Passes the Bechdel test

Bookworm

Name: Bookworm
Released: 2024

2024. Directed by Ant Timpson, written by Toby Harvard and Ant Timpson.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
4 women characters. 4 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 2 scenes out of 67.
Yes 3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.

Second opinion

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

The film

11-year-old Mildred's world is turned upside down when her estranged father, the washed-up magician Strawn Wise, comes to look after her and agrees to take her camping to find a mythological beast known as the Canterbury Panther.

Released: 29 Aug 2024
Genres: Adventure, Comedy, Drama
Rated: 13+
IMDb: 6.1 / 10
Metascore: 64 / 100
Awards: 1 win & 4 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Strawn 384 lines, man
Mildred 345 lines, woman
Arnold 73 lines, man
Angelina 22 lines, woman
Dotty 20 lines, woman
Anne 19 lines, man
Zo 11 lines, woman
Doctor 8 lines, man
Anchorwoman 2 lines
Mother 2 lines, woman

Full cast, 8 people

Nell Fisher as Mildred
Elijah Wood as Strawn Wise
Michael Smiley as Arnold
Vanessa Stacey as Angelina
Morgana O'Reilly as Zo
Millen Baird as Doctor
Nikki Si'ulepa as Dotty
Theo Shakes as Reginald

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 1% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 67

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 2	27	0
3 to 4	2	0
5 to 6	6	8
7 to 8	20	18
9 to 10	36	42
11 to 12	7	32
13 to 14	13	9
15 to 16	8	7
17 to 18	9	8
19 to 20	21	14
21 to 22	1	4
23 to 24	3	3
25 to 26	7	5
27 to 28	6	7
29 to 30	30	30
31 to 32	18	23
33 to 34	4	3
35 to 36	2	3
37 to 38	6	11
39 to 40	37	123
41 to 42	8	14
43 to 44	26	18
45 to 46	7	6
47 to 48	6	7
49 to 50	2	4
51 to 52	6	6
53 to 54	18	15
55 to 56	21	13
57 to 58	18	20
59 to 60	19	22
61 to 62	2	1
63 to 64	2	6
65 to 66	1	2
67 to 67	1	0

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.

MILDRED: Shhhh. Listen. ANGELINA: Look. I'm knackered. Tiring business, kidnapping and extortion. I need to sleep. Can we iron this out in the morning?

MILDRED: Not yet. Wait a minute. MILDRED: Let's make sure we've still got the proof. MILDRED: Please... please... please... ANGELINA: This is a pukka little camera. Crisp HD visuals. You look handsome, pet.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 45 are women's.

400 lines from women, 484 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

4 women and 4 men in the cast. 4 women and 3 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

A woman speaks the first line. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 89 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 51% of the words (4,468), men 49% (4,358). Women have 45% 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

Two men

Exhibit F: behind the camera

1 of the 13 people in these jobs is a woman. Across the whole crew, 25% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Ant Timpson (man)
Written by: Toby Harvard (man)
Story by: Ant Timpson (man), Toby Harvard (man)
Produced by: Laura Tunstall (gender not listed), Victoria Dabbs (gender not listed), Mette-Marie Kongsved (gender not listed), Roxi Bull (gender not listed), Emma Slade (woman)
Shot by: Daniel Katz (man)
Edited by: Dan Kircher (gender not listed)
Music by: Karl Sölve Steven (man)
Production design by: John Allan (gender not listed)