Passes the Bechdel test
Mank
2020. Directed by David Fincher, written by Jack Fincher.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
21 women characters. 11 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 2 scenes out of 91. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.
The film
In 1940, film studio RKO 1940 hires 24-year-old wunderkind Orson Welles under a contract that gives him full creative control of his movies. For his first film, he calls in washed-up alcoholic Herman J. Mankiewicz to write the screenplay. That film is "Citizen Kane," and this is the story of how it was written.
- Released
- 04 Dec 2020
- Genres
- Biography, Drama
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 6.8 / 10
- Metascore
- 79 / 100
- Awards
- Won 2 Oscars. 65 wins & 270 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Mank 409 lines, man
- Marion 80 lines, woman
- Rita 64 lines, woman
- Mayer 61 lines, man
- Houseman 52 lines, man
- Thalberg 45 lines, man
- Welles 44 lines, man
- Joe 43 lines, man
- Sara 42 lines, woman
- Hearst 41 lines, man
Full cast, 79 people
- Gary Oldman as Herman Mankiewicz
- Amanda Seyfried as Marion Davies
- Lily Collins as Rita Alexander
- Arliss Howard as Louis B. Mayer
- Tom Pelphrey as Joseph Mankiewicz
- Sam Troughton as John Houseman
- Ferdinand Kingsley as Irving Thalberg
- Tuppence Middleton as Sara Mankiewicz
- Tom Burke as Orson Welles
- Joseph Cross as Charles Lederer
- Jamie McShane as Shelly Metcalf
- Toby Leonard Moore as David O. Selznick
- Monika Gossmann as Fräulein Frieda
- Charles Dance as William Randolph Hearst
- Jack Romano as Sid Perelman
- Adam Shapiro as George S. Kaufman
- John Churchill as Charles MacArthur
- Jeff Harms as Ben Hecht
- Derek Petropolis as Eddie Cantor
- Sean Persaud as Tommy
- Paul Fox as Joe Von Sternberg
- Tom Simmons as Doctor
- Nick Job as John Gilbert
- Colin Ward as Older Man
- Cooper Tomlinson as Younger Man
- Julie Collis as Female Starlet
- Arlo Mertz as Child Star
- Craig Welzbacher as Rexford Tugwell
- Jessie Cohen as Norma Shearer Thalberg
- Desiree Louise as Irene Selznick
- Amie Farrell as Mrs. Meyer
- Ian Boyd as Slim
- Jay Villwock as C.C.
- Lou George as Ed the Gate Guard
- John Lee Ames as Grady
- Bill Nye as Upton Sinclair
- Richmond Arquette as Heckler
- David Lee Smith as Sinclair Supporter
- Mario Di Donato as A Man's Voice (voice)
- James Patrick Duffy as Another Man
- Flo Lawrence as Maude Anderson
- Sebastian Faure as Movie Star #1
- Randy Davison as Maître D
- Christian Prentice as Emcee
- Leven Rambin as Eve - Shelly's Girlfriend
- Rick Pasqualone as Singer
- Gary Teitelbaum as Rabbi
- Eden Wattez as Joanna Mankiewicz - Age 2
- Roslyn Cohn as Elmma Wilson
- Mark Fite as James Wilson
- John Patrick Jordan as Best Original Screenplay Announcer
- Ben Mankiewicz as Broadcaster, Academy Awards
- Natalie Denise Sperl as Movie Star #2
- Brian Michael Jones as Aide - Ben
- Camille Montgomery as Starlet #1
- Craig Robert Young as Charlie Chaplin
- Paul Carafotes as Assistant Director
- Anne Beyer as Female Party Goer
- Joey Hagler as Male Party Goer
- Sean Donnellan as Martin Butler
- Stewart Skelton as News Reel I
- Malachi Rivers as News Reel II
- Keith Barber as News Reel III
- Kaytlin Borgen as Mayer's Assistant
- Madison West as Starlet #2
- Elvy as Starlet #3
- Ali Axelrad as Starlet #4
- Adrienne Evans as Wife #1
- Wylie Small as Wife #2
- Dana Lyn Baron as Wife #3
- Jaclyn Bethany as Typist (uncredited)
- Cary Christopher as Young Joseph Mankiewicz (uncredited)
- Michelle Twarowska as Joan Crawford (uncredited)
- Kingston Vernes as Young Herman Mankiewicz (uncredited)
- Jordan Matlock as Groundskeeper (uncredited)
- Anthony Molinari as Hobo (uncredited)
