Passes the Bechdel test

Margin Call

Name: Margin Call
Released: 2011

2011. Directed by J.C. Chandor, written by J.C. Chandor.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
6 women characters. 6 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 1 scene out of 77.
Yes 3. About something besides a man
In that scene, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.

Second opinion

Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.

The film

A respected financial company is downsizing, and one of the victims is the risk-management division head, who was working on a major analysis just when he was let go. His protégé completes the study late into the night, then frantically calls his colleagues in about the company's financial disaster he has discovered. What follows is a long night of panicked double-checking and double-dealing as the senior management prepare to do whatever it takes to mitigate the coming debacle even as the handful of conscientious comrades find themselves dragged along into the unethical abyss.

Released: 29 Sep 2011
Genres: Drama, Thriller
Rated: R
IMDb: 7.1 / 10
Metascore: 76 / 100
Awards: Nominated for 1 Oscar. 8 wins & 24 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Will Emerson 171 lines, man
Peter 168 lines, man
Sam Rogers 162 lines, man
Seth 112 lines, man
John Tuld 82 lines, man
Jared Cohen 81 lines, man
Eric 70 lines, man
Sarah Robertson 56 lines, woman
Mary Rogers 12 lines, woman
Heather 11 lines, woman

Full cast, 18 people

Kevin Spacey as Sam Rogers
Zachary Quinto as Peter Sullivan
Paul Bettany as Will Emerson
Jeremy Irons as John Tuld
Simon Baker as Jared Cohen
Penn Badgley as Seth Bregman
Demi Moore as Sarah Robertson
Stanley Tucci as Eric Dale
Ashley Williams as Heather Burke
Mary McDonnell as Mary Rogers
Aasif Mandvi as Ramesh Shah
Susan Blackwell as Lauren Bratberg
Maria Dizzia as Executive Assistant
Jimmy Palumbo as Security Guard
Al Sapienza as Louis Carmello
Peter Y. Kim as Timothy Singh
Grace Gummer as Lucy
Oberon K.A. Adjepong as Coffee Guy

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 1% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 77

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	5	13
3 to 4	2	1
5 to 6	11	29
7 to 8	0	13
9 to 10	0	16
11 to 12	1	2
13 to 14	0	14
15 to 16	0	0
17 to 18	0	2
19 to 20	0	21
21 to 22	0	62
23 to 24	0	13
25 to 26	0	17
27 to 28	0	55
29 to 30	0	29
31 to 32	0	10
33 to 34	7	67
35 to 36	2	26
37 to 38	0	5
39 to 40	3	36
41 to 42	11	18
43 to 44	0	5
45 to 46	3	84
47 to 48	1	35
49 to 50	5	5
51 to 52	1	26
53 to 54	8	26
55 to 56	0	0
57 to 58	0	12
59 to 60	8	10
61 to 62	0	10
63 to 64	0	89
65 to 66	0	60
67 to 68	0	9
69 to 70	17	21
71 to 72	0	1
73 to 74	0	7
75 to 76	0	16
77 to 77	12	11

The evidence

Straight from the script
Counted from the script and the credits

Tap an exhibit to open it.

Exhibit A: the passing scene

The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.

LAUREN BRATBERG: The firm has worked out its transition plan and is prepared to move forward, but we appreciate your concern. HEATHER: We understand that this is very difficult and here is my card. Please contact me over the next few weeks if there is anything that I can do …

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 10 are women's.

97 lines from women, 876 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

6 women and 12 men in the cast. 6 women and 15 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 9 of 979. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 242 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 9% of the words (831), men 91% (8,113). Women have 10% 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

Two men

Exhibit F: behind the camera

2 of the 15 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 28% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: J.C. Chandor (man)
Written by: J.C. Chandor (man)
Produced by: Michael Benaroya (man), Neal Dodson (man), Joe Jenckes (man), Robert Ogden Barnum (man), Corey Moosa (man), Zachary Quinto (man)
Shot by: Frankie DeMarco (man)
Edited by: Pete Beaudreau (man)
Music by: Nathan Larson (man)
Production design by: John Paino (man)
Costumes by: Caroline Duncan (woman)
Cast by: Bernard Telsey (man), Tiffany Little Canfield (woman)