Fails the Bechdel test
First Cow
2020. Directed by Kelly Reichardt, written by Jonathan Raymond and Kelly Reichardt.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
0 / 3
Fails
-
No
1. At least two women
Fewer than two women characters. -
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
Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.
The film
A loner and cook (John Magaro) has traveled west and joined a group of fur trappers in Oregon Territory, though he only finds connection with a Chinese immigrant (Orion Lee). The men collaborate on a business, although its longevity is reliant upon the participation of a wealthy landowner's prized milking cow.
- Released
- 10 Jul 2020
- Genres
- Drama, Western
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 7.1 / 10
- Metascore
- 90 / 100
- Awards
- 21 wins & 147 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- King-Lu 117 lines, man
- Cookie 99 lines, man
- Chief Factor 38 lines, man
- Chonachona 22 lines
- Lloyd 22 lines, man
- Captain 20 lines, man
- Clyde Trapper 3 18 lines, man
- Jack Trapper 4 9 lines, man
- Naked Man 8 lines, man
- Servant 8 lines
Full cast, 32 people
- John Magaro as Cookie
- Orion Lee as King-Lu
- Toby Jones as Chief Factor
- Ewen Bremner as Lloyd
- Scott Shepherd as Captain
- Gary Farmer as Totillicum
- Lily Gladstone as Chief Factor’s Wife
- Alia Shawkat as Woman with Dog
- Dylan Smith as Trapper Jack
- Ryan Findley as Trapper Dame
- Manuel Rodriguez as Trapper Bill
- Patrick D. Green as Russian Trapper
- Jared Kasowski as Thomas
- René Auberjonois as Man with Raven
- Jean-Luc Boucherot as Sailor in Saloon
- Jeb Berrier as Cribbage Player
- John Keating as Heckler in Saloon
- Don MacEllis as Brilliant William
- Todd A. Robinson as Fort Trapper
- Kevin-Michael Moore as Fort Trapper
- Eric Martin Reid as Fort Trapper
- Ted Rooney as Fort Trapper
- Phelan Davis as Fort Trapper
- Mike Wood as Fort Trapper
- Sabrina Mary Morrison as Totillicum's Wife
- Mitchell Saddleback as Chief Factor's Servant
- Mary Ann Perreira as Hawaiian Woman
- T. Dan Hopkins as Hawaiian Man
- James Lee Jones as Man with Canoe
- James Ridley as Soldier
- Evie as The Cow
- Patrick DeWitt as Man with Baby Bird
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 11% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 148
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 | 2 | 17 |
| 13 to 16 | 0 | 33 |
| 17 to 20 | 1 | 17 |
| 21 to 24 | 0 | 7 |
| 25 to 28 | 0 | 0 |
| 29 to 32 | 0 | 2 |
| 33 to 36 | 0 | 45 |
| 37 to 40 | 0 | 8 |
| 41 to 44 | 0 | 14 |
| 45 to 48 | 0 | 15 |
| 49 to 52 | 0 | 16 |
| 53 to 56 | 0 | 2 |
| 57 to 60 | 0 | 20 |
| 61 to 64 | 0 | 7 |
| 65 to 68 | 0 | 10 |
| 69 to 72 | 0 | 37 |
| 73 to 76 | 0 | 50 |
| 77 to 80 | 0 | 8 |
| 81 to 84 | 0 | 1 |
| 85 to 88 | 0 | 2 |
| 89 to 92 | 0 | 0 |
| 93 to 96 | 0 | 3 |
| 97 to 100 | 0 | 6 |
| 101 to 104 | 0 | 2 |
| 105 to 108 | 0 | 4 |
| 109 to 112 | 0 | 1 |
| 113 to 116 | 5 | 4 |
| 117 to 120 | 0 | 9 |
| 121 to 124 | 0 | 0 |
| 125 to 128 | 0 | 9 |
| 129 to 132 | 0 | 4 |
| 133 to 136 | 0 | 2 |
| 137 to 140 | 0 | 0 |
| 141 to 144 | 0 | 0 |
| 145 to 148 | 0 | 14 |
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, 2 are women's.
8 lines from women, 369 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
2 women and 21 men in the cast. 0 women and 16 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 6 of 424.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 276 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 1% of the words (53), men 99% (3,910). Women have 2% 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
0
Two men
25
Exhibit E: behind the camera
5 of the 13 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 36% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Kelly Reichardt (woman)
- Written by
- Kelly Reichardt (woman), Jonathan Raymond (man)
- From the novel by
- Jonathan Raymond (man)
- Produced by
- Neil Kopp (man), Anish Savjani (man), Vincent Savino (man)
- Shot by
- Christopher Blauvelt (man)
- Edited by
- Kelly Reichardt (woman)
- Music by
- William Tyler (man)
- Production design by
- Anthony Gasparro (man)
- Costumes by
- April Napier (woman)
- Cast by
- Gayle Keller (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
8 women, 10 men, 2 not listed
-
Art
2 women, 7 men, 5 not listed
-
Sound
2 women, 8 men, 3 not listed
-
Other crew
1 women, 7 men, 4 not listed
-
Camera
2 women, 3 men, 5 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
6 women, 0 men, 3 not listed
-
Lighting
0 women, 4 men, 1 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 30 on average. Men: 49 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Alia Shawkat 30
Men
John Magaro 37, Orion Lee 39, Dylan Smith 44, Ewen Bremner 48, Toby Jones 53, Scott Shepherd 53, Gary Farmer 66
Exhibit G: the money
It made 5% of what it cost.
- Budget
- $2 million
- Box office
- $101,068
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 148 scenes and 424 lines of dialogue. How the test works
