Fails the Bechdel test
Frailty
2002. Directed by Bill Paxton, written by Brent Hanley.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
5 women characters. 2 of them speak. -
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
FBI agent Wesley Doyle is startled by the declaration of youngster Fenton Meiks about how his father's delusions required him and his brother, Adam to become his 'demon-slaying' murder accomplices. But when Doyle accepts to be shown concealed victim graves, the plot twists in the present just as gruesome.
- Released
- 12 Apr 2002
- Genres
- Crime, Drama, Thriller
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.2 / 10
- Metascore
- 64 / 100
- Awards
- 6 wins & 17 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Fenton 281 lines, man
- Dad 238 lines, man
- Adam 131 lines, man
- Doyle 121 lines, man
- Hull 33 lines, man
- Woman 17 lines, woman
- Deputysmalls 16 lines
- Matt 16 lines, man
- Brad 11 lines, man
- Hubert 11 lines, man
Full cast, 29 people
- Bill Paxton as Dad Meiks
- Matthew McConaughey as Meiks
- Powers Boothe as FBI Agent Wesley Doyle
- Matt O'Leary as Young Fenton
- Jeremy Sumpter as Young Adam
- Levi Kreis as Fenton Meiks
- Missy Crider as Becky Meiks
- Luke Askew as Sheriff Smalls
- Derk Cheetwood as Agent Griffin Hull
- Alan Davidson as Brad White
- Cynthia Ettinger as Cynthia Harbridge
- Vincent Chase as Edward March
- Gwen McGee as Operator
- Edmond Scott Ratliff as The Angel
- Rebecca Tilney as Teacher
- Blake King as Eric
- Brad Berryhill as Teenage Demon
- Greg Serano as FBI Agent #1
- Edgar L. Davis as FBI Agent #2
- Jim Flowers as FBI Agent #3
- Lance E. Nichols as FBI Agent #4
- John Paxton as Janitor in Lobby
- Richard A. Bell as Curtis
- Chelsea Butler as Little Girl
- Jennifer Drake as Teacher's Aide
- Betty Gurule as Doyle's Mother
- Ona Harris as Townswoman
- Greg Bronson as Postman (uncredited)
- Dave Power as Matt (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 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 162
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 | 2 | 4 |
| 5 to 8 | 0 | 41 |
| 9 to 12 | 5 | 13 |
| 13 to 16 | 0 | 14 |
| 17 to 20 | 0 | 3 |
| 21 to 24 | 0 | 1 |
| 25 to 28 | 0 | 33 |
| 29 to 32 | 12 | 15 |
| 33 to 36 | 0 | 40 |
| 37 to 40 | 0 | 46 |
| 41 to 44 | 0 | 26 |
| 45 to 48 | 0 | 19 |
| 49 to 52 | 0 | 20 |
| 53 to 56 | 0 | 38 |
| 57 to 60 | 0 | 5 |
| 61 to 64 | 1 | 3 |
| 65 to 68 | 0 | 22 |
| 69 to 72 | 0 | 42 |
| 73 to 76 | 0 | 35 |
| 77 to 80 | 0 | 10 |
| 81 to 84 | 0 | 8 |
| 85 to 88 | 0 | 17 |
| 89 to 92 | 0 | 27 |
| 93 to 96 | 0 | 22 |
| 97 to 100 | 0 | 44 |
| 101 to 104 | 0 | 21 |
| 105 to 108 | 0 | 8 |
| 109 to 112 | 0 | 2 |
| 113 to 116 | 0 | 7 |
| 117 to 120 | 0 | 8 |
| 121 to 124 | 0 | 14 |
| 125 to 128 | 0 | 28 |
| 129 to 132 | 0 | 45 |
| 133 to 136 | 0 | 27 |
| 137 to 140 | 1 | 22 |
| 141 to 144 | 0 | 29 |
| 145 to 148 | 0 | 8 |
| 149 to 152 | 0 | 41 |
| 153 to 156 | 0 | 15 |
| 157 to 160 | 1 | 8 |
| 161 to 162 | 4 | 15 |
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, 3 are women's.
26 lines from women, 846 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
5 women and 15 men in the cast. 2 women and 6 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 423 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 3% of the words (335), men 97% (11,915).
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
48
Exhibit E: behind the camera
3 of the 12 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 23% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Bill Paxton (man)
- Written by
- Brent Hanley (man)
- Produced by
- David Blocker (man), David Kirschner (man), Corey Sienega (man)
- Shot by
- Wilmer Butler (man)
- Edited by
- Arnold Glassman (man)
- Music by
- Brian Tyler (man)
- Production design by
- Nelson Coates (man)
- Costumes by
- April Ferry (woman)
- Cast by
- Barbara Cohen (woman), Mary Gail Artz (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
3 women, 10 men, 2 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
2 women, 0 men, 3 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 2 men
-
Sound
0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 2 men
-
Camera
0 women, 1 men
-
Directing
0 women, 1 men
-
Editing
0 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 27 on average. Men: 36 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Missy Crider 27
Men
Jeremy Sumpter 13, Matt O'Leary 14, Levi Kreis 28, Derk Cheetwood 28, Matthew McConaughey 32, Bill Paxton 46, Powers Boothe 53, Luke Askew 70
Exhibit G: the money
It made 1.6 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $11 million
- Box office
- $17.4 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 162 scenes and 904 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
