Fails the Bechdel test
First Reformed
2018. Directed by Paul Schrader, written by Paul Schrader.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
8 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
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.
The film
The pastor (Ethan Hawke) of a small church in New York with dwindling attendance gets a call from a pregnant parishioner (Amanda Seyfried) begging for help with her extremely radical husband. After getting involved, the pastor loses control of every aspect of his life.
- Released
- 08 Jun 2018
- Genres
- Drama, Mystery, Thriller
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.1 / 10
- Metascore
- 86 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 1 Oscar. 62 wins & 108 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Toller 244 lines, man
- Mary 83 lines, woman
- Jeffers 42 lines, man
- Michael 37 lines, man
- Esther 30 lines, woman
- Balq 19 lines, man
- Elder 14 lines, man
- Doctor 7 lines, man
- Sheriff 6 lines, man
- Suriya 5 lines, woman
Full cast, 36 people
- Ethan Hawke as Pastor Ernst Toller
- Amanda Seyfried as Mary Mensana
- Cedric the Entertainer as Pastor Joel Jeffers
- Victoria Hill as Esther
- Philip Ettinger as Michael Mensana
- Michael Gaston as Edward Balq
- Bill Hoag as John Elder
- Kristin Villanueva as Nurse Cindy
- Ingrid Kullberg-Bendz as Middle-Aged Tourist
- Ken Forman as Middle-Aged Tourist
- Christopher Dylan White as College Student
- Frank Rodriguez as Sheriff
- Gary Lee Mahmoud as Doctor
- Joseph Anthony Jerez as War Vet in Wheelchair
- Sue Jean Kim as Suriya
- Miah Issabella Velasquez as Rose
- Tyler Bourke as Benny
- Natalie Woolams-Torres as Clerk
- Van Hansis as Roger
- Ramon Nuñez as Jason
- Delano Montgomery as Jake
- Satchel Eden Bell as Cynthia
- Jon Rua as 1st Repairman
- Otis Edward Cotton as 2nd Repairman
- Mark Havlis as Pancake House Owner
- Erica Fae as 1st Secretary
- Prudence Wright Holmes as Balq Industries Tour Guide
- Ronald Peet as Choir Member
- Juliet Schlefer as Choir Member
- Elanna White as Choir Member
- Olivia Rose Cohenher as Choir Member
- Jake Alden-Falconer as Choir Member
- Eric Lockley as Choir Member
- Krystina Alabado as Choir Member
- Dennis Michael Giammetta as Balq's Son (uncredited)
- Mahaleia Gray as Jeffers' Daughter (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 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 122
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 3 | 0 | 1 |
| 4 to 6 | 0 | 4 |
| 7 to 9 | 10 | 23 |
| 10 to 12 | 0 | 2 |
| 13 to 15 | 3 | 74 |
| 16 to 18 | 0 | 4 |
| 19 to 21 | 1 | 4 |
| 22 to 24 | 0 | 7 |
| 25 to 27 | 7 | 5 |
| 28 to 30 | 1 | 18 |
| 31 to 33 | 8 | 9 |
| 34 to 36 | 18 | 13 |
| 37 to 39 | 0 | 2 |
| 40 to 42 | 4 | 8 |
| 43 to 45 | 0 | 1 |
| 46 to 48 | 8 | 20 |
| 49 to 51 | 0 | 4 |
| 52 to 54 | 0 | 7 |
| 55 to 57 | 1 | 8 |
| 58 to 60 | 0 | 2 |
| 61 to 63 | 8 | 52 |
| 64 to 66 | 5 | 7 |
| 67 to 69 | 0 | 0 |
| 70 to 72 | 3 | 5 |
| 73 to 75 | 1 | 15 |
| 76 to 78 | 9 | 10 |
| 79 to 81 | 0 | 1 |
| 82 to 84 | 0 | 0 |
| 85 to 87 | 1 | 0 |
| 88 to 90 | 17 | 23 |
| 91 to 93 | 5 | 4 |
| 94 to 96 | 0 | 1 |
| 97 to 99 | 0 | 2 |
| 100 to 102 | 0 | 0 |
| 103 to 105 | 0 | 30 |
| 106 to 108 | 9 | 9 |
| 109 to 111 | 0 | 1 |
| 112 to 114 | 1 | 0 |
| 115 to 117 | 0 | 3 |
| 118 to 120 | 0 | 2 |
| 121 to 122 | 3 | 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, 24 are women's.
123 lines from women, 381 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
8 women and 14 men in the cast. 7 women and 10 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 18 of 516.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 79 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 (1,567), men 78% (5,625). Women have 24% 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
1
Two men
11
Exhibit E: behind the camera
5 of the 16 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 41% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Paul Schrader (man)
- Written by
- Paul Schrader (man)
- Produced by
- Frank Murray (gender not listed), Greg Clark (gender not listed), Victoria Hill (woman), David Hinojosa (man), Christine Vachon (woman), Gary Hamilton (man) and 2 more
- Shot by
- Alexander Dynan (man)
- Edited by
- Ben Rodriguez Jr. (man)
- Music by
- Brian Williams (man)
- Production design by
- Grace Yun (woman)
- Costumes by
- Olga Mill (woman)
- Cast by
- Susan Shopmaker (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
7 women, 5 men, 7 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 2 men, 6 not listed
-
Sound
1 women, 7 men, 1 not listed
-
Art
3 women, 0 men, 4 not listed
-
Visual Effects
1 women, 1 men, 3 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 37 on average. Men: 47 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Amanda Seyfried 32, Kristin Villanueva 33, Victoria Hill 47
Men
Philip Ettinger 32, Ethan Hawke 47, Cedric the Entertainer 54, Michael Gaston 55
Exhibit G: the money
It made 1.1 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $3.5 million
- Box office
- $4 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 122 scenes and 516 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
