Passes the Bechdel test
Challengers
2024. Directed by Luca Guadagnino, written by Justin Kuritzkes.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
12 women characters. 4 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 2 scenes out of 70. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 2 out of 3.
The film
"Challengers", from visionary filmmaker Luca Guadagnino, stars Zendaya as Tashi Duncan, a former tennis prodigy-turned-coach and a force of nature who makes no apologies for her game on and off the court. Tashi is married to a champion on a losing streak (Mike Faist of "West Side Story") and her strategy for her husband's redemption takes a surprising turn when he must face off against washed-up Patrick (Josh O'Connor of "The Crown")--his former best friend and Tashi's former boyfriend. As their pasts and presents collide and tensions run high, Tashi must ask herself what winning will cost.
- Released
- 26 Apr 2024
- Genres
- Comedy, Drama, Romance
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7 / 10
- Metascore
- 82 / 100
- Awards
- 77 wins & 152 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Patrick 251 lines, man
- Tashi 233 lines, woman
- Art 175 lines, man
- Umpire 37 lines, man
- Usta Official 14 lines, woman
- Date 7 lines
- Line Judge 7 lines
- Front Desk Woman 5 lines, woman
- Lily 4 lines, woman
- Announcer 3 lines
Full cast, 32 people
- Zendaya as Tashi Donaldson
- Mike Faist as Art Donaldson
- Josh O'Connor as Patrick Zweig
- Darnell Appling as Umpire (New Rochelle Final)
- Bryan Doo as Art's Physiotherapist
- Shane T Harris as Art's Security Guard
- Nada Despotovich as Tashi's Mother
- Joan Mcshane as Line Judge (New Rochelle Final)
- Chris Fowler as TV Sports Commentator (Atlanta 2019)
- Mary Joe Fernández as TV Sports Commentator (Atlanta 2019)
- A.J. Lister as Lily
- Connor Aulson as Leo Du Marier
- Doria Bramante as Woman With Headset (Atlanta 2019)
- Christine Dye as Motel Front Desk Clerk
- James Sylva as Motel Husband
- Kenneth A. Osherow as Motel Husband
- Kevin Collins as New Rochelle Parking Lot Guard
- Burgess Byrd as USTA Official / Line Judge US Open Jr.
- Jason Tong as Line Judge (New Rochelle Final)
- Hudson Rivera as Y. Kucera (US Open Jr. Player)
- Noah Eisenberg as T. Svoboda (US Open Jr. Player)
- Emma Davis as A. Mueller (US Open Jr. Player)
- Naheem Garcia as Tashi's Father
- Alex Bancila as Grosu
- Jake Jensen as Finn Larsen
- Konrad Ryba as Player (New Rochelle Locker Room)
- Hailey Benton Gates as Helen (Patrick's Date)
- Andrew Rogers as Art's Teammate (Stanford)
- Beverly Kristenson Helton as Umpire (Stanford Match)
- Brad Gilbert as Art's Trainer (Ohio 2011)
- Sam Xu as Art's Fan
- Caleb Schneider as Puppeteer
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 4% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 70
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 | 0 | 5 |
| 3 to 4 | 1 | 0 |
| 5 to 6 | 2 | 0 |
| 7 to 8 | 22 | 11 |
| 9 to 10 | 5 | 6 |
| 11 to 12 | 0 | 1 |
| 13 to 14 | 14 | 10 |
| 15 to 16 | 0 | 6 |
| 17 to 18 | 1 | 32 |
| 19 to 20 | 17 | 29 |
| 21 to 22 | 14 | 35 |
| 23 to 24 | 31 | 49 |
| 25 to 26 | 0 | 3 |
| 27 to 28 | 0 | 2 |
| 29 to 30 | 13 | 32 |
| 31 to 32 | 0 | 2 |
| 33 to 34 | 19 | 19 |
| 35 to 36 | 27 | 54 |
| 37 to 38 | 1 | 1 |
| 39 to 40 | 3 | 18 |
| 41 to 42 | 9 | 5 |
| 43 to 44 | 14 | 14 |
| 45 to 46 | 2 | 3 |
| 47 to 48 | 19 | 26 |
| 49 to 50 | 0 | 2 |
| 51 to 52 | 0 | 12 |
| 53 to 54 | 2 | 5 |
| 55 to 56 | 2 | 24 |
| 57 to 58 | 8 | 0 |
| 59 to 60 | 13 | 13 |
| 61 to 62 | 0 | 2 |
| 63 to 64 | 11 | 16 |
| 65 to 66 | 8 | 14 |
| 67 to 68 | 0 | 1 |
| 69 to 70 | 4 | 14 |
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.
TASHI: You are when you play like that. I would have killed to have a recovery like yours. I would have literally stabbed someone. An old lady. A c… LILY: Mommy ? LILY: Can we watch Spiderverse? TASHI: Of course, baby. We’re just talking about tennis.
TASHI: Kiss grandma. TASHI: Now kiss me. TASHI: Good night, baby. LILY: Good night.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 36 are women's.
262 lines from women, 466 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
12 women and 20 men in the cast. 4 women and 3 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 10 of 760.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 36 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 38% of the words (2,401), men 62% (3,986). Women have 36% 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
29
Exhibit F: behind the camera
5 of the 13 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 38% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Luca Guadagnino (man)
- Written by
- Justin Kuritzkes (man)
- Produced by
- Amy Pascal (woman), Rachel O'Connor (woman), Luca Guadagnino (man), Zendaya (woman)
- Shot by
- Sayombhu Mukdeeprom (man)
- Edited by
- Marco Costa (man)
- Music by
- Trent Reznor (man), Atticus Ross (man)
- Production design by
- Merissa Lombardo (woman)
- Costumes by
- Jonathan Anderson (man)
- Cast by
- Francine Maisler (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Visual Effects
2 women, 9 men, 70 not listed
-
Production
12 women, 13 men, 42 not listed
-
Art
5 women, 8 men, 32 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
9 women, 5 men, 25 not listed
-
Sound
9 women, 14 men, 7 not listed
-
Other crew
2 women, 5 men, 20 not listed
-
Camera
1 women, 7 men, 17 not listed
-
Lighting
0 women, 4 men, 19 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 42 on average. Men: 42 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Zendaya 27, Nada Despotovich 56
Men
Mike Faist 32, Josh O'Connor 33, Chris Fowler 61
Exhibit H: the money
It made 1.7 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $55 million
- Box office
- $94.2 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 70 scenes and 760 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
