Passes the Bechdel test
Fences
2016. Directed by Denzel Washington, written by August Wilson.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
4 women characters. 2 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 1 scene out of 76. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In that scene, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3.
The film
Troy Maxson makes his living as a sanitation worker in 1950s Pittsburgh. Maxson once dreamed of becoming a professional baseball player, but was deemed too old when the major leagues began admitting black athletes. Bitter over his missed opportunity, Troy creates further tension in his family when he squashes his son's chance to meet a college football recruiter.
- Released
- 25 Dec 2016
- Genres
- Drama
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 7.2 / 10
- Metascore
- 79 / 100
- Awards
- Won 1 Oscar. 60 wins & 123 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Troy 358 lines, man
- Rose 206 lines, woman
- Cory 103 lines, man
- Bono 88 lines, man
- Lyons 63 lines, man
- Gabriel 35 lines, man
- Raynell 20 lines, woman
- Up 2 lines
Full cast, 14 people
- Denzel Washington as Troy Maxson
- Viola Davis as Rose Maxson
- Stephen McKinley Henderson as Jim Bono
- Jovan Adepo as Cory Maxson
- Russell Hornsby as Lyons Maxson
- Mykelti Williamson as Gabriel Maxson
- Saniyya Sidney as Raynell Maxson
- Lesley Boone as Evangelist Preacher
- Christopher Mele as Deputy Commissioner
- Jason Silvis as Garbage Truck Driver
- Tra'Waan Coles as Towns person
- Joe Fishel as Parade Marcher
- Cara Clark as Student (uncredited)
- Daniel James as Jaywalking Pedestrian (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 76
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 | 10 |
| 3 to 4 | 0 | 25 |
| 5 to 6 | 22 | 37 |
| 7 to 8 | 14 | 64 |
| 9 to 10 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 to 12 | 1 | 0 |
| 13 to 14 | 12 | 13 |
| 15 to 16 | 5 | 23 |
| 17 to 18 | 11 | 10 |
| 19 to 20 | 11 | 103 |
| 21 to 22 | 0 | 3 |
| 23 to 24 | 21 | 61 |
| 25 to 26 | 0 | 1 |
| 27 to 28 | 0 | 0 |
| 29 to 30 | 0 | 1 |
| 31 to 32 | 0 | 1 |
| 33 to 34 | 4 | 28 |
| 35 to 36 | 5 | 21 |
| 37 to 38 | 4 | 48 |
| 39 to 40 | 19 | 19 |
| 41 to 42 | 5 | 6 |
| 43 to 44 | 4 | 4 |
| 45 to 46 | 1 | 0 |
| 47 to 48 | 7 | 6 |
| 49 to 50 | 0 | 0 |
| 51 to 52 | 0 | 0 |
| 53 to 54 | 0 | 0 |
| 55 to 56 | 0 | 0 |
| 57 to 58 | 0 | 0 |
| 59 to 60 | 15 | 17 |
| 61 to 62 | 10 | 13 |
| 63 to 64 | 0 | 3 |
| 65 to 66 | 2 | 2 |
| 67 to 68 | 5 | 4 |
| 69 to 70 | 0 | 27 |
| 71 to 72 | 7 | 52 |
| 73 to 74 | 23 | 27 |
| 75 to 76 | 18 | 18 |
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: the passing scene
The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.
RAYNELL: Seeing if my garden growed. ROSE: I told you it ain’t gonna grow overnight. You got to wait. RAYNELL: It don’t look like it never gonna grow. Dag! ROSE: I told you a watched pot never boils.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 26 are women's.
226 lines from women, 647 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
4 women and 9 men in the cast. 2 women and 5 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 36 of 875.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 94 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 22% of the words (3,893), men 78% (13,902). Women have 26% 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
7
Two men
53
Exhibit F: behind the camera
3 of the 11 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 27% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Denzel Washington (man)
- Written by
- August Wilson (man)
- Produced by
- Todd Black (man), Scott Rudin (man), Denzel Washington (man)
- Shot by
- Charlotte Bruus Christensen (woman)
- Edited by
- Hughes Winborne (man)
- Music by
- Marcelo Zarvos (man)
- Production design by
- David Gropman (man)
- Costumes by
- Sharen Davis (woman)
- Cast by
- Victoria Thomas (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
4 women, 10 men, 4 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
4 women, 0 men, 11 not listed
-
Sound
2 women, 11 men, 2 not listed
-
Other crew
1 women, 4 men, 5 not listed
-
Art
2 women, 3 men, 3 not listed
-
Camera
1 women, 2 men, 3 not listed
-
Lighting
0 women, 2 men, 3 not listed
-
Visual Effects
0 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 36 on average. Men: 50 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Saniyya Sidney 10, Lesley Boone 48, Viola Davis 51
Men
Jovan Adepo 28, Jason Silvis 41, Russell Hornsby 42, Mykelti Williamson 59, Denzel Washington 61, Stephen McKinley Henderson 67
Exhibit H: the money
It made 2.7 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $24 million
- Box office
- $64.4 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 76 scenes and 875 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