- Daniel Hoffman as MGM Child Star (uncredited)
- Sebastian Twohey-Jacobs as Beach Goer (uncredited)
- Manon Gage as Woman on Train (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 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 91
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 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 to 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 to 6 | 7 | 40 |
| 7 to 8 | 14 | 15 |
| 9 to 10 | 0 | 6 |
| 11 to 12 | 1 | 7 |
| 13 to 14 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 to 16 | 0 | 43 |
| 17 to 18 | 0 | 45 |
| 19 to 20 | 0 | 2 |
| 21 to 22 | 19 | 54 |
| 23 to 24 | 8 | 8 |
| 25 to 26 | 0 | 2 |
| 27 to 28 | 8 | 19 |
| 29 to 30 | 5 | 15 |
| 31 to 32 | 2 | 29 |
| 33 to 34 | 5 | 14 |
| 35 to 36 | 35 | 69 |
| 37 to 38 | 12 | 9 |
| 39 to 40 | 9 | 12 |
| 41 to 42 | 15 | 56 |
| 43 to 44 | 13 | 3 |
| 45 to 46 | 0 | 6 |
| 47 to 48 | 0 | 35 |
| 49 to 50 | 2 | 27 |
| 51 to 52 | 0 | 0 |
| 53 to 54 | 3 | 10 |
| 55 to 56 | 0 | 18 |
| 57 to 58 | 0 | 37 |
| 59 to 60 | 5 | 5 |
| 61 to 62 | 2 | 22 |
| 63 to 64 | 2 | 2 |
| 65 to 66 | 10 | 12 |
| 67 to 68 | 8 | 45 |
| 69 to 70 | 3 | 35 |
| 71 to 72 | 0 | 21 |
| 73 to 74 | 4 | 2 |
| 75 to 76 | 1 | 1 |
| 77 to 78 | 14 | 16 |
| 79 to 80 | 2 | 32 |
| 81 to 82 | 9 | 31 |
| 83 to 84 | 0 | 31 |
| 85 to 86 | 0 | 6 |
| 87 to 88 | 4 | 15 |
| 89 to 90 | 2 | 7 |
| 91 to 91 | 1 | 2 |
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: the passing scenes
The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.
RITA: You're not writing an opera. FRAULEIN FREDA: Hello?
RITA: Johanna, come along now. I'll show you those horses we talked about. SARA: She's very pretty.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 21 are women's.
225 lines from women, 866 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
21 women and 43 men in the cast. 11 women and 29 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 5 of 1,131.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 115 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 19% of the words (2,228), men 81% (9,754). Women have 21% of the lines, so their lines run shorter than men's.
Exhibit E: 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
6
Two men
69
Exhibit F: behind the camera
3 of the 12 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 31% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- David Fincher (man)
- Written by
- Jack Fincher (man)
- Produced by
- Ceán Chaffin (woman), Douglas Urbanski (man), Eric Roth (man)
- Shot by
- Erik Messerschmidt (man)
- Edited by
- Kirk Baxter (man)
- Music by
- Trent Reznor (man), Atticus Ross (man)
- Production design by
- Donald Graham Burt (man)
- Costumes by
- Trish Summerville (woman)
- Cast by
- Laray Mayfield (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
3 women, 22 men, 19 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
15 women, 3 men, 15 not listed
-
Production
9 women, 11 men, 2 not listed
-
Sound
4 women, 17 men
-
Art
5 women, 6 men, 6 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 13 men, 2 not listed
-
Lighting
0 women, 5 men, 3 not listed
-
Visual Effects
1 women, 5 men, 2 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 33 on average. Men: 45 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Lily Collins 31, Tuppence Middleton 33, Amanda Seyfried 34
Men
Ferdinand Kingsley 32, Joseph Cross 34, Tom Pelphrey 38, Tom Burke 39, Sam Troughton 43, Gary Oldman 62, Arliss Howard 66
Exhibit H: the money
It made 0% of what it cost.
- Budget
- $25 million
- Box office
- $122,252
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 91 scenes and 1,131 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
