Fails the Bechdel test
Hellboy
2004. Directed by Guillermo del Toro, written by Guillermo del Toro and Peter Briggs and Mike Mignola.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
7 women characters. 5 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 1 out of 3.
The film
At the end of World War II, Nazi officers Karl Ruprecht Kroenen and Ilsa Haupstein start an experiment to raise the forces of Hell through Russian dark mystic Rasputin on a Scottish island, but it's interrupted by an Allied commando guided by professor Trevor "Broom" Bruttenholm. He prevents killing the human-demonic half-blood, which was accidentally created and raises this "Hellboy", while rising to head of a secret C.I.A.-linked U.S. agency Bureau of Paranormal Research, which secretly studies and uses the occult, including supernatural freaks. As "father" Broom is aging, he hand-picks brilliant, sensitive Agent John Myers as new minder/companion, as regular "warrior" Agent Clay can't empathize and lacks flexibility mental. Hellboy is quite a handful, regularly spotted by worried civilians on unauthorized excursions, especially to pyro-telekinetic freak friend in a mental asylum. Johnny, Hellboy, and Clay team up on missions against paranormal threats with aquatic-bionic freak Abe Sapien. Their task proves to be daunting, as monster Sammael multiplies every time it "dies", while Rasputin and the Nazis reemerge, armed for revenge.
- Released
- 02 Apr 2004
- Genres
- Action, Adventure, Fantasy
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 6.9 / 10
- Metascore
- 72 / 100
- Awards
- 3 wins & 23 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Hellboy 172 lines, man
- Myers 84 lines, man
- Broom 83 lines, man
- Liz 53 lines, woman
- Grigory 40 lines, man
- Manning 35 lines, man
- Abe 32 lines, man
- Clay 26 lines, man
- Whitman 16 lines, man
- Ilsa 13 lines, woman
Full cast, 51 people
- Ron Perlman as Hellboy
- Selma Blair as Elizabeth 'Liz' Sherman
- Doug Jones as Abraham 'Abe' Sapien
- John Hurt as Prof. Trevor 'Broom' Bruttenholm
- Rupert Evans as John Myers
- Jeffrey Tambor as Tom Manning
- Ladislav Beran as Karl Ruprecht Kroenen
- Bridget Hodson as Ilsa Haupstein
- Karel Roden as Grigori Rasputin
- Brian Steele as Sammael
- Corey Johnson as Agent Clay
- Kevin Trainor as Young 'Broom'
- Brian Caspe as Agent Lime
- James Babson as Agent Moss
- Stephen Fisher as Agent Quarry
- Garth Cooper as Agent Stone
- Angus MacInnes as Sgt. Whitman
- Jim Howick as Cpl. Matlin
- Mark Taylor as Truck Driver
- Daniel Aarsman as Kid
- Bettina Ask as Kid
- Álvaro Navarro as Kid
- Emilio Navarro as Kid
- Rory Copus as Kid on Rooftop
- Tara Hugo as Doctor Jenkins
- Richard Haas as Second Doctor
- Andrea Miltner as Doctor Marsh
- Jo Eastwood as Down's Patient
- Charles Grisham as Museum Guard
- Jan Holíček as Museum Guard
- Jeremy Zimmermann as Lobby Guard
- Monty L. Simons as Orderly
- Pavel Cajzl as Sherpa Guide
- Andrea Stuart as Girl with Kittens
- William Hoyland as General Klaus Werner von Krupt
- Millie Wilkie as Young Liz
- Bob Sherman as Television Host
- Ellen Savaria as Blonde Television Reporter
- Petr Sekanina as German Scientist
- Aleš Košnar as German Scientist
- Justin Svoboda as Young Guy
- Winter Ave Zoli as Girlfriend
- Santiago Segura as Train Driver
- Albert Moy as Train Driver
- David Hyde Pierce as Abe Sapien (voice) (uncredited)
- Helene Maksoud as Liz Sherman's Mother (uncredited)
