Passes the Bechdel test
Destroyer
2019. Directed by Karyn Kusama, written by Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
8 women characters. 8 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 5 scenes out of 149. -
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, though someone marked that rating as dubious.
The film
Destroyer follows the moral and existential odyssey of LAPD detective Erin Bell who, as a young cop, was placed undercover with a gang in the California desert with tragic results. When the leader of that gang re-emerges many years later, she must work her way back through the remaining members and into her own history with them to finally reckon with the demons that destroyed her past.
- Released
- 25 Jan 2019
- Genres
- Action, Crime, Drama
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 6.2 / 10
- Metascore
- 62 / 100
- Awards
- 3 wins & 20 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Bell 374 lines, woman
- Lawson 51 lines, man
- Shelby 48 lines, woman
- Ethan 47 lines, man
- Toby 47 lines, man
- Petra 43 lines, woman
- Chris 42 lines, man
- Silas 32 lines, man
- Difranco 29 lines, man
- Antonio 27 lines, man
Full cast, 31 people
- Nicole Kidman as Erin Bell
- Toby Kebbell as Silas
- Tatiana Maslany as Petra
- Sebastian Stan as Chris
- Scoot McNairy as Ethan
- Bradley Whitford as DiFranco
- Toby Huss as Gil Lawson
- James Jordan as Toby
- Jade Pettyjohn as Shelby
- Beau Knapp as Jay
- Shamier Anderson as Antonio
- Zach Villa as Arturo
- Natalia Cordova-Buckley as Det. Gavras
- Colby French as Det. Kudra
- Kelvin Han Yee as Lt. Oshima
- Doug Simpson as Other Agent
- Kale Clauson as Informant Cousin
- Jan Hoag as Toby's Mother
- Peter Vasquez as Man at Church
- Mickey O'Hagan as Gang House Woman
- McCabe Slye as Ryan
- Brandon Morales as Running Officer
- Chido Nwokocha as Cop
- Cecily Breaux as Bank Teller
- Jay Hieron as Bouncer
- Dan Southworth as Bodyguard
- Brett Easton as Male Officer
- Chris Fiore as Ice Cream Shop Customer
- Justin Rivera as Skateboarder
- Alex Marshall-Brown as Female Officer
- Joseph Fatu as Taz
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 149
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 | 13 | 10 |
| 5 to 8 | 2 | 2 |
| 9 to 12 | 9 | 16 |
| 13 to 16 | 24 | 25 |
| 17 to 20 | 32 | 24 |
| 21 to 24 | 30 | 39 |
| 25 to 28 | 13 | 22 |
| 29 to 32 | 3 | 2 |
| 33 to 36 | 0 | 2 |
| 37 to 40 | 0 | 3 |
| 41 to 44 | 29 | 36 |
| 45 to 48 | 36 | 12 |
| 49 to 52 | 1 | 0 |
| 53 to 56 | 4 | 0 |
| 57 to 60 | 18 | 20 |
| 61 to 64 | 1 | 19 |
| 65 to 68 | 19 | 31 |
| 69 to 72 | 4 | 10 |
| 73 to 76 | 28 | 7 |
| 77 to 80 | 0 | 0 |
| 81 to 84 | 4 | 3 |
| 85 to 88 | 5 | 1 |
| 89 to 92 | 2 | 2 |
| 93 to 96 | 1 | 0 |
| 97 to 100 | 18 | 5 |
| 101 to 104 | 34 | 0 |
| 105 to 108 | 43 | 25 |
| 109 to 112 | 5 | 2 |
| 113 to 116 | 20 | 16 |
| 117 to 120 | 6 | 5 |
| 121 to 124 | 4 | 4 |
| 125 to 128 | 3 | 9 |
| 129 to 132 | 42 | 0 |
| 133 to 136 | 3 | 5 |
| 137 to 140 | 2 | 3 |
| 141 to 144 | 5 | 2 |
| 145 to 148 | 16 | 16 |
| 149 to 149 | 0 | 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.
BELL: With? DET. GAVRAS: .38, dropped at the scene... DET. GAVRAS: ... maybe a ghost gun, no serial, no prints, no witnesses. Look... BELL: Am I wasting your time?
SHELBY: It’s my fucking mom. What are you doing here? BELL: A friend called. Shelby... SHELBY: A cop friend? Jesus, you’re staking me out? BELL: Get up. Let’s go.
BELL: Stop talking. Come on... SHELBY: Don’t touch me! Jesus, are you drunk?
BELL: Shut the fuck up. You gonna tell me about the law? JAY SHELBY: What the... Fuck! Mom!
BELL: Thanks for meeting me. BELL: You know, I could’ve taken you to a nicer place. SHELBY: I like this place. BELL: Look. I don’t know what to say. Maybe we can just start fresh, you know?
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 56 are women's.
479 lines from women, 378 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
8 women and 21 men in the cast. 8 women and 19 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 2 of 877.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 19 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 52% of the words (3,620), men 48% (3,365). Women have 56% 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
22
Two men
4
Exhibit F: behind the camera
5 of the 12 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 36% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Karyn Kusama (woman)
- Written by
- Matt Manfredi (man), Phil Hay (man)
- Produced by
- Matt Manfredi (man), Phil Hay (man), Fred Berger (man)
- Shot by
- Julie Kirkwood (woman)
- Edited by
- Plummy Tucker (woman)
- Music by
- Theodore Shapiro (man)
- Production design by
- Kay Lee (woman)
- Costumes by
- Audrey Fisher (woman)
- Cast by
- Mark Bennett (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
0 women, 12 men, 2 not listed
-
Camera
3 women, 1 men, 6 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
5 women, 1 men, 4 not listed
-
Art
2 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
-
Other crew
1 women, 5 men
-
Sound
1 women, 3 men
-
Lighting
0 women, 1 men, 2 not listed
-
Directing
2 women, 0 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 34 on average. Men: 42 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Jade Pettyjohn 18, Tatiana Maslany 33, Nicole Kidman 51
Men
Beau Knapp 29, Toby Kebbell 36, Sebastian Stan 36, James Jordan 39, Scoot McNairy 41, Toby Huss 52, Bradley Whitford 59
Exhibit H: the money
It made 62% of what it cost.
- Budget
- $9 million
- Box office
- $5.6 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 149 scenes and 877 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
