Fails the Bechdel test

Ford v Ferrari

Name: Ford v Ferrari
Released: 2019

2019. Directed by James Mangold, written by Jez Butterworth and John-Henry Butterworth and Jason Keller.

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

In the mid-1960s, Enzo Ferrari's fast Rosso-Corsa racing cars were dominating the motorsport world. Meanwhile, Carroll Shelby, an American car designer, had retired after winning the demanding 1959 '24 Hours of Le Mans' endurance race. However, an unexpected proposition from Lee Iacocca, the Vice President of Henry Ford II's motor company, presented an opportunity to beat the Italians at their own game. Under these pressing circumstances, Ken Miles, a British sports car driver and racing engineer, reluctantly agreed to help improve the Americans' image. But Ford's race team had less than ninety days to rewrite history. As a result, the non-conformist duo came up with the Ford GT40 Mk I, a powerful, high-performance racing car. Nevertheless, the question remained. Can Shelby and Miles break Ferrari's long winning streak?

Released: 15 Nov 2019
Genres: Action, Biography, Drama
Rated: PG-13
IMDb: 8.1 / 10
Metascore: 81 / 100
Awards: Won 2 Oscars. 26 wins & 86 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Shelby 313 lines, man
Miles 246 lines, man
Mollie 90 lines, woman
Iacocca 82 lines, man
Remington 70 lines, man
Peter 54 lines, man
Beebe 53 lines, man
Henry Ford Ii 34 lines, man
Charlie 22 lines, man
Roy Lunn 12 lines, man

Full cast, 81 people

Matt Damon as Carroll Shelby
Christian Bale as Ken Miles
Jon Bernthal as Lee Iacocca
Caitríona Balfe as Mollie Miles
Josh Lucas as Leo Beebe
Noah Jupe as Peter Miles
Tracy Letts as Henry Ford II
Remo Girone as Enzo Ferrari
Ray McKinnon as Phil Remington
JJ Feild as Roy Lunn
Jack McMullen as Charlie Agapiou
Corrado Invernizzi as Franco Gozzi
Joe Williamson as Don Frey
Ian Harding as Ford Executive - Ian
Christopher Darga as John Holman
Shawn Law as AJ "Gus" Scussel
Emil Beheshti as Aeronutronics Chief Engineer
Darrin Prescott as Bob Bondurant
Alex Gurney as Dan Gurney
Benjamin Rigby as Bruce McLaren
Ben Collins as Denny Hulme
Francesco Bauco as Lorenzo Bandini
Guido Cocomello as Ludo Scarfiotti
Adam Mayfield as Lloyd Ruby
Sean Carrigan as Walt Hansgen
Lachlan Buchanan as Celebrity MC - Cloverfield
Giles Matthey as Lance Reventlow
Rudolf Martin as Dieter Voss
Evan Arnold as SCCA Official
Darin Cooper as Reporter - Sam
Elizabeth Dement as Ford Secretary #1
Wallace Langham as Dr. Granger
Jonathan LaPaglia as Pit Engineer - Eddie
Brad Beyer as Wayne (Customer)
Ottavio Taddei as Italian Photographer
Giovanni Cirfiera as Agnelli
Wyatt Nash as Cool Young Buyer
Drew Rausch as Pilot Private Plane
Ward Horton as Test Driver - Burt
Luiggi Debiasse as Ford Italian Translator - Gary
Michael Lanahan as Brumos Executive
Tanner Foust as Bucknum
Peter Arpesella as Ferrari Pit Chief
Andrew Burlinson as Ford Executive #2
Lou Beatty Jr. as Janitor
Clement Larue as Kid Program Seller
Olivier Blin as Drunk Man Singing
Marc Forget as Le Mans Official #1
Stéphane Fiorenza as Le Mans Official #2
Joss Glennie-Smith as Mechanic Ford Advanced Vehicles
Tim Banning as Reporter - Daytona
Arron Shiver as Charlie Brockman ABC
Paul Fox as British Commentator
Zack Zublena as French Commentator
Aylam Orian as German Commentator
Kirt Kishita as Japanese Commentator
Stefania Spampinato as Ferrari's English Translator
Gian Franco Tordi as Agnelli Secretary
Cameron Hennings as Autograph Seeker
James Tappan as IRS Employee #1
Mario Di Donato as Ferrari Lawyer
Bonnie Antonini as Ferrari Secretary
Jenelle McKee as Ford Secretary #2
Grace Fae as Ford Secretary - Grace
Jan Munroe as Edwin Turley
Marisa Petroro as Mrs. Henry Ford
Leif Carlgren as Ford Exec Sean Reed
Jon Francis Ueberroth as Production Line Foreman
Camillo Faieta as Ferrari Pit Crew #1
Steven Ziel as Ford Executive #3
Vernon Dew as Ford Executive #4
Angelo Dibello as Ferrari Pit Crew #2
Larsen Deane as Shelby Pit Crew - Ronnie Larson
Craig Frosty Silva as Shelby Pit Crew - Frosty
Brad McCabe as Shelby Pit Crew
Brent Pontin as Chris Amon
Mark Krenik as Shelby Pit Smokey
Thomas John Rudolph as Shelby Pit Big Mug
Emmeline Luka Bale as Le Mans Flower Girl
Bridie Latona as Claudia Cardinale (uncredited)
Andrew Buckland as Sports Announcer (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 4% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 121

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	15
4 to 6	8	49
7 to 9	3	10
10 to 12	0	88
13 to 15	13	20
16 to 18	0	8
19 to 21	0	9
22 to 24	1	10
25 to 27	7	21
28 to 30	0	25
31 to 33	0	100
34 to 36	0	26
37 to 39	0	12
40 to 42	28	32
43 to 45	0	19
46 to 48	0	19
49 to 51	0	63
52 to 54	0	2
55 to 57	6	15
58 to 60	8	62
61 to 63	0	22
64 to 66	1	19
67 to 69	4	59
70 to 72	0	53
73 to 75	6	10
76 to 78	0	6
79 to 81	0	10
82 to 84	0	15
85 to 87	0	11
88 to 90	0	13
91 to 93	0	4
94 to 96	0	11
97 to 99	0	5
100 to 102	0	6
103 to 105	0	2
106 to 108	0	2
109 to 111	0	11
112 to 114	0	32
115 to 117	3	55
118 to 120	2	32
121 to 121	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, 8 are women's.

90 lines from women, 983 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

7 women and 56 men in the cast. 1 women and 48 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 65 of 1,115. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 184 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 6% of the words (659), men 94% (11,028). Women have 8% 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

Two men

Exhibit E: behind the camera

2 of the 16 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 24% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: James Mangold (man)
Written by: Jez Butterworth (man), John-Henry Butterworth (man), Jason Keller (man)
Produced by: Peter Chernin (man), Jenno Topping (woman), James Mangold (man)
Shot by: Phedon Papamichael (man)
Edited by: Michael McCusker (man), Andrew Buckland (man), Dirk Westervelt (man)
Music by: Marco Beltrami (man)
Production design by: François Audouy (man)
Costumes by: Daniel Orlandi (man)
Cast by: Kissy Dugan (gender not listed), Ronna Kress (woman)