Fails the Bechdel test
Inside Llewyn Davis
2014. Directed by Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, written by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
9 women characters. 6 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
Follow a week in the life of a young folk singer as he navigates the Greenwich Village folk scene of 1961. Guitar in tow, huddled against the unforgiving New York winter, he is struggling to make it as a musician against seemingly insurmountable obstacles -- some of them of his own making.
- Released
- 10 Jan 2014
- Genres
- Drama, Music
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.4 / 10
- Metascore
- 93 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 2 Oscars. 47 wins & 174 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Llewyn 117 lines, man
- Jean 26 lines, woman
- Ginny 11 lines, woman
- Lillian 10 lines, woman
- Man 9 lines, man
- Mel 9 lines, man
- Jim 8 lines, man
- Joy 7 lines, woman
- Nick 7 lines, man
- Al 6 lines, man
Full cast, 45 people
- Oscar Isaac as Llewyn Davis
- Carey Mulligan as Jean
- Justin Timberlake as Jim
- Ethan Phillips as Mitch Gorfein
- Robin Bartlett as Lillian Gorfein
- Max Casella as Pappi Corsicato
- Jerry Grayson as Mel Novikoff
- Jeanine Serralles as Joy
- Adam Driver as Al Cody
- Stark Sands as Troy Nelson
- John Goodman as Roland Turner
- Garrett Hedlund as Johnny Five
- Alex Karpovsky as Marty Green
- Helen Hong as Janet Fung
- Bradley Mott as Joe Flom
- Michael Rosner as Arlen Gamble
- Bonnie Rose as Dodi Gamble
- Jack A. O'Connell as Elevator Attendant
- Ricardo Cordero as Nunzio
- Sylvia Kauders as Ginny
- Ian Jarvis as Cromartie
- Diane Findlay as Receptionist
- Ian Blackman as Studio Man
- Steve Routman as Abortion Doctor
- Susan Blommaert as Nurse
- Amelia McClain as Oasis Waitress
- James Colby as Cop on Road
- Charlotte Booker as Chicago Waitress
- Mike Houston as Train Station Cop
- Sam Haft as Man in Gate of Horn
- F. Murray Abraham as Bud Grossman
- Jason Shelton as Youth in Car
- Frank Ridley as Union Hall Man 1
- John Ahlin as Union Hall Man 2
- Jake Ryan as Danny
- Declan Bennett as Irish Singer
- Erik Hayden as Additional Irish Singer
- Daniel Everidge as Additional Irish Singer
- Jeff Takacs as Additional Irish Singer
- Nancy Blake as Elizabeth Hobby
- Stephen Payne as Mr. Hobby
- Roberto Lopez as Bouncer
- Benjamin Pike as Young Bob
- Marcus Mumford as Mike Timlin (voice) (uncredited)
- Leonard Zimmerman as Harried Commuter
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 1 scene, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 7% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 5
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 1 | 8 | 54 |
| 2 to 2 | 35 | 94 |
| 3 to 3 | 0 | 6 |
| 4 to 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 to 5 | 16 | 48 |
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, 23 are women's.
59 lines from women, 202 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
9 women and 29 men in the cast. 6 women and 25 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 17 of 282.
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 18% of the words (393), men 82% (1,780). Women have 23% of the lines, so their lines run shorter 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
0
Two men
12
Exhibit E: behind the camera
2 of the 13 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 29% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Ethan Coen (man), Joel Coen (man)
- Written by
- Joel Coen (man), Ethan Coen (man)
- Produced by
- Ethan Coen (man), Joel Coen (man), Scott Rudin (man)
- Shot by
- Bruno Delbonnel (man)
- Edited by
- Ethan Coen (man), Joel Coen (man)
- Production design by
- Jess Gonchor (man)
- Costumes by
- Mary Zophres (woman)
- Cast by
- Ellen Chenoweth (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Art
4 women, 6 men, 20 not listed
-
Production
6 women, 11 men, 12 not listed
-
Other crew
3 women, 12 men, 10 not listed
-
Sound
2 women, 18 men, 2 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
8 women, 0 men, 5 not listed
-
Camera
1 women, 6 men, 4 not listed
-
Visual Effects
2 women, 3 men, 3 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 5 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 45 on average. Men: 44 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Carey Mulligan 28, Robin Bartlett 62
Men
Adam Driver 29, Justin Timberlake 32, Oscar Isaac 34, Stark Sands 35, Max Casella 46, Ethan Phillips 58, Jerry Grayson 73
Exhibit G: the money
It made 3.0 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $11 million
- Box office
- $32.9 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 5 scenes and 282 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
