Fails the Bechdel test

Malcolm & Marie

Name: Malcolm & Marie
Released: 2021

2021. Directed by Sam Levinson, written by Sam Levinson.

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

Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.

The film

A filmmaker returns home with his girlfriend following a celebratory movie premiere as he awaits what's sure to be imminent critical and financial success. The evening suddenly takes a turn as revelations about their relationships begin to surface, testing the strength of their love.

Released: 05 Feb 2021
Genres: Drama, Romance
Rated: R
IMDb: 6.6 / 10
Metascore: 53 / 100
Awards: 4 wins & 9 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Malcolm 362 lines, man
Marie 318 lines, woman
Dionne Warwick 4 lines
All These I Was 1 lines
And You She 1 lines
Backup Trio 1 lines
Cause Than Has 1 lines
Had. The If 1 lines
Like Forabout 1 lines
Malcolmyou Used To Be 1 lines

Full cast, 2 people

John David Washington as Malcolm
Zendaya as Marie

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 1 scene, 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 38

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	0	0
2 to 2	0	0
3 to 3	0	0
4 to 4	0	1
5 to 5	1	0
6 to 6	0	1
7 to 7	1	0
8 to 8	0	2
9 to 9	0	1
10 to 10	51	76
11 to 11	3	2
12 to 12	5	5
13 to 13	13	12
14 to 14	58	55
15 to 15	0	0
16 to 16	0	0
17 to 17	1	0
18 to 18	0	4
19 to 19	3	8
20 to 20	27	29
21 to 21	8	9
22 to 22	0	2
23 to 23	4	11
24 to 24	0	1
25 to 25	0	5
26 to 26	0	0
27 to 27	0	0
28 to 28	0	2
29 to 29	67	75
30 to 30	20	16
31 to 31	6	5
32 to 32	4	4
33 to 33	30	32
34 to 34	15	2
35 to 35	0	0
36 to 36	1	1
37 to 37	0	1
38 to 38	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, 47 are women's.

318 lines from women, 362 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

1 women and 1 men in the cast. 1 women and 1 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 2 of 696. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 15 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 47% of the words (5,119), men 53% (5,740).

Exhibit D: the test the other way

Run the other way, for men, the film scores 0 out of 3.

Conversations between two named characters

Two women

Two men

Exhibit E: behind the camera

2 of the 13 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 18% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Sam Levinson (man)
Written by: Sam Levinson (man)
Produced by: Ashley Levinson (woman), Kevin Turen (man), Zendaya (woman), John David Washington (man), Sam Levinson (man)
Shot by: Marcell Rév (man)
Edited by: Julio Perez IV (man)
Music by: Labrinth (man)
Production design by: Michael Grasley (man)
Costumes by: Samantha McMillen (gender not listed), Law Roach (man)