Fails the Bechdel test

Following

Name: Following
Released: 1999

1999. Directed by Christopher Nolan, written by Christopher Nolan.

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

Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 0 out of 3.

The film

Pulp fiction neo noir crime story about a writer, The Young Man, who follows strangers for writing material in the broad day light or into the darkness of London. He eventually gets caught by Cobb, a mad thief who toys with others properties. Cobb lures The Young Man, and inspiring writer, also known as Bill/Danny Lloyd into his secret life of breaking and entering and theft. Bill comes across a story from one of his trespasses, Lucy Russel. He begins to see her and spends time hearing her story. Lucy unveils her shadowy path when she confesses a crime she witnessed from an elder psychotic boyfriend. She had witnessed a murder from a violent criminal who plunged a debtor to death by his own hammer. The story continues as Bill acts out in the underground crime world of murder theft and adultery and continues his own storyline for the future of his storytelling career.

Released: 05 Nov 1999
Genres: Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Rated: R
IMDb: 7.4 / 10
Metascore: 60 / 100
Awards: 5 wins & 4 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Young Man 264 lines, man
Cobb 182 lines, man
The Blonde 129 lines, woman
Dark Suit 32 lines, man
Older Man 18 lines, man
Male Voice 12 lines
Older Male Voice 5 lines
Woman 5 lines, woman
Baldy 2 lines
Waitress 2 lines, woman

Full cast, 26 people

Jeremy Theobald as The Young Man
Alex Haw as Cobb
Lucy Russell as The Blonde
John Nolan as The Policeman
Dick Bradsell as The Bald Guy
Gillian El-Kadi as Home Owner
Jennifer Angel as Waitress
Nicolas Carlotti as Barman
Darren Ormandy as Accountant
Guy Greenway as Heavy #1
Tassos Stevens as Heavy #2
Tristan Martin as Man at Bar
Rebecca James as Woman at Bar
Paul Mason as Home Owner's Friend
David Bovill as Home Owner's Husband
John Bengue
Ivan Cornell
Jane Hunter
Matthew Jones
David Julyan
David Lloyd
Alberto Mattiussi
Brendan Nolan
Barbara Stepansky
Emma Thomas
Diane Zack

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 2 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 91

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	0
3 to 4	0	9
5 to 6	0	0
7 to 8	0	0
9 to 10	2	69
11 to 12	11	12
13 to 14	4	4
15 to 16	0	0
17 to 18	0	7
19 to 20	0	27
21 to 22	5	15
23 to 24	18	39
25 to 26	0	20
27 to 28	0	35
29 to 30	0	4
31 to 32	3	0
33 to 34	9	10
35 to 36	0	0
37 to 38	0	0
39 to 40	0	2
41 to 42	0	1
43 to 44	0	17
45 to 46	0	1
47 to 48	6	12
49 to 50	2	0
51 to 52	1	0
53 to 54	6	5
55 to 56	0	43
57 to 58	0	9
59 to 60	2	5
61 to 62	23	24
63 to 64	0	1
65 to 66	0	0
67 to 68	0	3
69 to 70	4	19
71 to 72	2	2
73 to 74	0	1
75 to 76	8	44
77 to 78	4	5
79 to 80	17	17
81 to 82	0	3
83 to 84	0	4
85 to 86	2	3
87 to 88	4	4
89 to 90	3	21
91 to 91	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, 21 are women's.

136 lines from women, 497 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

4 women and 5 men in the cast. 1 women and 1 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 25 of 653. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 70 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 (1,270), men 78% (4,553). Women have 21% 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

1 of the 9 people in these jobs is a woman. Across the whole crew, 21% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Christopher Nolan (man)
Written by: Christopher Nolan (man)
Produced by: Jeremy Theobald (man), Christopher Nolan (man), Emma Thomas (woman)
Shot by: Christopher Nolan (man)
Edited by: Gareth Heal (gender not listed), Christopher Nolan (man)
Music by: David Julyan (man)