Passes the Bechdel test
Blue Ruin
2014. Directed by Jeremy Saulnier, written by Jeremy Saulnier.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
8 women characters. 6 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 2 scenes out of 256. -
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
Dwight Evans lives his life as a beach vagrant. He has no contact with his sister, and his parents were murdered ten years prior. When he gets word that his parents' killer, Wade Cleland, is set to be released from prison, Dwight decides that he has nothing left to lose and sets out on a quest to avenge his parents' deaths. Dwight succeeds in killing Wade, but complications emerge when his botched getaway allows the Cleland family the opportunity to vow revenge.
- Released
- 09 Jul 2014
- Genres
- Crime, Drama, Thriller
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.1 / 10
- Metascore
- 78 / 100
- Awards
- 7 wins & 21 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Dwight 161 lines, man
- Ben 66 lines, man
- Teddy 51 lines, man
- Sam 45 lines, woman
- Carl 14 lines, man
- Margaret 13 lines, woman
- Hope 12 lines, woman
- Convict 9 lines, man
- Female Officer 9 lines, woman
- Chris 7 lines
Full cast, 16 people
- Macon Blair as Dwight Evans
- Devin Ratray as Ben Gaffney
- Amy Hargreaves as Sam Evans
- Kevin Kolack as Teddy Cleland
- Eve Plumb as Kris Cleland
- Stacy Rock as Hope Cleland
- David Thompson as William
- Brent Werzner as Carl Cleland
- Sandy Barnett as Wade Cleland Jr.
- Sidné Anderson as Officer Eddy
- Bonnie Johnson as Margaret Gaffney
- Ydaiber Orozco as Amanda
- Daniel L. Kelly as Large Man
- Erica Genereux Smith as Rock Girl
- Abigail Horton as Babysitter
- George Fredericks as Metal Detector Couple
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 6 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 12% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 256
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 6 | 2 | 5 |
| 7 to 12 | 9 | 5 |
| 13 to 18 | 0 | 0 |
| 19 to 24 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 to 30 | 4 | 1 |
| 31 to 36 | 4 | 0 |
| 37 to 42 | 1 | 1 |
| 43 to 48 | 0 | 0 |
| 49 to 54 | 0 | 0 |
| 55 to 60 | 0 | 0 |
| 61 to 66 | 1 | 1 |
| 67 to 72 | 0 | 23 |
| 73 to 78 | 0 | 0 |
| 79 to 84 | 2 | 6 |
| 85 to 90 | 0 | 0 |
| 91 to 96 | 0 | 0 |
| 97 to 102 | 2 | 4 |
| 103 to 108 | 38 | 31 |
| 109 to 114 | 10 | 7 |
| 115 to 120 | 1 | 1 |
| 121 to 126 | 0 | 5 |
| 127 to 132 | 0 | 2 |
| 133 to 138 | 0 | 1 |
| 139 to 144 | 0 | 1 |
| 145 to 150 | 0 | 4 |
| 151 to 156 | 0 | 6 |
| 157 to 162 | 0 | 0 |
| 163 to 168 | 13 | 12 |
| 169 to 174 | 6 | 5 |
| 175 to 180 | 0 | 69 |
| 181 to 186 | 0 | 105 |
| 187 to 192 | 0 | 1 |
| 193 to 198 | 0 | 0 |
| 199 to 204 | 0 | 0 |
| 205 to 210 | 0 | 0 |
| 211 to 216 | 3 | 4 |
| 217 to 222 | 0 | 0 |
| 223 to 228 | 0 | 0 |
| 229 to 234 | 0 | 0 |
| 235 to 240 | 0 | 1 |
| 241 to 246 | 0 | 1 |
| 247 to 252 | 9 | 33 |
| 253 to 256 | 0 | 1 |
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.
FEMALE VOICE: It’s officer Eddy. OFFICER EDDY: I’d like you to come in to the station.
SAM: No no no no no no... BABYSITTER: Wait! SAM: Oh my god. BABYSITTER: What’s wrong?!
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 24 are women's.
105 lines from women, 336 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
8 women and 6 men in the cast. 6 women and 8 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 4 of 499.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 184 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 27% of the words (1,095), men 73% (2,988). Women have 24% 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
2
Two men
14
Exhibit F: behind the camera
3 of the 13 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 21% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Jeremy Saulnier (man)
- Written by
- Jeremy Saulnier (man)
- Produced by
- Richard Peete (man), Vincent Savino (man), Anish Savjani (man)
- Shot by
- Jeremy Saulnier (man)
- Edited by
- Julia Bloch (woman)
- Music by
- Brooke Blair (man), Will Blair (man)
- Production design by
- Kaet McAnneny (woman)
- Costumes by
- Brooke Bennett (woman)
- Cast by
- Harley Kaplan (man), Brandon Powers (gender not listed)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
0 women, 5 men, 8 not listed
-
Production
0 women, 6 men, 3 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 1 men, 5 not listed
-
Camera
1 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
2 women, 1 men, 2 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Editing
1 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 48 on average. Men: 35 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Amy Hargreaves 44, Sidné Anderson 45, Eve Plumb 55
Men
David Thompson 19, Brent Werzner 35, Devin Ratray 37, Macon Blair 39, Kevin Kolack 44
Exhibit H: the money
It made 2.4 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $420,000
- Box office
- $993,313
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 256 scenes and 499 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
