Fails the Bechdel test

Insomnia

Name: Insomnia
Released: 2002

2002. Directed by Christopher Nolan, written by Hillary Seitz and Nikolaj Frobenius and Erik Skjoldbjærg.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

2 / 3

Fails

Yes 1. At least two women
9 women characters. 5 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

In Nightmute, Alaska, seventeen year old resident Kay Connell is found murdered. As a favor to the local Nightmute police chief, two Los Angeles Robbery Homicide police detectives, Will Dormer and Hap Eckhart, are called in to assist in the investigation. Although renowned in the police world, both Dormer and Eckhart are facing some professional issues back in Los Angeles. In Nightmute, Dormer has a major case of insomnia due to a combination of the incessant midnight sun and from a secret he is carrying. This insomnia is causing him to be delusional. Something he is not dreaming about is that the murderer has contacted him, informing him all about the murder and the fact that he knows everything that is going on with Dormer. They begin a symbiotic relationship in keeping secrets for each individual's benefit. But ambitious young local detective, Ellie Burr, might piece the story together on her own.

Released: 24 May 2002
Genres: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Rated: R
IMDb: 7.2 / 10
Metascore: 78 / 100
Awards: 1 win & 11 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Will 304 lines, man
Ellie 113 lines, woman
Walter 92 lines, man
Fred 66 lines, man
Hap 46 lines, man
Chief Nyback 45 lines, man
Rachel 39 lines, woman
Farrell 27 lines, man
Tanya 27 lines, woman
Randy 24 lines, man

Full cast, 25 people

Al Pacino as Will Dormer
Robin Williams as Walter Finch
Hilary Swank as Ellie Burr
Maura Tierney as Rachel Clement
Martin Donovan as Hap Eckhart
Nicky Katt as Fred Duggar
Paul Dooley as Chief Nyback
Jonathan Jackson as Randy Stetz
Larry Holden as Farrell
Katharine Isabelle as Tanya Francke
Oliver 'Ole' Zemen as Pilot
Jay Brazeau as Francis
Lorne Cardinal as Rich
James Hutson as Officer #1
Andrew Campbell as Officer #2
Paula Shaw as Coroner
Yan-Kay Crystal Lowe as Kay Connell
Tasha Simms as Mrs. Connell
Malcolm Boddington as Principal
Kerry Sandomirsky as Trish Eckhart
Chris Gauthier as Uniformed Officer
Ian Tracey as Warfield (voice)
Kate Robbins as Woman on Road
Emily Perkins as Girl at Funeral
Dean Wray as Ticket Taker

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 2% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 165

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	12	14
5 to 8	2	41
9 to 12	14	50
13 to 16	10	6
17 to 20	8	47
21 to 24	8	59
25 to 28	0	5
29 to 32	2	22
33 to 36	6	10
37 to 40	0	4
41 to 44	4	32
45 to 48	7	20
49 to 52	6	6
53 to 56	12	7
57 to 60	6	12
61 to 64	6	16
65 to 68	0	0
69 to 72	5	7
73 to 76	10	9
77 to 80	0	1
81 to 84	3	1
85 to 88	13	13
89 to 92	0	5
93 to 96	4	17
97 to 100	0	6
101 to 104	11	49
105 to 108	0	3
109 to 112	3	1
113 to 116	14	55
117 to 120	0	0
121 to 124	0	14
125 to 128	10	32
129 to 132	5	51
133 to 136	2	0
137 to 140	2	0
141 to 144	3	0
145 to 148	0	11
149 to 152	0	1
153 to 156	0	0
157 to 160	1	0
161 to 164	0	6
165 to 165	12	10

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, 24 are women's.

201 lines from women, 643 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

9 women and 14 men in the cast. 5 women and 13 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 10 of 862. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 49 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 22% of the words (1,603), men 78% (5,744). Women have 24% 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

Two men

Exhibit E: behind the camera

6 of the 14 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 27% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Christopher Nolan (man)
Written by: Hillary Seitz (woman)
Produced by: Edward McDonnell (man), Broderick Johnson (man), Andrew A. Kosove (man), Paul Junger Witt (man)
Shot by: Wally Pfister (man)
Edited by: Dody Dorn (woman)
Music by: David Julyan (man)
Production design by: Nathan Crowley (man)
Costumes by: Tish Monaghan (woman)
Cast by: Marci Liroff (woman), Susan Taylor Brouse (woman), Lynne Carrow (woman)