by Bryan Singer, written by Stephen King and Brandon Boyce.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

2 / 3

Fails

Yes 1. At least two women
3 women characters. 3 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

Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.

The film

Neighborhood boy Todd Bowden (Brad Renfro) discovers that an old man living on his block named Arthur Denker (Sir Ian Mackellan) is a Nazi war criminal. Bowden confronts Denker and offers him a deal: Bowden will not go to the authorities if Denker tells him stories of the concentration camps in World War II. Denker agrees and Bowden starts visiting him regularly. The more stories Bowden hears, the more it affects his personality.

Released: 23 Oct 1998
Genres: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Rated: R
IMDb: 6.7 / 10
Metascore: 53 / 100
Awards: 6 wins & 10 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Todd 344 lines, man
Dussander 262 lines, man
Dick 51 lines, man
French 49 lines, man
Joey 31 lines, man
Monica 30 lines, woman
Richler 24 lines, man
Archie 23 lines, man
Ben 17 lines, man
Morgan 12 lines, man

Full cast, 30 people

Ian McKellen as Kurt Dussander
Brad Renfro as Todd Bowden
Bruce Davison as Richard Bowden
Elias Koteas as Archie
Joe Morton as Dan Richler
Jan Tříska as Isaac Weiskopf
Michael Byrne as Ben Kramer
Heather McComb as Becky Trask
Ann Dowd as Monica Bowden
Joshua Jackson as Joey
David Schwimmer as Edward French
Mickey Cottrell as Sociology Teacher
Michael Reid MacKay as Nightmare Victim
James Karen as Victor Bowden
Marjorie Lovett as Agnes Bowden
David Cooley as Gym Teacher
Blake Anthony Tibbetts as Teammate
Katherine Malone as Student
Grace Sinden as Secretary
Anthony Moore as Umpire
Kevin Spirtas as Paramedic
Danna Dennis as Nurse
Michael Artura as Detective Getty
Donna Marie Brown as Mother
Mark Flythe as Darren
Warren Wilson as Newscaster
Jill Harris as Reporter
Norbert D. Singer as Hospital Administrator #1
Mildred Singer as Hospital Administrator #2
Mary Ottman as Doctor

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 2% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 140

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 3	0	18
4 to 6	0	32
7 to 9	0	32
10 to 12	0	42
13 to 15	0	48
16 to 18	0	27
19 to 21	3	21
22 to 24	4	9
25 to 27	10	34
28 to 30	0	34
31 to 33	0	16
34 to 36	0	37
37 to 39	0	54
40 to 42	0	3
43 to 45	0	2
46 to 48	0	11
49 to 51	0	42
52 to 54	0	27
55 to 57	0	40
58 to 60	4	23
61 to 63	7	22
64 to 66	0	10
67 to 69	0	10
70 to 72	0	4
73 to 75	0	5
76 to 78	0	1
79 to 81	0	3
82 to 84	0	9
85 to 87	2	40
88 to 90	0	2
91 to 93	0	19
94 to 96	0	1
97 to 99	0	1
100 to 102	0	28
103 to 105	0	7
106 to 108	4	26
109 to 111	0	4
112 to 114	0	8
115 to 117	6	18
118 to 120	3	35
121 to 123	0	14
124 to 126	0	2
127 to 129	0	12
130 to 132	0	7
133 to 135	0	5
136 to 138	0	0
139 to 140	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, 5 are women's.

43 lines from women, 845 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

3 women and 14 men in the cast. 3 women and 10 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 216 of 902. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 288 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 2% of the words (288), men 98% (12,725). Women have 5% of the lines, so their lines run shorter 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

2 of the 12 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 19% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Bryan Singer (man)
Written by: Brandon Boyce (man)
From the novel by: Stephen King (man)
Produced by: Jane Hamsher (woman), Don Murphy (man), Bryan Singer (man)
Shot by: Newton Thomas Sigel (man)
Edited by: Peter S. Elliot (man), John Ottman (man)
Music by: John Ottman (man)
Production design by: Richard Hoover (man)
Cast by: Francine Maisler (woman)

The crew, department by department

Production

3 women, 4 men, 3 not listed
Sound

0 women, 6 men
Art

2 women, 2 men
Camera

0 women, 3 men
Costume & Make-Up

1 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
Other crew

0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
Directing

0 women, 1 men, 2 not listed
Editing

0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed

Women
Men
Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit F: how old the stars were

Women: 32 on average. Men: 44 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Heather McComb 21, Ann Dowd 42

Men

Brad Renfro 16, Joshua Jackson 20, Elias Koteas 37, Joe Morton 51, Bruce Davison 52, Michael Byrne 54, Ian McKellen 59, Jan Tříska 61

Exhibit G: the money

It made 63% of what it cost.

Budget: $14 million
Box office: $8.9 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 140 scenes and 902 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

Related films

Back to the whole shelf