Fails the Bechdel test

Interstellar

Name: Interstellar
Released: 2014

2014. Directed by Christopher Nolan, written by Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

1 / 3

Fails

Yes 1. At least two women
9 women characters. 2 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

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

The film

In the near future around the American Midwest, Cooper, an ex-science engineer and pilot, is tied to his farming land with his daughter Murph and son Tom. As devastating sandstorms ravage Earth's crops, the people of Earth realize their life here is coming to an end as food begins to run out. Eventually stumbling upon a N.A.S.A. base 6 hours from Cooper's home, he is asked to go on a daring mission with a few other scientists into a wormhole because of Cooper's scientific intellect and ability to pilot aircraft unlike the other crew members. In order to find a new home while Earth decays, Cooper must decide to either stay, or risk never seeing his children again in order to save the human race by finding another habitable planet.

Released: 07 Nov 2014
Genres: Adventure, Sci-Fi
Rated: PG-13
IMDb: 8.7 / 10
Metascore: 74 / 100
Awards: Won 1 Oscar. 45 wins & 148 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Cooper 304 lines, man
Brand 174 lines, woman
Doyle 65 lines, man
Case 62 lines, man
Roth 60 lines, man
Murph 32 lines, woman
Tars 32 lines, man
Tom 25 lines, man
Donald 20 lines, man
Ansen 14 lines, man

Full cast, 37 people

Matthew McConaughey as Cooper
Anne Hathaway as Brand
Michael Caine as Professor Brand
Jessica Chastain as Murph
Casey Affleck as Tom
Wes Bentley as Doyle
Topher Grace as Getty
Mackenzie Foy as Murph (10 Yrs.)
Ellen Burstyn as Murph (older)
John Lithgow as Donald
Bill Irwin as TARS (voice)
David Gyasi as Romilly
Timothée Chalamet as Tom (15 Yrs.)
Matt Damon as Mann
Josh Stewart as CASE (voice)
Leah Cairns as Lois
Liam Dickinson as Coop
Francis X. McCarthy as Boots
William Devane as Williams
Andrew Borba as Smith
Elyes Gabel as Administrator
David Oyelowo as School Principal
Collette Wolfe as Ms. Hanley
Jeff Hephner as Doctor
Russ Fega as Crew Chief
Lena Georgas as Nurse Practitioner
Brooke Smith as Nurse
Flora Nolan as Girl on Truck
Griffen Fraser as Boy on Truck
Kristian Van der Heyden as Scientist (uncredited)
William Patrick Brown as NASA Employee (uncredited)
Benjamin Hardy as NASA Scientist (uncredited)
Joseph Oliveira as Astronaut (uncredited)
Alexander Michael Helisek as Construction Boss (uncredited)
Rory Nolan as Little Boy in the Hospital (uncredited)
Arash pournowrouzi as Hospital Worker
Aqib Faruqui as Hospital Worker's Husband

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 6 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 248

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 6	1	18
7 to 12	5	29
13 to 18	0	3
19 to 24	2	35
25 to 30	3	13
31 to 36	1	10
37 to 42	2	2
43 to 48	12	17
49 to 54	17	49
55 to 60	3	10
61 to 66	9	12
67 to 72	7	30
73 to 78	0	6
79 to 84	2	15
85 to 90	5	28
91 to 96	0	1
97 to 102	1	22
103 to 108	1	18
109 to 114	2	10
115 to 120	2	8
121 to 126	6	7
127 to 132	9	14
133 to 138	6	11
139 to 144	11	13
145 to 150	17	14
151 to 156	3	10
157 to 162	10	59
163 to 168	5	18
169 to 174	1	5
175 to 180	21	32
181 to 186	1	3
187 to 192	2	2
193 to 198	11	18
199 to 204	7	12
205 to 210	7	23
211 to 216	7	17
217 to 222	2	0
223 to 228	4	3
229 to 234	3	1
235 to 240	0	34
241 to 246	0	2
247 to 248	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, 25 are women's.

208 lines from women, 635 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

9 women and 26 men in the cast. 2 women and 10 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 37 of 881. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 40 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 26% of the words (2,702), men 74% (7,539). Women have 25% 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

4 of the 13 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 25% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Christopher Nolan (man)
Written by: Jonathan Nolan (man), Christopher Nolan (man)
Produced by: Lynda Obst (woman), Christopher Nolan (man), Emma Thomas (woman)
Shot by: Hoyte van Hoytema (man)
Edited by: Lee Smith (man)
Music by: Hans Zimmer (man)
Production design by: Nathan Crowley (man)
Costumes by: Mary Zophres (woman)
Cast by: John Papsidera (man), Dixie Webster-Davis (woman)