Fails the Bechdel test

Hesher

Name: Hesher
Released: 2011

2011. Directed by Spencer Susser, written by Spencer Susser and David Michôd and Brian Charles Frank.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

2 / 3

Fails

Yes 1. At least two women
7 women characters. 4 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
Women do talk to each other.
No 3. About something besides a man
Every conversation between women that our parser found mentions a man.

Second opinion

Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.

The film

T.J., a high school freshman, lost his mother two months before in a car accident: his father pops pills and sits on the couch; his grandmother holds things together, chatting and cooking. T.J. wants the car back from the salvage yard where the owner's son is a bully. By happenstance, Hesher, a foul-mouthed squatter, moves in with T.J's family. T.J. also meets Nicole, a grocery clerk near poverty who helps him once. Hesher involves T.J. in crime, the bully is omnipresent, mom's car is slipping away, dad has checked out, T.J. watches Nicole at work, and his grandma invites him to join her morning walk: the odds are long that T.J. can assemble a family to help him thrive.

Released: 25 Jun 2011
Genres: Comedy, Drama
Rated: R
IMDb: 6.9 / 10
Metascore: 45 / 100
Awards: 1 win & 1 nomination total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Tj 246 lines, man
Hesher 171 lines, man
Dad 82 lines, man
Grandma 76 lines, woman
Nicole 76 lines, woman
Dustin 36 lines, man
Larry 26 lines, man
Funeral Director 11 lines, man
Mom 9 lines, woman
Driver 8 lines, man

Full cast, 25 people

Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Hesher
Natalie Portman as Nicole
Devin Brochu as T.J.
Rainn Wilson as Paul Forney
Piper Laurie as Madeleine Forney
John Carroll Lynch as Larry
Helen Slayton-Hughes as Mrs. Rosowski
Monica Staggs as Mom
Frank Collison as Funeral Director
Paul Bates as Mr. Elsberry
Audrey Wasilewski as Coleen Bolder
Mary Elizabeth Barrett as Meryl
Lyle Kanouse as Jack
Van Epperson as Angry Driver
Ralph P. Martin as Tow Truck Driver
Timothy Davis as Mechanic
Allan Graf as Security Guard
Brian Lally as Cop at Station
Rafael J. Noble as Foreman
Milt Kogan as Doctor
Richard Susser as Booking Officer
William Jones as Walter
Barry Sigismondi as Cop at House
Emily Brobst
Brendan Hill as Dustin

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 4 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 145

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	3	32
5 to 8	0	3
9 to 12	0	7
13 to 16	1	13
17 to 20	12	13
21 to 24	6	19
25 to 28	22	11
29 to 32	4	12
33 to 36	4	18
37 to 40	1	8
41 to 44	10	9
45 to 48	0	12
49 to 52	10	4
53 to 56	5	17
57 to 60	7	13
61 to 64	1	11
65 to 68	1	10
69 to 72	0	14
73 to 76	0	55
77 to 80	0	18
81 to 84	1	21
85 to 88	19	23
89 to 92	25	50
93 to 96	21	27
97 to 100	0	27
101 to 104	0	12
105 to 108	0	5
109 to 112	0	8
113 to 116	0	3
117 to 120	0	7
121 to 124	0	32
125 to 128	9	12
129 to 132	0	3
133 to 136	9	24
137 to 140	2	34
141 to 144	0	11
145 to 145	0	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, 22 are women's.

173 lines from women, 599 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

7 women and 16 men in the cast. 4 women and 9 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 23 of 795. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 97 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 28% of the words (2,057), men 72% (5,389). Women have 22% of the lines, so their lines run longer 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

3 of the 17 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 44% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Spencer Susser (man)
Written by: Spencer Susser (man), David Michôd (man)
Story by: Brian Charles Frank (gender not listed)
Produced by: Johnny Lin (man), Win Sheridan (gender not listed), Natalie Portman (woman), Matt Weaver (man), Lucy Cooper (gender not listed), Scott Prisand (gender not listed) and 1 more
Shot by: Morgan Susser (man)
Edited by: Spencer Susser (man), Michael McCusker (man)
Music by: François Tétaz (gender not listed)
Production design by: Laura Fox (woman)
Costumes by: April Napier (woman)