Fails the Bechdel test

Flight

Name: Flight
Released: 2012

2012. Directed by Robert Zemeckis, written by John Gatins.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

2 / 3

Fails

Yes 1. At least two women
16 women characters. 5 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

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

The film

Whip Whitaker is a commuter airline pilot. While on a flight from Orlando to Atlanta something goes wrong and the plane starts to fly erratically. With little choice Whip crashes the plane and saves almost all on board. When he wakes up in the hospital, his friend from the airline union introduces him to a lawyer who tells him there's a chance he could face criminal charges because his blood test reveals that he was intoxicated with alcohol and cocaine. He denies being impaired, so while an investigation is underway, he is told to keep his act together. However, letting go of his addiction is not as easy as it seems...

Released: 02 Nov 2012
Genres: Drama, Thriller
Rated: R
IMDb: 7.3 / 10
Metascore: 76 / 100
Awards: Nominated for 2 Oscars. 15 wins & 45 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Whip 384 lines, man
Nicole 87 lines, woman
Evans 82 lines, man
Charlie 75 lines, man
Hugh 57 lines, man
Ellen Block 28 lines, woman
Harling Mays 27 lines, man
Atc 24 lines
Margaret 24 lines, woman
Hugh Lang 14 lines, man

Full cast, 58 people

Denzel Washington as Whip Whitaker
Don Cheadle as Hugh Lang
Kelly Reilly as Nicole
John Goodman as Harling Mays
Bruce Greenwood as Charlie Anderson
Brian Geraghty as Ken Evans
Tamara Tunie as Margaret Thomason
Nadine Velazquez as Katerina Marquez
Peter Gerety as Avington Carr
Garcelle Beauvais as Deana
Melissa Leo as Ellen Block
Carter Cabassa as Son on Plane
Adam C. Edwards as Father on Plane
Conor O'Neill as Kip
Charlie E. Schmidt as Tiki Pot
Will Sherrod as Schecter
Boni Yanagisawa as Camelia Satou
Adam Tomei as Fran
Dane Davenport as Derek Hogue
John Crow as Field Reporter
E. Roger Mitchell as Craig Matson
Ravi Kapoor as Dr. Kenan
Jill Jane Clements as Morning Nurse
Tommy Kane as Mark Mellon
James Badge Dale as Gaunt Young Man
Susie Spear Purcell as Waitress
Philip Pavel as Bartender
Piers Morgan as Piers Morgan
Jim Tilmon as Jim Tilmon
Charles Z. Gardner as Pentecostal Minister
Tom Nowicki as Len Caldwell
Jason Benjamin as Carr's Business Guy / Stalking Reporter
Ric Reitz as Carr's Attorney
Timothy Adams as Whip's Dad
Darius Woods as Young Will
Ron Caldwell as Trevor
Dylan Kussman as Two Beer Barry
Janet Metzger as Sheila
Bethany Anne Lind as Vicky Evans
Sharon Blackwood as Peach Tree Employee
Pam Smith as Peach Tree Employee
Justin Martin as Will Whitaker Jr.
Shannon Walshe as Tilda Banden
Rhoda Griffis as Amanda Anderson
Michael Beasley as Officer Edmonds
Ted Hall as TV Reporter
Laila Pruitt as Girl on Elevator
Precious Bright as Mom on Elevator
Steve Coulter as NTSB Officer at Hearing
Ted Huckabee as Prison Guard
Sarah Clark as Radio Talk Show Host (voice)
Vinnie Hasson as Radio Talk Show Host (voice)
Randy Thom as Radio Stock Market Reporter (voice)
Dennis P. Wise as Air Traffic Controller (voice)
Paul Volle as Air Traffic Controller (voice)
Hal Williams as Whip's Dad (voice)
Kwesi Boakye as Young Will (voice)
Jennifer Olympia Bentley as Naked Girl in Helmet (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 5% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 133

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	0
4 to 6	2	0
7 to 9	2	5
10 to 12	4	16
13 to 15	17	2
16 to 18	1	6
19 to 21	0	12
22 to 24	2	5
25 to 27	0	21
28 to 30	0	8
31 to 33	5	10
34 to 36	10	76
37 to 39	1	21
40 to 42	0	6
43 to 45	0	42
46 to 48	0	22
49 to 51	21	28
52 to 54	0	12
55 to 57	0	0
58 to 60	0	0
61 to 63	0	0
64 to 66	0	0
67 to 69	0	1
70 to 72	3	45
73 to 75	0	8
76 to 78	0	1
79 to 81	5	14
82 to 84	3	11
85 to 87	0	38
88 to 90	1	2
91 to 93	21	20
94 to 96	8	14
97 to 99	1	32
100 to 102	20	24
103 to 105	0	2
106 to 108	0	29
109 to 111	0	0
112 to 114	5	20
115 to 117	0	33
118 to 120	0	1
121 to 123	0	37
124 to 126	0	18
127 to 129	0	5
130 to 132	28	37
133 to 133	0	16

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, 19 are women's.

160 lines from women, 700 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

16 women and 29 men in the cast. 5 women and 20 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

A woman speaks the first line. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 113 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 21% of the words (2,206), men 79% (8,113). Women have 19% of the lines, so their lines run longer 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

3 of the 14 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 32% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Robert Zemeckis (man)
Written by: John Gatins (man)
Produced by: Robert Zemeckis (man), Steve Starkey (man), Jack Rapke (man), Walter F. Parkes (man), Laurie MacDonald (woman)
Shot by: Don Burgess (man)
Edited by: Jeremiah O'Driscoll (gender not listed)
Music by: Alan Silvestri (man)
Production design by: Nelson Coates (man)
Costumes by: Louise Frogley (woman)
Cast by: Victoria Burrows (woman), Scot Boland (man)