Passes the Bechdel test
Cloud Atlas
2012. Directed by Tom Tykwer and Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski, written by David Mitchell and Lana Wachowski and Tom Tykwer.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
16 women characters. 16 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 2 scenes out of 307. -
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
Everything is connected: an 1849 diary of an ocean voyage across the Pacific, letters from a composer to his lover, a thriller about a conspiracy at a nuclear power plant, a farce about a publisher in a nursing home, a rebellious clone in futuristic Korea, and the tale of a tribe living on post-apocalyptic Hawaii far in the future.
- Released
- 26 Oct 2012
- Genres
- Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.3 / 10
- Metascore
- 55 / 100
- Awards
- 15 wins & 79 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Cavendish 163 lines, man
- Sonmi-451 124 lines, woman
- Luisa Rey 119 lines, woman
- Frobisher 116 lines, man
- Zachry 116 lines, man
- Chang 76 lines, man
- Ayrs 75 lines, man
- Ewing 59 lines, man
- Meronym 57 lines, woman
- Archivist 48 lines, man
Full cast, 53 people
- Tom Hanks as Dr. Henry Goose / Hotel Manager / Isaac Sachs / Dermot Hoggins / Cavendish Look-a-Like Actor / Zachry
- Halle Berry as Native Woman / Jocasta Ayrs / Luisa Rey / Indian Party Guest / Ovid / Meronym
- Jim Broadbent as Captain Molyneux / Vyvyan Ayrs / Timothy Cavendish / Korean Musician / Prescient 2
- Hugo Weaving as Haskell Moore / Tadeusz Kesselring / Bill Smoke / Nurse Noakes / Boardman Mephi / Old Georgie
- Jim Sturgess as Adam Ewing / Poor Hotel Guest / Megan's Dad / Highlander / Hae-Joo Chang / Adam / Zachry Brother-in-Law
- Bae Doona as Tilda / Megan's Mom / Mexican Woman / Sonmi-451 / Sonmi-351 / Sonmi Prostitute
- Ben Whishaw as Cabin Boy / Robert Frobisher / Store Clerk / Georgette / Tribesman
- James D'Arcy as Young Rufus Sixsmith / Old Rufus Sixsmith / Nurse James / Archivist
- Zhou Xun as Talbot / Hotel Manager / Yoona-939 / Rose
- Keith David as Kupaka / Joe Napier / An-kor Apis / Prescient
- Susan Sarandon as Madame Horrox / Older Ursula / Yusouf Suleiman / Abbess
- Hugh Grant as Rev. Giles Horrox / Hotel Heavy / Lloyd Hooks / Denholme Cavendish / Seer Rhee / Kona Chief
- David Gyasi as Autua / Lester Rey / Duophsyte
- Robert Fyfe as Old Salty Dog / Mr. Meeks / Prescient 1
- Martin Wuttke as Mr. Boerhaave / Guard / Leary the Healer
- Robin Morrissey as Young Cavendish
- Brody Nicholas Lee as Javier Gomez / Jonas / Zachry's Older Nephew
- Ian van Temperley as Enforcer
- Amanda Walker as Veronica
- Ralph Riach as Ernie
- Andrew Havill as Mr. Hotchkiss
- Tanja de Wendt as Mrs. Hotchkiss
- Raevan Lee Hanan as Little Girl with Orison at Papa Song's / Catkin / Zachry Relative
- Götz Otto as Groundsman Withers
- Niall Greig Fulton as Haskell Moore's Dinner Guest / Mozza Hoggins
- Louis Dempsey as Haskell Moore's Dinner Guest / Jarvis Hoggins
- Martin Docherty as Haskell Moore's Dinner Guest / Eddie Hoggins
- Alistair Petrie as Haskell Moore's Dinner Guest / Musician / Felix Finch / Lascivious Businessman
- Zhu Zhu as Megan Sixsmith / 12th Star Clone
- Sylvestra Le Touzel as Haskell Moore's Dinner Guest / Nurse Judd / Aide in Slaughtership
- Jojo Schöning as Papa Song Punk
- Laura Vietzen as Young Ursula
- Thomas Kügel as Vater
- Marie Rönnebeck as Ursula's Daughter
- Ruby Kastner as Young Girl
- Emma Werz as Ursula's Granddaughter
- Mya-Lecia Naylor as Miro
- Korbyn Hawk Hanan as Adam Grandson
- Katy Karrenbauer as Axwoman
- Dulcie Smart as Ursula's Mother / Herbalist
- Anna Holmes as Scientist / Executive
- Shaun Lawton as Secretary
- Moritz Berg as Porter
- Gigi Lee as Zachry Relative
- Genevien Lee as Zachry Relative
- Cody Benjamin Lee as Zachry Relative
- Heike Hanold-Lynch as Ms. Judd Look-a-like
- Victor Solé as Mr. Roderick
- Kristoffer Fuss as Lead Enforcer
