Fails the Bechdel test
Dallas Buyers Club
2013. Directed by Jean-Marc Vallée, written by Craig Borten and Melisa Wallack.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
12 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
Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3.
The film
In mid 1980s Texas, electrician Ron Woodroof is starting to learn that he has AIDS. Though told he has just 30 days left to live, Woodroof refuses to give in to despair. He seeks out alternative therapies and smuggles approved drugs into the US from where ever he can find them. Woodroof joins forces with a fellow AIDS patient and begins selling the treatments to the growing number of people who can't wait for the medical establishment to save them.
- Released
- 22 Nov 2013
- Genres
- Biography, Drama
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.9 / 10
- Metascore
- 77 / 100
- Awards
- Won 3 Oscars. 86 wins & 88 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Ron 334 lines, man
- Eve 96 lines, woman
- Rayon 72 lines, man
- Dr. Sevard 38 lines, man
- Dr. Vass 24 lines, man
- Richard Barkley 22 lines, man
- Tucker 21 lines, man
- David Wayne 13 lines, man
- Rick Ferris 13 lines, man
- Nurse Frazin 9 lines, woman
Full cast, 42 people
- Matthew McConaughey as Ron Woodroof
- Jennifer Garner as Eve
- Jared Leto as Rayon
- Denis O'Hare as Dr. Sevard
- Steve Zahn as Tucker
- Michael O'Neill as Richard Barkley
- Dallas Roberts as David Wayne
- Griffin Dunne as Dr. Vass
- Kevin Rankin as T.J.
- Donna DuPlantier as Nurse Frazin
- Deneen Tyler as Denise
- J.D. Evermore as Clint
- Ian Casselberry as Hispanic Orderly
- Noelle Wilcox as Kelly
- Bradford Cox as Sunny
- Rick Espaillat as Michael
- Lawrence Turner as Foreman
- Lucius Falick as Freddie
- James DuMont as Rayon's Father
- Jane McNeill as Francine Suskind
- Don Brady as Tucker's Father
- Matthew Thompson as Effeminate Man
- Tony Bentley as Judge
- Sean Boyd as Border Agent
- Rachel Wulff as News Anchor
- Neeona Neal as Stripper
- Scott Takeda as Mr. Yamata
- Jonathan Tabler as Rick Ferris
- Joji Yoshida as Dr. Hiroshi
- Carl Palmer as FDA Customs Agent
- Martin Covert as Ian
- Douglas M. Griffin as Rog
- David Lichtenstein as Cop
- Craig Borten as Quicksilver Cowboy
- Henry Frost as Gay Cowboy
- Arthur Smith as Rodeo Announcer
- Adam Dunn as Neddie Jay (uncredited)
- Juliet Reeves London as Rodeo Girl (uncredited)
- Jeanine Hill as Rodeo Girl (uncredited)
- Sarah Eilts as Ron's Hooker (uncredited)
- Lily Virginia Filson as Dancer (uncredited)
- Steffie Grote as The Girl With The Snake Tattoo (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 2% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 151
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 | 0 | 11 |
| 5 to 8 | 0 | 18 |
| 9 to 12 | 3 | 20 |
| 13 to 16 | 5 | 23 |
| 17 to 20 | 1 | 8 |
| 21 to 24 | 12 | 34 |
| 25 to 28 | 1 | 3 |
| 29 to 32 | 2 | 9 |
| 33 to 36 | 9 | 39 |
| 37 to 40 | 0 | 1 |
| 41 to 44 | 0 | 20 |
| 45 to 48 | 0 | 11 |
| 49 to 52 | 1 | 11 |
| 53 to 56 | 14 | 19 |
| 57 to 60 | 13 | 21 |
| 61 to 64 | 0 | 20 |
| 65 to 68 | 8 | 17 |
| 69 to 72 | 4 | 19 |
| 73 to 76 | 0 | 15 |
| 77 to 80 | 0 | 4 |
| 81 to 84 | 0 | 22 |
| 85 to 88 | 5 | 25 |
| 89 to 92 | 0 | 9 |
| 93 to 96 | 10 | 26 |
| 97 to 100 | 2 | 26 |
| 101 to 104 | 4 | 16 |
| 105 to 108 | 0 | 12 |
| 109 to 112 | 3 | 25 |
| 113 to 116 | 2 | 13 |
| 117 to 120 | 0 | 0 |
| 121 to 124 | 3 | 10 |
| 125 to 128 | 2 | 13 |
| 129 to 132 | 6 | 13 |
| 133 to 136 | 2 | 11 |
| 137 to 140 | 4 | 7 |
| 141 to 144 | 0 | 10 |
| 145 to 148 | 1 | 14 |
| 149 to 151 | 0 | 4 |
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.
117 lines from women, 579 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
12 women and 27 men in the cast. 7 women and 26 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 47 of 708.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 46 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 (1,401), men 83% (6,961).
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
3
Two men
53
Exhibit E: behind the camera
3 of the 14 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 21% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Jean-Marc Vallée (man)
- Written by
- Melisa Wallack (woman), Craig Borten (man)
- Produced by
- Robbie Brenner (woman), Rachel Winter (woman)
- Shot by
- Yves Bélanger (man)
- Edited by
- Martin Pensa (man), Jean-Marc Vallée (man)
- Production design by
- John Paino (man)
- Costumes by
- Bart Mueller (man), Kurt Swanson (man)
- Cast by
- Rich Delia (man), Paul Schnee (man), Kerry Barden (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
3 women, 11 men, 12 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 10 men, 5 not listed
-
Art
2 women, 3 men, 6 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
3 women, 2 men, 3 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 2 men, 4 not listed
-
Other crew
1 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 2 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 44 on average. Men: 48 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Jennifer Garner 41, Donna DuPlantier 46
Men
Kevin Rankin 37, Jared Leto 41, Matthew McConaughey 43, Dallas Roberts 43, Steve Zahn 45, Denis O'Hare 51, Griffin Dunne 58, Michael O'Neill 66
Exhibit G: the money
It made 11.1 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $5 million
- Box office
- $55.7 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 151 scenes and 708 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
