Fails the Bechdel test

Boy Erased

Name: Boy Erased
Released: 2018

2018. Directed by Joel Edgerton, written by Garrard Conley and Joel Edgerton.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

2 / 3

Fails

Yes 1. At least two women
8 women characters. 7 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
Women do talk to each other.
No 3. About something besides a man
Every conversation between women that our parser found mentions a man.

Second opinion

Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.

The film

The Eamons family's lives center on their evangelism, on patriarch Marshall (an associate Baptist pastor), and on only offspring 18-year-old Jared, a freshman at a Christian college. Initiated by an unfounded accusation, Marshall and his wife Nancy send Jared to a conversion-therapy assessment camp under the direction of Victor Sykes, the aim of the camp to decide on the next step of the appropriate conversion therapy. While Nancy stays at a nearby hotel, Jared willingly goes in knowing his own internal feelings regardless of what his parents have been told about him in that half-truth accusation. Jared's recent past leading up to this moment is told in flashback, an outwardly straight-laced existence of that centered on the church and the long-term "natural path" of marriage--possibly to his high-school girlfriend--and children. While Jared does his best to adhere to what is asked of him to tell his truth, that truth may set him on a path to what he needs to do for himself. Will he be allowed to pursue that path, especially if it goes against his parents or Victor?

Released: 08 Nov 2018
Genres: Biography, Drama
Rated: R
IMDb: 6.9 / 10
Metascore: 69 / 100
Awards: 12 wins & 52 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Jared 180 lines, man
Sykes 100 lines, man
Nancy 68 lines, woman
Marshall 65 lines, man
Jon 31 lines, man
Brandon 24 lines, man
Henry 23 lines, man
Sykes O.S 20 lines, man
Chloe 18 lines, woman
Xavier 16 lines, man

Full cast, 35 people

Lucas Hedges as Jared Eamons
Nicole Kidman as Nancy Eamons
Russell Crowe as Marshall Eamons
Joel Edgerton as Victor Sykes
Troye Sivan as Gary
Madelyn Cline as Chloe
Flea as Brandon
Xavier Dolan as Jon
Britton Sear as Cameron Van Heusen
Cherry Jones as Dr. Muldoon
David Joseph Craig as Michael
Joe Alwyn as Henry Wallace
Théodore Pellerin as Xavier
Jesse LaTourette as Sarah
Emily Hinkler as Dee
David Ditmore as Phillip
Matt Burke as Simon
William Ngo as Carl
Lindsey Moser as Tina
Victor McCay as Aaron
Tim Ware as Big Jim Picard
Josh Scherer as Wayne
Frank Hoyt Taylor as Pastor Wilkins
Jason Davis as Reverend Neil
Kevin Linehan as Eric Vidler
Paige Denise Crawford as Cheryl
Malerie Grady as Mindy
Will Kindrachuk as Christopher Vidler
Drew Scheid as Nick
Jesse Malinowski as Dale
Joy Jacobson as Brandy Vidler
Randy Havens as Lee's Dad
Devin Michael as Anders
Brasher Russell as Church Kid (uncredited)
Brook Todd as Jon's Brother

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 3% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 173

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 4	4	7
5 to 8	2	43
9 to 12	4	26
13 to 16	18	18
17 to 20	0	12
21 to 24	0	11
25 to 28	1	6
29 to 32	4	26
33 to 36	9	8
37 to 40	0	24
41 to 44	3	3
45 to 48	0	12
49 to 52	8	16
53 to 56	1	2
57 to 60	0	16
61 to 64	0	22
65 to 68	0	17
69 to 72	0	10
73 to 76	0	3
77 to 80	1	1
81 to 84	4	39
85 to 88	1	5
89 to 92	4	4
93 to 96	0	37
97 to 100	10	13
101 to 104	6	9
105 to 108	9	9
109 to 112	0	8
113 to 116	0	14
117 to 120	0	10
121 to 124	0	5
125 to 128	0	2
129 to 132	0	32
133 to 136	0	2
137 to 140	0	8
141 to 144	0	46
145 to 148	19	18
149 to 152	6	8
153 to 156	0	8
157 to 160	0	3
161 to 164	8	3
165 to 168	5	21
169 to 172	0	14
173 to 173	0	0

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, 17 are women's.

127 lines from women, 601 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

8 women and 24 men in the cast. 7 women and 40 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 3 of 751. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 134 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 17% of the words (1,618), men 83% (8,022).

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

3 of the 12 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 26% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Joel Edgerton (man)
Written by: Joel Edgerton (man)
Produced by: Steve Golin (man), Joel Edgerton (man), Kerry Kohansky-Roberts (woman)
Shot by: Eduard Grau (man)
Edited by: Jay Rabinowitz (man)
Music by: Danny Bensi (man), Saunder Jurriaans (man)
Production design by: Chad Keith (gender not listed)
Costumes by: Trish Summerville (woman)
Cast by: Carmen Cuba (woman)