Fails the Bechdel test
Free Fire
2017. Directed by Ben Wheatley, written by Amy Jump and Ben Wheatley.
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
Stevo (Sam Riley) and Bernie (Enzo Cilenti) are driving to meet two IRA members, Chris (Cillian Murphy) and Frank (Michael Smiley). On the way, Stevo tells Bernie that he was beaten up the previous day by the cousin of a woman he abused. The group meet outside a Boston warehouse, where they wait with intermediary Justine (Brie Larson). A representative arrives, Ord (Armie Hammer), who leads them inside. The group is there to buy guns from arms dealer Vernon (Sharlto Copley) and his associates, Martin (Babou Ceesay), Harry (Jack Reynor), and Gordon (Noah Taylor). Despite tensions between the two groups and the fact that Vernon supplied the weapons which are wrong, Chris' group secures the weapons in a van and hands over the money in a briefcase.
- Released
- 21 Apr 2017
- Genres
- Action, Comedy, Crime
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 6.3 / 10
- Metascore
- 63 / 100
- Awards
- 3 wins & 9 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Chris 137 lines, man
- Frank 116 lines, man
- Ord 98 lines, man
- Stevo 71 lines, man
- Vernon 65 lines, man
- Justine 61 lines, woman
- Harry 34 lines, man
- Martin 29 lines, man
- Gordon 20 lines, man
- Bernie 16 lines, man
Full cast, 14 people
- Cillian Murphy as Chris
- Brie Larson as Justine
- Armie Hammer as Ord
- Sharlto Copley as Vernon
- Jack Reynor as Harry
- Sam Riley as Stevo
- Michael Smiley as Frank
- Noah Taylor as Gordon
- Babou Ceesay as Martin
- Enzo Cilenti as Bernie
- Patrick Bergin as Howie
- Tom Davis as Leary
- Mark Monero as Jimmy
- Sara Dee as Telephone Sales (voice)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 6 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 2% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 263
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 6 | 7 | 65 |
| 7 to 12 | 20 | 106 |
| 13 to 18 | 6 | 88 |
| 19 to 24 | 3 | 60 |
| 25 to 30 | 0 | 4 |
| 31 to 36 | 0 | 0 |
| 37 to 42 | 0 | 3 |
| 43 to 48 | 0 | 7 |
| 49 to 54 | 11 | 9 |
| 55 to 60 | 11 | 60 |
| 61 to 66 | 0 | 3 |
| 67 to 72 | 0 | 27 |
| 73 to 78 | 0 | 14 |
| 79 to 84 | 0 | 13 |
| 85 to 90 | 0 | 6 |
| 91 to 96 | 0 | 1 |
| 97 to 102 | 0 | 1 |
| 103 to 108 | 0 | 29 |
| 109 to 114 | 0 | 15 |
| 115 to 120 | 0 | 0 |
| 121 to 126 | 0 | 0 |
| 127 to 132 | 0 | 1 |
| 133 to 138 | 0 | 11 |
| 139 to 144 | 0 | 9 |
| 145 to 150 | 0 | 12 |
| 151 to 156 | 0 | 2 |
| 157 to 162 | 0 | 0 |
| 163 to 168 | 0 | 2 |
| 169 to 174 | 0 | 0 |
| 175 to 180 | 0 | 1 |
| 181 to 186 | 0 | 0 |
| 187 to 192 | 0 | 0 |
| 193 to 198 | 0 | 2 |
| 199 to 204 | 0 | 10 |
| 205 to 210 | 0 | 0 |
| 211 to 216 | 0 | 0 |
| 217 to 222 | 0 | 6 |
| 223 to 228 | 0 | 4 |
| 229 to 234 | 0 | 4 |
| 235 to 240 | 0 | 1 |
| 241 to 246 | 0 | 0 |
| 247 to 252 | 0 | 0 |
| 253 to 258 | 0 | 19 |
| 259 to 263 | 3 | 6 |
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, 9 are women's.
61 lines from women, 601 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
2 women and 12 men in the cast. 1 women and 14 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 2 of 674.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 224 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 9% of the words (389), men 91% (4,075).
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
56
Exhibit E: behind the camera
3 of the 11 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 18% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Ben Wheatley (man)
- Written by
- Amy Jump (woman), Ben Wheatley (man)
- Produced by
- Andrew Starke (man)
- Shot by
- Laurie Rose (man)
- Edited by
- Ben Wheatley (man), Amy Jump (woman)
- Music by
- Ben Salisbury (man), Geoff Barrow (man)
- Production design by
- Paki Smith (man)
- Cast by
- Shaheen Baig (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
0 women, 14 men, 8 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
3 women, 1 men, 7 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 4 men, 3 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 2 men, 3 not listed
-
Editing
1 women, 2 men, 3 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 3 men, 3 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Production
1 women, 2 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 27 on average. Men: 40 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Brie Larson 27
Men
Jack Reynor 25, Armie Hammer 30, Sam Riley 37, Babou Ceesay 38, Cillian Murphy 40, Enzo Cilenti 42, Sharlto Copley 43, Noah Taylor 47, Michael Smiley 54
Exhibit G: the money
It made 53% of what it cost.
- Budget
- $7 million
- Box office
- $3.7 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 263 scenes and 674 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
