Fails the Bechdel test
I'm Thinking of Ending Things
2020. Directed by Charlie Kaufman, written by Charlie Kaufman and Iain Reid.
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
Despite second thoughts about their relationship, a young woman (Jessie Buckley) takes a road trip with her new boyfriend (Jesse Plemons) to his family farm. Trapped at the farm during a snowstorm with Jake's mother (Toni Collette) and father (David Thewlis), the young woman begins to question the nature of everything she knew or understood about her boyfriend, herself, and the world. An exploration of regret, longing and the fragility of the human spirit, I'M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS is directed and written by Academy Award® winner Charlie Kaufman (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind). Inspired by Iain Reid's bestselling namesake novel.
- Released
- 04 Sep 2020
- Genres
- Drama, Thriller
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 6.5 / 10
- Metascore
- 78 / 100
- Awards
- 13 wins & 102 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Young Woman 467 lines, woman
- Jake 368 lines, man
- Mother 79 lines, woman
- Father 72 lines, man
- Janitor 17 lines, man
- T.T. Girl 3 17 lines, woman
- Yvonne 15 lines, woman
- Young Man 12 lines, man
- Am Radio Voice 1 10 lines
- Am Radio Voice 2 10 lines
Full cast, 24 people
- Jesse Plemons as Jake
- Jessie Buckley as Young Woman
- Toni Collette as Mother
- David Thewlis as Father
- Guy Boyd as Janitor
- Hadley Robinson as Laurey / Tulsey Town Girl 1
- Gus Birney as Aunt Eller / Tulsey Town Girl 2
- Abby Quinn as Tulsey Town Girl 3
- Colby Minifie as Yvonne
- Anthony Grasso as Diner Manager
- Teddy Coluca as Diner Costumer
- Jason Ralph as Yvonne's Boyfriend
- Oliver Platt as The Voice (voice)
- Frederick E. Wodlin as Dancing Janitor
- Ryan Steele as Dancing Jake
- Unity Phelan as Dancing Young Woman
- Norman Aaronson as Diner Patron (uncredited)
- Ashlyn Alessi as Audience Member (uncredited)
- Monica Ayres as Old Woman (uncredited)
- Julie Chateauvert as Diner Customer (uncredited)
- Ira Temchin as Diner Patron (uncredited)
- Albert Skowronski as Diner Customer (uncredited)
- Dannielle Rose as Diner Customer (uncredited)
- Brooke Elardo as High School Student (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 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 65
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 2 | 0 | 1 |
| 3 to 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 to 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 to 8 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 to 10 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 to 12 | 0 | 1 |
| 13 to 14 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 to 16 | 0 | 0 |
| 17 to 18 | 0 | 1 |
| 19 to 20 | 0 | 1 |
| 21 to 22 | 0 | 0 |
| 23 to 24 | 2 | 1 |
| 25 to 26 | 1 | 1 |
| 27 to 28 | 0 | 0 |
| 29 to 30 | 0 | 6 |
| 31 to 32 | 0 | 0 |
| 33 to 34 | 0 | 0 |
| 35 to 36 | 62 | 59 |
| 37 to 38 | 40 | 35 |
| 39 to 40 | 11 | 13 |
| 41 to 42 | 13 | 13 |
| 43 to 44 | 108 | 83 |
| 45 to 46 | 76 | 46 |
| 47 to 48 | 20 | 20 |
| 49 to 50 | 20 | 11 |
| 51 to 52 | 4 | 6 |
| 53 to 54 | 69 | 65 |
| 55 to 56 | 151 | 102 |
| 57 to 58 | 12 | 8 |
| 59 to 60 | 0 | 0 |
| 61 to 62 | 0 | 0 |
| 63 to 64 | 0 | 9 |
| 65 to 65 | 0 | 0 |
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, 55 are women's.
589 lines from women, 482 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
10 women and 9 men in the cast. 4 women and 3 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 31 of 1,114.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 30 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 58% of the words (7,078), men 42% (5,204). Women have 55% of the lines, so their lines run longer than men's.
Exhibit D: the test the other way
Run the other way, for men, the film scores 1 out of 3.
Conversations between two named characters
Two women
0
Two men
0
Exhibit E: behind the camera
5 of the 14 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 39% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Charlie Kaufman (man)
- Written by
- Charlie Kaufman (man)
- From the novel by
- Iain Reid (man)
- Produced by
- Anthony Bregman (man), Charlie Kaufman (man), Stefanie Azpiazu (woman), Robert Salerno (man)
- Shot by
- Łukasz Żal (man)
- Edited by
- Robert Frazen (man)
- Music by
- Jay Wadley (man)
- Production design by
- Molly Hughes (woman)
- Costumes by
- Melissa Toth (woman)
- Cast by
- Jeanne McCarthy (woman), Rori Bergman (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
7 women, 6 men, 5 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 6 men, 10 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
7 women, 0 men, 9 not listed
-
Art
6 women, 3 men, 6 not listed
-
Sound
1 women, 10 men, 2 not listed
-
Visual Effects
1 women, 3 men, 5 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 2 men, 5 not listed
-
Other crew
1 women, 4 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 29 on average. Men: 55 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Gus Birney 21, Hadley Robinson 24, Abby Quinn 24, Colby Minifie 28, Jessie Buckley 30, Toni Collette 47
Men
Jesse Plemons 32, Anthony Grasso 55, David Thewlis 57, Guy Boyd 77
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 65 scenes and 1,114 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