- Marco Albrecht as Scan Enforcer
- Gary McCormack as Crane Operator
- David Mitchell as Union Spy
- Jon Donahue as Moore's Accountant / Finch's Friend (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 7 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 5% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 307
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 7 | 3 | 18 |
| 8 to 14 | 2 | 29 |
| 15 to 21 | 24 | 52 |
| 22 to 28 | 0 | 8 |
| 29 to 35 | 9 | 7 |
| 36 to 42 | 23 | 27 |
| 43 to 49 | 2 | 25 |
| 50 to 56 | 26 | 96 |
| 57 to 63 | 20 | 20 |
| 64 to 70 | 9 | 11 |
| 71 to 77 | 2 | 19 |
| 78 to 84 | 5 | 12 |
| 85 to 91 | 8 | 25 |
| 92 to 98 | 8 | 28 |
| 99 to 105 | 7 | 14 |
| 106 to 112 | 14 | 27 |
| 113 to 119 | 18 | 18 |
| 120 to 126 | 28 | 44 |
| 127 to 133 | 8 | 57 |
| 134 to 140 | 3 | 33 |
| 141 to 147 | 2 | 19 |
| 148 to 154 | 13 | 18 |
| 155 to 161 | 0 | 5 |
| 162 to 168 | 0 | 20 |
| 169 to 175 | 3 | 24 |
| 176 to 182 | 10 | 11 |
| 183 to 189 | 8 | 60 |
| 190 to 196 | 8 | 19 |
| 197 to 203 | 2 | 13 |
| 204 to 210 | 9 | 14 |
| 211 to 217 | 26 | 36 |
| 218 to 224 | 10 | 14 |
| 225 to 231 | 0 | 6 |
| 232 to 238 | 8 | 21 |
| 239 to 245 | 9 | 28 |
| 246 to 252 | 18 | 43 |
| 253 to 259 | 4 | 6 |
| 260 to 266 | 7 | 18 |
| 267 to 273 | 3 | 15 |
| 274 to 280 | 4 | 12 |
| 281 to 287 | 22 | 31 |
| 288 to 294 | 5 | 8 |
| 295 to 301 | 21 | 15 |
| 302 to 307 | 10 | 36 |
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.
ROSE: 'Hole Valley knows we got room since Sloosha's. MERONYM: I brought you a gift, Zachry--
MERONYM: This ain't no charity. Your prov'd yourself more'n'once. We could use your help. CATKIN: I wanna go wit'Meronym!
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 28 are women's.
421 lines from women, 1062 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
16 women and 31 men in the cast. 16 women and 49 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 12 of 1,553.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 65 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 21% of the words (3,796), men 79% (14,310). Women have 28% 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
6
Two men
63
Exhibit F: behind the camera
9 of the 26 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 36% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Lana Wachowski (woman), Lilly Wachowski (woman), Tom Tykwer (man)
- Written by
- Lilly Wachowski (woman), Lana Wachowski (woman), Tom Tykwer (man)
- From the novel by
- David Mitchell (man)
- Produced by
- Tom Tykwer (man), Lilly Wachowski (woman), Lana Wachowski (woman), Stefan Arndt (man), Grant Hill (man), Alexander Rodnyansky (man)
- Shot by
- Frank Griebe (man), John Toll (man)
- Edited by
- Alexander Berner (man), Claus Wehlisch (man)
- Music by
- Johnny Klimek (man), Reinhold Heil (man), Tom Tykwer (man)
- Production design by
- Hugh Bateup (man), Uli Hanisch (man)
- Costumes by
- Pierre-Yves Gayraud (man), Kym Barrett (woman)
- Cast by
- Lucinda Syson (woman), Lora Kennedy (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Visual Effects
8 women, 24 men, 100 not listed
-
Art
14 women, 17 men, 39 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
24 women, 7 men, 31 not listed
-
Other crew
3 women, 17 men, 34 not listed
-
Production
14 women, 20 men, 16 not listed
-
Camera
2 women, 15 men, 27 not listed
-
Sound
1 women, 18 men, 12 not listed
-
Directing
3 women, 3 men, 7 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 39 on average. Men: 47 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Bae Doona 33, Zhou Xun 38, Halle Berry 46
Men
Ben Whishaw 32, Jim Sturgess 34, James D'Arcy 37, Hugo Weaving 52, Tom Hanks 56, Keith David 56, Jim Broadbent 63
Exhibit H: the money
It made 1.3 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $102 million
- Box office
- $130 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 307 scenes and 1,553 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
