Fails the Bechdel test

Drive

Name: Drive
Released: 2011

2011. Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, written by Hossein Amini and James Sallis.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

1 / 3

Fails

Yes 1. At least two women
12 women characters. 4 of them speak.
No 2. Who talk to each other
Our parser found no scene where two women talk to each other.
No 3. About something besides a man
Not reached: the film fails an earlier rule.

Second opinion

Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3, though someone marked that rating as dubious.

The film

This action drama follows a mysterious man who has multiple jobs as a garage mechanic, a Hollywood stuntman and a getaway driver seems to be trying to escape his shady past as he falls for his neighbor - whose husband is in prison and who's looking after her child alone. Meanwhile, his garage mechanic boss is trying to set up a race team using gangland money, which implicates our driver as he is to be used as the race team's main driver. Our hero gets more than he bargained for when he meets the man who is married to the woman he loves.

Released: 16 Sep 2011
Genres: Action, Drama
Rated: R
IMDb: 7.8 / 10
Metascore: 79 / 100
Awards: Nominated for 1 Oscar. 79 wins & 180 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Driver 146 lines, man
Bernie Rose 100 lines, man
Irene 80 lines, woman
Shannon 76 lines, man
Standard 57 lines, man
Nino 38 lines, man
Cook 17 lines, man
Benicio 11 lines, man
Basketball Commentary 10 lines, man
Blanche 10 lines, woman

Full cast, 37 people

Ryan Gosling as Driver
Carey Mulligan as Irene
Bryan Cranston as Shannon
Albert Brooks as Bernie Rose
Oscar Isaac as Standard
Christina Hendricks as Blanche
Ron Perlman as Nino
Kaden Leos as Benicio
Jeff Wolfe as Tan Suit
James Biberi as Cook
Russ Tamblyn as Doc
Joe Bucaro III as Chauffeur
Tiara Parker as Young Woman
Tim Trella as Hitman #1
Jimmy Hart as Hitman #2
Tina Huang as Waitress
Andy San Dimas as Stripper
John Pyper-Ferguson as Bearded Redneck
Craig Baxley Jr. as Masked Man #1
Kenny Richards as Masked Man #2
Joe Pingue as Assistant Director #1
Dieter Busch as Assistant Director #2
Chris Muto as Caterer
Rachel Dik as Newscaster
Cesar Garcia as Waiter
Steven Knoll as Movie Star
Mara LaFontaine as Movie Star Girlfriend
Teonee Thrash as Police Officer
Ralph Lawler as Basketball Announcer (voice)
Rio Ahn as Police Actor in Makeup Chair (uncredited)
Laurene Landon as Actress (uncredited)
DB Albert as Party Attendee (uncredited)
Paula Alvarez as Gangster (uncredited)
Andrew Constantini as Basketball Fan (uncredited)
Caitlin Litzinger as Stripper (uncredited)
Sarah Adela Tirado as Chola (uncredited)
Claude Stuart as Forgetful Waiter (uncredited)

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 161

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

92 lines from women, 473 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

12 women and 24 men in the cast. 4 women and 12 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 68 of 583. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 92 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 11% of the words (593), men 89% (4,722). Women have 16% of the lines, so their lines run shorter than men's.

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

4 of the 14 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 18% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Nicolas Winding Refn (man)
Written by: Hossein Amini (man)
From the novel by: James Sallis (man)
Produced by: Marc Platt (man), Adam Siegel (man), John Palermo (gender not listed), Michel Litvak (man), Gigi Pritzker (woman)
Shot by: Newton Thomas Sigel (man)
Edited by: Matthew Newman (man)
Music by: Cliff Martinez (man)
Production design by: Beth Mickle (woman)
Costumes by: Erin Benach (woman)
Cast by: Mindy Marin (woman)