Passes the Bechdel test

Hidden Figures

Name: Hidden Figures
Released: 2017

2017. Directed by Theodore Melfi, written by Allison Schroeder and Theodore Melfi and Margot Lee Shetterly.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
19 women characters. 14 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 13 scenes out of 226.
Yes 3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.

Second opinion

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

The film

As the United States raced against Russia to put a man in space, NASA found untapped talent in a group of female African-American mathematicians that served as the brains behind one of the greatest operations in U.S. history. Based on the unbelievably true life stories of three of these women known as "human computers", follow these women as they quickly rose the ranks of NASA alongside many of history's greatest minds specifically tasked with calculating the momentous launch of astronaut John Glenn into orbit, and guaranteeing his safe return. Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, and Katherine Goble Johnson crossed all gender, race, and professional lines while their brilliance and desire to dream big, beyond anything ever accomplished before by the human race, firmly cemented them in U.S. history as true American heroes.

Released: 06 Jan 2017
Genres: Biography, Drama, History
Rated: PG
IMDb: 7.8 / 10
Metascore: 74 / 100
Awards: Nominated for 3 Oscars. 37 wins & 96 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Katherine 174 lines, woman
Al Harrison 131 lines, man
Dorothy 109 lines, woman
Mary 90 lines, woman
Paul Stafford 44 lines, man
John Glenn 41 lines, man
Vivian Mitchell 41 lines, woman
Jim Johnson 28 lines, man
Mission Control Commander 24 lines, man
Ruth 21 lines, woman

Full cast, 61 people

Taraji P. Henson as Katherine G. Johnson
Octavia Spencer as Dorothy Vaughan
Janelle Monáe as Mary Jackson
Kevin Costner as Al Harrison
Kirsten Dunst as Vivian Mitchell
Jim Parsons as Paul Stafford
Mahershala Ali as Jim Johnson
Glen Powell as John Glenn
Ariana Neal as Joylette Johnson
Saniyya Sidney as Constance Johnson
Zani Jones Mbayise as Kathy Johnson
Donna Biscoe as Joylette Coleman
Olek Krupa as Karl Zielinski
Aldis Hodge as Levi Jackson
Kimberly Quinn as Ruth
Frank Hoyt Taylor as Judge
Lidya Jewett as Young Katherine
Karan Kendrick as Younger Joylette
Jaiden Kaine as Joshua Coleman
Kurt Krause as Sam Turner
Ken Strunk as Jim Webb
Selah Kimbro Jones as Carolyn Marie Jackson
Tre Stokes as Levi Jackson Jr.
Corey Mendell Parker as Howard Vaughan
Ashton Tyler as Leonard Vaughan
Alkoya Brunson as Kenneth Vaughan
Ron Clinton Smith as White Cop
Gregory Alan Williams as Marion Smithson
Maria Howell as Ms. Sumner
Arnell Powell as Professor Graves
Crystal Lee Brown as Bernie
Tequilla Whitfield as Eleanor
Dane Davenport as Alan Shepard
Evan Holtzman as Deke Slayton
Travis Smith as Scott Carpenter
Scott Michael Morgan as Bill Calhoun
Chris Cavalier as IBM Technician
Robert G. McKay as Pastor Ayres
Rhoda Griffis as White Librarian
Karen Wheeling Reynolds as Court Clerk
Kate Kneeland as Court Clerk
Joe Knezevich as Wind Tunnel PA Announcer
Paul Ryden as TV Reporter at Cape Canaveral
John Atwood as Newscaster
Jon Edwin Wright as Newscaster
Wilbur Fitzgerald as Senator Patrick
Michael Hartson as Night School Professor
Bob Jennings as Navy Officer
Gary Weeks as Reporter at Press Conference
Afemo Omilami as Man Outside Store
Cullen Moss as Mission Control Commander
Amy Tipton as Woman Crying
Elijah Everett as Man Crying
Andre Pushkin as Russian Scientist
Randall Newsome as Russian Scientist
Joe Hardy Jr. as Gordon Cooper
Howie Johnson as Library Security Guard
David Kallaway as NASA Security Guard
Addison Rose Melfi as Addie Marcus
Paige Nicollette as Eunice (uncredited)
Sierra Capri as Parker (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 226

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	11	3
6 to 10	35	15
11 to 15	5	0
16 to 20	0	1
21 to 25	3	19
26 to 30	30	0
31 to 35	5	10
36 to 40	19	23
41 to 45	5	3
46 to 50	20	12
51 to 55	38	5
56 to 60	49	25
61 to 65	2	5
66 to 70	9	3
71 to 75	44	15
76 to 80	16	4
81 to 85	12	16
86 to 90	1	1
91 to 95	8	2
96 to 100	0	2
101 to 105	7	14
106 to 110	0	6
111 to 115	1	2
116 to 120	0	2
121 to 125	18	10
126 to 130	10	11
131 to 135	2	4
136 to 140	10	22
141 to 145	19	32
146 to 150	12	0
151 to 155	5	9
156 to 160	8	5
161 to 165	18	1
166 to 170	34	16
171 to 175	6	7
176 to 180	2	11
181 to 185	3	3
186 to 190	1	13
191 to 195	0	8
196 to 200	7	8
201 to 205	2	11
206 to 210	2	9
211 to 215	1	11
216 to 220	0	16
221 to 225	5	2
226 to 226	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 scenes

The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.

DOROTHY: Try and turn it over! DOROTHY: Katherine?! DOROTHY: Mary!? MARY: Katherine!? Quit staring off into space! Turn the damn car over!

DOROTHY: That’s for certain. MARY: Hard to be of service broken down on the side of the road though.

KATHERINE: Excuse me... KATHERINE: May I ask you where the ladies’ room is? RUTH: Sorry, I have no idea where your bathroom is.

DOROTHY: We’ve been waiting for hours. Next time you catch a bus. MARY: She’s in a mood.

DOROTHY: I haven’t been late one day in ten years. Haven’t been out sick. Haven’t complained. My work’s on time. It’s done right. It’s done well. MARY: It’s not fair, that’s a fact. DOROTHY: What’s not fair is having the responsibility of a Supervisor, but not the title or the money. Watching you all get moved on. Now don’t get m… KATHERINE: Truth be told, Dorothy, I don’t know if I can keep up in that room. I’ll be back with the Computers in a week, or out of a job entirely.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 55 are women's.

485 lines from women, 397 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

19 women and 36 men in the cast. 14 women and 32 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

A woman speaks the first line. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 28 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 50% of the words (4,482), men 50% (4,554). Women have 55% 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

Two men

Exhibit F: behind the camera

6 of the 16 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 32% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Theodore Melfi (man)
Written by: Allison Schroeder (woman), Theodore Melfi (man)
Produced by: Donna Gigliotti (woman), Peter Chernin (man), Jenno Topping (woman), Pharrell Williams (man), Theodore Melfi (man)
Shot by: Mandy Walker (woman)
Edited by: Peter Teschner (man)
Music by: Hans Zimmer (man), Pharrell Williams (man), Benjamin Wallfisch (man)
Production design by: Wynn Thomas (man)
Costumes by: Renee Ehrlich Kalfus (woman)
Cast by: Victoria Thomas (woman)