Fails the Bechdel test
Looper
2012. Directed by Rian Johnson, written by Rian Johnson.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
11 women characters. 4 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
Joe is classified as a "looper", a job in which his employers use time travel to send men from the future to be killed into the past, where Joe can properly dispose of their bodies. However, to tie up loose ends and erase the evidence of his ever being a looper, Joe knows that one day his future self will be sent back for him to kill. When this day comes, Joe's future self is prepared and escapes, and the two men struggle separately in the past trying to evade capture and attempting to fulfill their own personal agendas.
- Released
- 28 Sep 2012
- Genres
- Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.4 / 10
- Metascore
- 84 / 100
- Awards
- 18 wins & 47 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Joe 167 lines, man
- Sara 129 lines, woman
- Old Joe 50 lines, man
- Cid 48 lines, man
- Abe 30 lines, man
- Kid Blue 29 lines, man
- Jesse 28 lines, man
- Seth 26 lines, man
- Suzie 12 lines, woman
- Canady 9 lines
Full cast, 42 people
- Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Joe
- Bruce Willis as Old Joe
- Emily Blunt as Sara
- Paul Dano as Seth
- Noah Segan as Kid Blue
- Piper Perabo as Suzie
- Jeff Daniels as Abe
- Pierce Gagnon as Cid
- Xu Qing as Old Joe's Wife
- Tracie Thoms as Beatrix
- Frank Brennan as Old Seth
- Garret Dillahunt as Jesse
- Nick Gomez as Dale
- Marcus Hester as Zach
- Jon Eyez as Gat Man
- Kevin Stillwell as Gat Man
- Thirl Haston as Gat Man
- James Landry Hébert as Looper
- Kenneth Brown Jr. as Looper
- Cody Wood as Looper
- Adam Boyer as Tye
- Jeff Chase as Tall Gat Man
- Ritchie Montgomery as Bodega Owner
- David Jensen as Apt Super
- Kamden Beauchamp as Daniel
- Josh Perry as Farm Vagrant
- David Joseph Martinez as Old Dale
- Wayne Dehart as Seth Vagrant
- Ian Patrick as Beggar Kid
- Craig Johnson as Big Craig
- Robert Harvey as Parking Attendant
- Sylvia Jefferies as Neighbor Girl (uncredited)
- Lauren Alexandra as Waitress (uncredited)
- D.J. Mills as Cold Homeless Boy (uncredited)
- Brea Grant as TK Billboard Girl (uncredited)
- Sam Medina as Chinese Thug (uncredited)
- Rhonda Floyd Aguillard as Vagrant (uncredited)
- Jay Amor as Gatman (uncredited)
- Amy Le as Chinese Waitress (uncredited)
- Wayne Douglas Morgan as Bouncer (uncredited)
- Kristyl Dawn Tift as Madame (uncredited)
- Dallas West as Extra (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 7 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 314
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 7 | 3 | 2 |
| 8 to 14 | 0 | 19 |
| 15 to 21 | 1 | 13 |
| 22 to 28 | 0 | 3 |
| 29 to 35 | 0 | 11 |
| 36 to 42 | 5 | 5 |
| 43 to 49 | 0 | 29 |
| 50 to 56 | 4 | 39 |
| 57 to 63 | 0 | 3 |
| 64 to 70 | 0 | 1 |
| 71 to 77 | 0 | 0 |
| 78 to 84 | 0 | 0 |
| 85 to 91 | 0 | 0 |
| 92 to 98 | 0 | 0 |
| 99 to 105 | 0 | 1 |
| 106 to 112 | 0 | 11 |
| 113 to 119 | 0 | 1 |
| 120 to 126 | 3 | 44 |
| 127 to 133 | 0 | 15 |
| 134 to 140 | 2 | 1 |
| 141 to 147 | 0 | 6 |
| 148 to 154 | 7 | 0 |
| 155 to 161 | 14 | 10 |
| 162 to 168 | 2 | 2 |
| 169 to 175 | 2 | 3 |
| 176 to 182 | 19 | 22 |
| 183 to 189 | 2 | 1 |
| 190 to 196 | 13 | 13 |
| 197 to 203 | 7 | 30 |
| 204 to 210 | 18 | 16 |
| 211 to 217 | 0 | 8 |
| 218 to 224 | 17 | 22 |
| 225 to 231 | 0 | 13 |
| 232 to 238 | 4 | 4 |
| 239 to 245 | 5 | 15 |
| 246 to 252 | 0 | 1 |
| 253 to 259 | 1 | 3 |
| 260 to 266 | 7 | 14 |
| 267 to 273 | 1 | 1 |
| 274 to 280 | 7 | 9 |
| 281 to 287 | 3 | 0 |
| 288 to 294 | 4 | 2 |
| 295 to 301 | 0 | 2 |
| 302 to 308 | 2 | 2 |
| 309 to 314 | 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, 28 are women's.
153 lines from women, 397 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
11 women and 30 men in the cast. 4 women and 13 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
A woman speaks the first line.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 65 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 21% of the words (2,044), men 79% (7,534). Women have 28% 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
22
Exhibit E: behind the camera
3 of the 11 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 20% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Rian Johnson (man)
- Written by
- Rian Johnson (man)
- Produced by
- Ram Bergman (man), James D. Stern (man)
- Shot by
- Steve Yedlin (man)
- Edited by
- Bob Ducsay (man)
- Music by
- Nathan Johnson (man)
- Production design by
- Ed Verreaux (man)
- Costumes by
- Sharen Davis (woman)
- Cast by
- Mary Vernieu (woman), Lindsay Graham Ahanonu (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
5 women, 36 men, 11 not listed
-
Production
6 women, 7 men, 8 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
3 women, 3 men, 3 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Sound
1 women, 3 men
-
Editing
0 women, 1 men, 2 not listed
-
Visual Effects
0 women, 1 men, 2 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 36 on average. Men: 35 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Emily Blunt 29, Piper Perabo 35, Tracie Thoms 37, Xu Qing 43
Men
Pierce Gagnon 7, Paul Dano 28, Noah Segan 28, Joseph Gordon-Levitt 31, Bruce Willis 57, Jeff Daniels 57
Exhibit G: the money
It made 1.6 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $30 million
- Box office
- $47 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 314 scenes and 570 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
