Passes the Bechdel test
Frank
2014. Directed by Lenny Abrahamson, written by Jon Ronson and Peter Straughan.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
10 women characters. 6 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 1 scene out of 121. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In that scene, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.
The film
Jon, a young wanna-be musician, discovers he's bitten off more than he can chew when he joins an eccentric pop band led by the mysterious and enigmatic Frank.
- Released
- 05 Sep 2014
- Genres
- Comedy, Drama, Music
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 6.9 / 10
- Metascore
- 75 / 100
- Awards
- 13 wins & 19 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Jon 371 lines, man
- Frank 136 lines, man
- Clara 97 lines, woman
- Don 66 lines, man
- Baraque 14 lines, man
- Alice 11 lines, man
- Hillbilly 10 lines, man
- Nana 10 lines, woman
- Shaman 10 lines, man
- Simone 7 lines, woman
Full cast, 36 people
- Michael Fassbender as Frank
- Domhnall Gleeson as Jon Burroughs
- Maggie Gyllenhaal as Clara
- Scoot McNairy as Don
- François Civil as Baraque
- Carla Azar as Nana
- Tess Harper as Frank's Mom
- Bruce McIntosh as Frank's Dad
- Hayley Derryberry as Simone
- Lauren Poole as Alice
- Moira Brooker as Jon's Mother
- Paul Butterworth as Jon's Father
- Phil Kingston as Radio DJ
- Billie Traynor as Café Lady
- Shane O'Brien as Lucas
- Chris McHallem as Paramedic
- Michael James Ford as Port Official
- Mark Huberman as Management Guru
- Rosalind Adler as German Mother
- Niall Glennon as German Father
- Torsten Brescanu as German Child
- Leroy Harris as Grocery Boy
- Noah Hauser as Passerby Austin 1
- Laura Love Tode as Passerby Austin 2
- Jordyn Aurora Aquino as Hipster Singer
- Katie Anne Mitchell as Interview Girl
- Paul Howard Smith as Man in Cowboy Hat
- Matthew Page as Passerby in Alleyway
- Alex Knight as SXSW Driver
- Abe Bueno-Jallad as Stage Manager
- Morse Bicknell as Driver
- Dean Satriano as Young Man in Chinese Restaurant
- Peter Trinh as Chinese Restaurant Waiter
- Kevin Wiggins as Hillbilly
- Travis Hammer as Tree Surgeon
- Kelly V. Lucio as SXSW Concert Attendee (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 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 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 | 4 |
| 4 to 6 | 4 | 7 |
| 7 to 9 | 0 | 2 |
| 10 to 12 | 2 | 24 |
| 13 to 15 | 3 | 4 |
| 16 to 18 | 0 | 2 |
| 19 to 21 | 0 | 13 |
| 22 to 24 | 1 | 1 |
| 25 to 27 | 1 | 42 |
| 28 to 30 | 0 | 27 |
| 31 to 33 | 0 | 18 |
| 34 to 36 | 0 | 9 |
| 37 to 39 | 1 | 4 |
| 40 to 42 | 0 | 10 |
| 43 to 45 | 2 | 41 |
| 46 to 48 | 4 | 26 |
| 49 to 51 | 18 | 18 |
| 52 to 54 | 1 | 5 |
| 55 to 57 | 2 | 41 |
| 58 to 60 | 5 | 21 |
| 61 to 63 | 0 | 5 |
| 64 to 66 | 2 | 5 |
| 67 to 69 | 3 | 19 |
| 70 to 72 | 8 | 18 |
| 73 to 75 | 19 | 24 |
| 76 to 78 | 1 | 1 |
| 79 to 81 | 1 | 10 |
| 82 to 84 | 7 | 30 |
| 85 to 87 | 5 | 24 |
| 88 to 90 | 17 | 26 |
| 91 to 93 | 11 | 19 |
| 94 to 96 | 3 | 19 |
| 97 to 99 | 0 | 6 |
| 100 to 102 | 0 | 20 |
| 103 to 105 | 0 | 20 |
| 106 to 108 | 0 | 14 |
| 109 to 111 | 6 | 14 |
| 112 to 114 | 1 | 4 |
| 115 to 117 | 0 | 22 |
| 118 to 120 | 3 | 25 |
| 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: the passing scene
The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.
HIPSTER GIRL: Oh. Hi. HIPSTER GIRL: I know you. You’re the woman from the band who looks like she’s from a different band. CLARA: Come on, Frank. Let’s get away from these children.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 17 are women's.
131 lines from women, 644 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
10 women and 15 men in the cast. 6 women and 9 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 9 of 797.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 77 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 15% of the words (1,057), men 85% (5,772). Women have 17% of the lines, so their lines run shorter than men's.
Exhibit E: 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
60
Exhibit F: behind the camera
2 of the 13 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 34% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Lenny Abrahamson (man)
- Written by
- Jon Ronson (man), Peter Straughan (man)
- Produced by
- David Barron (man), Ed Guiney (man), Stevie Lee (gender not listed), Andrew Lowe (man)
- Shot by
- James Mather (man)
- Edited by
- Nathan Nugent (man)
- Music by
- Stephen Rennicks (man)
- Production design by
- Richard Bullock (man)
- Costumes by
- Suzie Harman (woman)
- Cast by
- Fiona Weir (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
4 women, 6 men, 2 not listed
-
Art
2 women, 1 men, 3 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
3 women, 0 men, 3 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 4 men, 1 not listed
-
Writing
0 women, 4 men
-
Other crew
0 women, 3 men
-
Camera
1 women, 1 men
-
Directing
1 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 47 on average. Men: 32 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Maggie Gyllenhaal 36, Carla Azar 42, Tess Harper 63
Men
François Civil 24, Domhnall Gleeson 30, Scoot McNairy 36, Michael Fassbender 37
Exhibit H: the money
It made 1.9 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $1 million
- Box office
- $1.9 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 121 scenes and 797 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
