Fails the Bechdel test

Ask the Dust

Name: Ask the Dust
Released: 2006

2006. Directed by Robert Towne, written by Robert Towne and John Fante.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

1 / 3

Fails

Yes 1. At least two women
6 women characters. 4 of them speak.
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

Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.

The film

In early-1930s Los Angeles, California in the early 1930s, racism, poverty, and disease color the Bunker Hill neighborhood where Arturo Bandini (Colin Farrell), a lover of man and beast alike, has arrived from Colorado to write the great Los Angeles novel. Six months later he's down to his last nickel and orders a cup of coffee, which is served by Camilla Lopez (Salma Hayek): beautiful, self-possessed, and Mexican. Arturo gets advice, encouragement, and an occasional check from H.L. Mencken (Richard Schickel), so he keeps writing and he keeps seeing Camilla. But he's mean to her for no apparent reason, so the relationship sputters. A housekeeper from back East suggests a way out of his jealousy and fears.

Released: 24 Mar 2006
Genres: Drama, Romance
Rated: R
IMDb: 5.7 / 10
Metascore: 58 / 100
Awards: 1 nomination total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Bandini 340 lines, man
Camilla 231 lines, woman
Vera 67 lines, woman
Hellfrick 56 lines, man
Sammy 33 lines, man
Bandini Vo 30 lines, man
Mrs Hargraves 9 lines, woman
Solomon 7 lines, man
Mrs. Hargraves 6 lines, woman
Japanese V.M 5 lines, man

Full cast, 17 people

Colin Farrell as Arturo Bandini
Salma Hayek Pinault as Camilla Lopez
Donald Sutherland as Hellfrick
Eileen Atkins as Mrs. Hargraves
Idina Menzel as Vera Rivkin
Justin Kirk as Sammy
William Mapother as Bill
Tamara Marie Watson as Sally
Dionysio Basco as Patricio
Jeremy Crutchley as Solomon
Ronald France as Columbia Sweeper
Wayne Harrison as Heilman
Natasha Staples as Denver Librarian
Paul Rylander as Harold the Bartender
Donna Mosley as Red Headed Girl
Richard Schickel as H. L. Mencken (voice)
Yasuhiro Yoshimura as Japanese Vegetable Man

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 109

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	7	11
4 to 6	0	33
7 to 9	0	5
10 to 12	3	8
13 to 15	0	13
16 to 18	15	18
19 to 21	0	2
22 to 24	1	1
25 to 27	0	0
28 to 30	0	0
31 to 33	0	0
34 to 36	16	16
37 to 39	52	44
40 to 42	4	3
43 to 45	20	34
46 to 48	12	22
49 to 51	14	10
52 to 54	4	26
55 to 57	45	34
58 to 60	31	20
61 to 63	1	3
64 to 66	4	5
67 to 69	0	30
70 to 72	0	25
73 to 75	0	6
76 to 78	21	19
79 to 81	11	9
82 to 84	7	3
85 to 87	13	13
88 to 90	8	9
91 to 93	25	20
94 to 96	4	6
97 to 99	7	5
100 to 102	0	14
103 to 105	0	0
106 to 108	0	19
109 to 109	0	3

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, 40 are women's.

325 lines from women, 489 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

6 women and 11 men in the cast. 4 women and 9 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 5 of 832. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 66 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 37% of the words (3,461), men 63% (5,884). Women have 40% 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

1 of the 16 people in these jobs is a woman. Across the whole crew, 23% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Robert Towne (man)
Written by: Robert Towne (man)
From the novel by: John Fante (man)
Produced by: Tom Cruise (man), Christopher Roberts (man), Don Granger (man), Paula Wagner (woman), Jonas McCord (man)
Shot by: Caleb Deschanel (man)
Edited by: Robert K. Lambert (man)
Music by: Heitor Pereira (man), Ramin Djawadi (man)
Production design by: Dennis Gassner (man)
Costumes by: Albert Wolsky (man)
Cast by: Hank McCann (gender not listed), Bob Knotek (man)