- Guillermo del Toro as Guy Dressed as Dragon (uncredited)
- Mike Mignola as Knight (uncredited)
- Miroslav Lhotka as Museum Guard (uncredited)
- Michael Lindsay as Security Guard (voice) (uncredited)
- Todd Kramer as Radioman (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 5 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 231
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 5 | 0 | 14 |
| 6 to 10 | 0 | 21 |
| 11 to 15 | 3 | 10 |
| 16 to 20 | 1 | 2 |
| 21 to 25 | 0 | 21 |
| 26 to 30 | 0 | 8 |
| 31 to 35 | 1 | 1 |
| 36 to 40 | 0 | 11 |
| 41 to 45 | 0 | 27 |
| 46 to 50 | 1 | 43 |
| 51 to 55 | 0 | 27 |
| 56 to 60 | 0 | 12 |
| 61 to 65 | 0 | 14 |
| 66 to 70 | 0 | 8 |
| 71 to 75 | 0 | 1 |
| 76 to 80 | 0 | 13 |
| 81 to 85 | 2 | 27 |
| 86 to 90 | 7 | 4 |
| 91 to 95 | 2 | 43 |
| 96 to 100 | 6 | 2 |
| 101 to 105 | 3 | 1 |
| 106 to 110 | 0 | 11 |
| 111 to 115 | 4 | 12 |
| 116 to 120 | 0 | 7 |
| 121 to 125 | 0 | 5 |
| 126 to 130 | 1 | 7 |
| 131 to 135 | 1 | 3 |
| 136 to 140 | 0 | 8 |
| 141 to 145 | 5 | 21 |
| 146 to 150 | 6 | 21 |
| 151 to 155 | 7 | 11 |
| 156 to 160 | 0 | 10 |
| 161 to 165 | 0 | 17 |
| 166 to 170 | 2 | 6 |
| 171 to 175 | 5 | 9 |
| 176 to 180 | 1 | 10 |
| 181 to 185 | 2 | 5 |
| 186 to 190 | 0 | 3 |
| 191 to 195 | 1 | 12 |
| 196 to 200 | 0 | 5 |
| 201 to 205 | 0 | 2 |
| 206 to 210 | 4 | 12 |
| 211 to 215 | 8 | 17 |
| 216 to 220 | 0 | 1 |
| 221 to 225 | 1 | 8 |
| 226 to 230 | 0 | 6 |
| 231 to 231 | 1 | 1 |
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, 12 are women's.
75 lines from women, 540 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
7 women and 32 men in the cast. 5 women and 21 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 39 of 643.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 90 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 12% of the words (678), men 88% (4,866).
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
55
Exhibit E: behind the camera
1 of the 14 people in these jobs is a woman.
Across the whole crew, 16% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Guillermo del Toro (man)
- Written by
- Guillermo del Toro (man), Mike Mignola (man), Peter Briggs (gender not listed)
- Produced by
- Mike Richardson (man), Lawrence Gordon (man), Lloyd Levin (man)
- Shot by
- Guillermo Navarro (man)
- Edited by
- Peter Amundson (man)
- Music by
- Marco Beltrami (man)
- Production design by
- Stephen Scott (man), Gene Warren III (man)
- Costumes by
- Wendy Partridge (woman)
- Cast by
- Jeremy Zimmermann (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
5 women, 34 men, 19 not listed
-
Production
2 women, 12 men, 14 not listed
-
Sound
2 women, 13 men, 12 not listed
-
Art
2 women, 16 men, 6 not listed
-
Visual Effects
2 women, 4 men, 16 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
5 women, 5 men, 5 not listed
-
Camera
1 women, 7 men, 4 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 2 men, 10 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 31 on average. Men: 46 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Selma Blair 31
Men
Rupert Evans 28, Ladislav Beran 37, Brian Steele 40, Karel Roden 41, Doug Jones 43, Ron Perlman 53, Jeffrey Tambor 59, John Hurt 64
Exhibit G: the money
It made 1.5 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $66 million
- Box office
- $99.3 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 231 scenes and 643 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
