Passes the Bechdel test

Middle of Nowhere

Name: Middle of Nowhere
Released: 2012

2012. Directed by Ava DuVernay, written by Ava DuVernay.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
9 women characters. 8 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 8 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

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

The film

Ruby goes on a journey of self-discovery when she drops out of medical school in order to focus on her incarcerated husband's well-being.

Released: 01 Sep 2014
Genres: Drama
Rated: R
IMDb: 6.6 / 10
Metascore: 75 / 100
Awards: 11 wins & 21 nominations
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Ruby 300 lines, woman
Brian 93 lines, man
Derek 59 lines, man
Rosie 55 lines, woman
Cornelia 46 lines, woman
Ruth 40 lines, woman
Nickie 24 lines
Fraine 18 lines, woman
Rashad 12 lines
Pongesa 11 lines, woman

Full cast, 23 people

David Oyelowo as Brian
Maya Gilbert as Gina
Sharon Lawrence as Fraine
Emayatzy Corinealdi as Ruby
Dondré Whitfield as Littleton
Omari Hardwick as Derek
Lorraine Toussaint as Ruth
Andy Spencer as Bus Hustler
Edwina Findley as Rosie
Yvette Cason as Mrs. Hastings
Troy Curvey III as Rashad
Bruce Katzman as Averick
Romann Aric as Jordan
Romann Aric as Jordann
Nehemiah Sutton as Nickie
Nisa Ward as Fraine's Assistant
Maynor Lopez as Prison Guard
Marmee Regine Cosico as Prison Visitor
Bob Rumnock as Dying Cancer Patient
William 'Bill' Connor as ATF Agent (uncredited)
I. Elijah Baughman as Prison Inmate (uncredited)
Samba Schutte as JuJu Club Dancer (uncredited)
Vera R. Taylor as Probation Board Member (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 6% 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	4	12
3 to 4	2	0
5 to 6	3	0
7 to 8	6	0
9 to 10	25	17
11 to 12	1	0
13 to 14	16	0
15 to 16	0	0
17 to 18	6	3
19 to 20	8	6
21 to 22	24	0
23 to 24	0	0
25 to 26	4	0
27 to 28	33	0
29 to 30	9	0
31 to 32	35	22
33 to 34	30	17
35 to 36	3	0
37 to 38	2	0
39 to 40	6	8
41 to 42	23	8
43 to 44	29	7
45 to 46	31	0
47 to 48	8	0
49 to 50	12	9
51 to 52	8	6
53 to 54	2	0
55 to 56	2	4
57 to 58	7	10
59 to 60	0	3
61 to 62	22	0
63 to 64	18	1
65 to 66	18	9
67 to 68	12	3
69 to 70	39	8
71 to 72	10	0
73 to 74	2	5
75 to 76	8	10
77 to 78	5	0
79 to 80	0	0
81 to 82	11	4
83 to 84	2	0
85 to 86	2	0
87 to 88	1	0
89 to 90	2	0
91 to 91	3	0

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.

CORNELIA: You know how? RUBY: Um, no. No, I don’t. CORNELIA: It’s good to know. RUBY: It looks hard actually.

RUBY: We came to see the show. ROSIE: I had to convince her to come. But it’s such a beautiful night. You can’t waste a night like this, right?

RUBY: Hi. RUTH: Hi. Where’s Rosie? RUBY: At work. RUTH: You’re watching the baby?

ASSISTANT: Mrs. Murray? ASSISTANT: Hi there. I’m supposed to get a money order from you? RUBY: Yes. ASSISTANT: Thank you.

RUTH: How much, Ruby. RUBY: It’s $2,500. I have $500, but they need half up front. RUTH: I have to do math now too? RUBY: It’s seven fifty.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 74 are women's.

494 lines from women, 172 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

9 women and 8 men in the cast. 8 women and 4 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 4 of 708. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 6 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 72% of the words (5,930), men 28% (2,263). Women have 74% of the lines, so their lines run shorter than men's.

Exhibit E: the test the other way

Run the other way, for men, the film scores 1 out of 3.

Conversations between two named characters

Two women

Two men

Exhibit F: behind the camera

5 of the 11 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 56% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Ava DuVernay (woman)
Written by: Ava DuVernay (woman)
Produced by: Paul Goodwin Garnes (man), Ava DuVernay (woman), Howard Barish (man)
Shot by: Bradford Young (man)
Edited by: Spencer Averick (man)
Music by: Kathryn Bostic (woman)
Production design by: Claudia Roque (gender not listed)
Costumes by: Stacy Beverly (woman)
Cast by: Aisha Coley (gender not listed)