Passes the Bechdel test
Bird Box
2018. Directed by Susanne Bier, written by Eric Heisserer and Josh Malerman.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
12 women characters. 11 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 13 scenes out of 103. -
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
In the wake of an unknown global terror, a mother must find the strength to flee with her children down a treacherous river in search of safety. Due to unseen deadly forces, the perilous journey must be made blindly. Directed by Emmy winner Susanne Bier, Bird Box is a thriller starring Academy Award winner Sandra Bullock, John Malkovich, Sarah Paulson, and Trevante Rhodes.
- Released
- 21 Dec 2018
- Genres
- Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 6.6 / 10
- Metascore
- 51 / 100
- Awards
- 6 wins & 9 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Malorie 200 lines, woman
- Tom 96 lines, man
- Donald 74 lines, man
- Boy 46 lines, man
- Felix 45 lines, man
- Olympia 43 lines, woman
- Girl 40 lines, woman
- Greg 36 lines, man
- Cheryl 30 lines, woman
- Edgar 30 lines
Full cast, 31 people
- Sandra Bullock as Malorie Hayes
- Trevante Rhodes as Tom
- John Malkovich as Douglas
- Sarah Paulson as Jessica
- Jacki Weaver as Cheryl
- Rosa Salazar as Lucy
- Danielle Macdonald as Olympia
- Lil Rel Howery as Charlie
- Tom Hollander as Gary
- mgk as Felix
- BD Wong as Greg
- Pruitt Taylor Vince as Rick
- Vivien Lyra Blair as Girl / Olympia
- Julian Edwards as Boy / Tom
- Parminder Nagra as Dr. Lapham
- Rebecca Pidgeon as Lydia
- Amy Gumenick as Samantha
- Taylor Handley as Jason
- Happy Anderson as River Man
- Kyle Beatty as Elder Marauder
- Ashley Alva as Female Marauder
- David Dastmalchian as Whistling Marauder
- Keith Jardine as Yelling Marauder
- Kristopher Logan as Older Man
- Shirley Butler as Woman in Entryway
- Aden Calderon as Albert
- Chanon Finley as Iris
- Frank Mottek as News Anchor
- Danny Max as Radio Newscaster #1 (voice)
- Debra Mark as Radio Newscaster #2 (voice)
- Dennis Keiffer as Marauder (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 7% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 103
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 | 21 | 6 |
| 4 to 6 | 21 | 3 |
| 7 to 9 | 10 | 0 |
| 10 to 12 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 to 15 | 17 | 0 |
| 16 to 18 | 14 | 0 |
| 19 to 21 | 21 | 38 |
| 22 to 24 | 28 | 10 |
| 25 to 27 | 4 | 5 |
| 28 to 30 | 0 | 0 |
| 31 to 33 | 0 | 0 |
| 34 to 36 | 4 | 6 |
| 37 to 39 | 38 | 46 |
| 40 to 42 | 5 | 9 |
| 43 to 45 | 21 | 30 |
| 46 to 48 | 1 | 10 |
| 49 to 51 | 1 | 2 |
| 52 to 54 | 6 | 6 |
| 55 to 57 | 3 | 14 |
| 58 to 60 | 3 | 6 |
| 61 to 63 | 8 | 5 |
| 64 to 66 | 0 | 0 |
| 67 to 69 | 9 | 14 |
| 70 to 72 | 14 | 15 |
| 73 to 75 | 40 | 37 |
| 76 to 78 | 8 | 23 |
| 79 to 81 | 16 | 5 |
| 82 to 84 | 1 | 6 |
| 85 to 87 | 5 | 10 |
| 88 to 90 | 20 | 15 |
| 91 to 93 | 2 | 0 |
| 94 to 96 | 0 | 0 |
| 97 to 99 | 5 | 0 |
| 100 to 102 | 37 | 22 |
| 103 to 103 | 6 | 7 |
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.
MALORIE: Alison, you bitch. JESSICA: Holy fuck, the store was packed. This thing is serious. MALORIE: What? JESSICA: Turn to the news.
JESSICA: How’d it go? Still having a baby? MALORIE: It’s happening now. JESSICA: The baby? MALORIE: No, the-- whatever it is in Russia. The thing that makes you go crazy? I think it’s here.
JESSICA: Damn. Seriously? MALORIE: I don’t like this. Jess, can we just go? Maybe we just drive. MALORIE: Jess-- JESSICA: I’m not doing anything stupid. You’re pregnant.
MALORIE: Oh my god... Jess... JESSICA: You stay in. MALORIE: Let go, Jess, let go--
MALORIE: What is wrong with you?! JESSICA: GET BACK IN GET BACK IN GET--
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 53 are women's.
389 lines from women, 350 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
12 women and 16 men in the cast. 11 women and 9 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 2 of 794.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 20 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 47% of the words (2,772), men 53% (3,092). Women have 53% 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
31
Two men
40
Exhibit F: behind the camera
6 of the 16 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 31% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Susanne Bier (woman)
- Written by
- Eric Heisserer (man)
- From the novel by
- Josh Malerman (man)
- Produced by
- Chris Morgan (man), Barbara Muschietti (woman), Clayton Townsend (man), Dylan Clark (man)
- Shot by
- Salvatore Totino (man)
- Edited by
- Ben Lester (man)
- Music by
- Trent Reznor (man), Atticus Ross (man)
- Production design by
- Jan Roelfs (man)
- Costumes by
- Signe Sejlund (woman)
- Cast by
- Jina Jay (woman), Mary Vernieu (woman), Michelle Wade Byrd (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
29 women, 55 men, 6 not listed
-
Sound
1 women, 15 men, 3 not listed
-
Visual Effects
2 women, 7 men, 10 not listed
-
Production
7 women, 7 men, 4 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
3 women, 2 men, 7 not listed
-
Art
2 women, 6 men, 3 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 2 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 46 on average. Men: 42 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Danielle Macdonald 27, Rosa Salazar 33, Sarah Paulson 43, Sandra Bullock 54, Jacki Weaver 71
Men
Trevante Rhodes 28, mgk 28, Lil Rel Howery 38, Tom Hollander 51, John Malkovich 65
Exhibit H: the money
What it cost and made, where TMDB lists it.
- Budget
- $19.8 million
- Box office
- Not listed
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 103 scenes and 794 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
