Passes the Bechdel test
Attack the Block
2011. Directed by Joe Cornish, written by Joe Cornish.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
11 women characters. 8 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 5 scenes out of 135. -
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
Attack the Block follows an unlucky young woman and a gang of tough inner city kids who make an unlikely alliance to try to defend their turf against an invasion of savage alien creatures, turning a South London apartment complex into an intergalactic war-zone.
- Released
- 13 May 2011
- Genres
- Action, Adventure, Comedy
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 6.6 / 10
- Metascore
- 75 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 1 BAFTA Award. 19 wins & 39 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Pest 124 lines, man
- Moses 106 lines, man
- Sam 101 lines, woman
- Dennis 64 lines, man
- Hi-Hatz 48 lines, man
- Brewis 45 lines, man
- Jerome 45 lines, man
- Biggz 35 lines, man
- Ron 21 lines, man
- Tia 19 lines, woman
Full cast, 34 people
- John Boyega as Moses
- Jodie Whittaker as Sam
- Alex Esmail as Pest
- Simon Howard as Biggz
- Franz Drameh as Dennis
- Leeon Jones as Jerome
- Luke Treadaway as Brewis
- Nick Frost as Ron
- Jumayn Hunter as Hi-Hatz
- Selom Awadzi as Tonks
- Sammy Williams as Probs
- Michael Ajao as Mayhem
- Paige Meade as Dimples
- Danielle Vitalis as Tia
- Gina Antwi as Dionne
- Natasha Jonas as Gloria
- Terry Notary as The Creature
- Arti Shah as Female Creature
- Chris Wilson as Arresting Police Officer
- Joey Ansah as Policeman 1
- Adam Leese as Policeman 2
- Adam Buxton as Documentary Voice Over
- Maggie McCarthy as Margaret
- Flaminia Cinque as Italian Woman
- Jacey Sallés as Biggz's Mum
- Yvonne D'Alpra as Pest's Nan
- Karl Collins as Dennis' Dad
- Jermaine Smith as Beats
- Lee Long as Patrick
- David Cann as Detective Superintendant
- Dylan Charles as Police Constable
- Lee Nicholas Harris as Police Officer - SWAT (uncredited)
- Stephanie Street as Policewoman (uncredited)
- Philip Harvey as CO19 Officer
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 8% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 135
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 | 0 |
| 4 to 6 | 4 | 0 |
| 7 to 9 | 5 | 0 |
| 10 to 12 | 11 | 3 |
| 13 to 15 | 2 | 7 |
| 16 to 18 | 23 | 11 |
| 19 to 21 | 4 | 19 |
| 22 to 24 | 0 | 7 |
| 25 to 27 | 1 | 38 |
| 28 to 30 | 0 | 52 |
| 31 to 33 | 3 | 6 |
| 34 to 36 | 2 | 8 |
| 37 to 39 | 0 | 32 |
| 40 to 42 | 0 | 6 |
| 43 to 45 | 1 | 2 |
| 46 to 48 | 0 | 0 |
| 49 to 51 | 0 | 7 |
| 52 to 54 | 0 | 3 |
| 55 to 57 | 0 | 4 |
| 58 to 60 | 0 | 4 |
| 61 to 63 | 1 | 4 |
| 64 to 66 | 2 | 34 |
| 67 to 69 | 0 | 7 |
| 70 to 72 | 0 | 4 |
| 73 to 75 | 0 | 0 |
| 76 to 78 | 26 | 60 |
| 79 to 81 | 3 | 21 |
| 82 to 84 | 0 | 5 |
| 85 to 87 | 26 | 30 |
| 88 to 90 | 1 | 7 |
| 91 to 93 | 6 | 4 |
| 94 to 96 | 2 | 4 |
| 97 to 99 | 0 | 0 |
| 100 to 102 | 2 | 18 |
| 103 to 105 | 6 | 24 |
| 106 to 108 | 5 | 60 |
| 109 to 111 | 0 | 8 |
| 112 to 114 | 8 | 22 |
| 115 to 117 | 1 | 1 |
| 118 to 120 | 4 | 4 |
| 121 to 123 | 1 | 2 |
| 124 to 126 | 0 | 3 |
| 127 to 129 | 0 | 0 |
| 130 to 132 | 2 | 3 |
| 133 to 135 | 4 | 11 |
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.
MARGARET: You alright love? SAM: Not really...
MARGARET: Thanks for the tea dear, sure you don’t want one? SAM: No thanks. Water’s fine. MARGARET: Bloody fireworks. I think they should ban them. Could be the third world war out there and you wouldn’t know the difference. What did the po… SAM: They said tonight’s one of the busiest nights of the year. Bet they don’t even turn up...
DIONNE: Ha-ha, you’re funny. GLORIA: Ergh! No! What is that? DIONNE: Ah! No, I’m sorry, I don’t even wanna look at it... TIA: Halloween was last week you know...
DIMPLES: You shove that in my face and them fangs are goin’ up in your tits... GLORIA: I will box you in your face... DIONNE: I will slap you... DIMPLES: Move it from me bruv. Grow up.
DIMPLES: You ain’t bringin’ all them people in here! No! They’re involved in somethin’! Someone’s chasin’ them! They got weapons and look, that one’s… TIA: It’s my house Dimples. TIA: Come...
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 22 are women's.
156 lines from women, 545 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
11 women and 23 men in the cast. 8 women and 17 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 2 of 766.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 92 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 23% of the words (1,318), men 77% (4,424). Women have 22% of the lines, so their lines run longer 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
12
Two men
74
Exhibit F: behind the camera
3 of the 10 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 15% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Joe Cornish (man)
- Written by
- Joe Cornish (man)
- Produced by
- James Wilson (man), Nira Park (woman)
- Shot by
- Thomas Townend (man)
- Edited by
- Jonathan Amos (man)
- Music by
- Steven Price (man)
- Production design by
- Marcus Rowland (man)
- Costumes by
- Rosa Dias (woman)
- Cast by
- Nina Gold (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Camera
0 women, 10 men, 5 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 9 men, 2 not listed
-
Production
4 women, 5 men
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 1 men, 5 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 2 men
-
Directing
1 women, 1 men
-
Visual Effects
0 women, 2 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 28 on average. Men: 22 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Jodie Whittaker 28
Men
Alex Esmail 17, Leeon Jones 17, Franz Drameh 18, John Boyega 19, Jumayn Hunter 21, Luke Treadaway 26, Nick Frost 39
Exhibit H: the money
It made 49% of what it cost.
- Budget
- $13 million
- Box office
- $6.3 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 135 scenes and 766 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
