Fails the Bechdel test
Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation
2015. Directed by Christopher McQuarrie, written by Christopher McQuarrie and Drew Pearce and Bruce Geller.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
12 women characters. 3 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 0 out of 3.
The film
CIA chief Hunley (Baldwin) convinces a Senate committee to disband the IMF (Impossible Mission Force), of which Ethan Hunt (Cruise) is a key member. Hunley argues that the IMF is too reckless. Now on his own, Hunt goes after a shadowy and deadly rogue organization called the Syndicate.
- Released
- 31 Jul 2015
- Genres
- Action, Adventure, Thriller
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 7.4 / 10
- Metascore
- 75 / 100
- Awards
- 6 wins & 26 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Ethan 180 lines, man
- Benji 148 lines, man
- Brandt 118 lines, man
- Ilsa 95 lines, woman
- Hunley 79 lines, man
- Luther 50 lines, man
- Lane 35 lines, man
- Attlee 34 lines, man
- Prime Minister 17 lines, man
- The Woman 17 lines, woman
Full cast, 79 people
- Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt
- Jeremy Renner as William Brandt
- Simon Pegg as Benji Dunn
- Rebecca Ferguson as Ilsa Faust
- Ving Rhames as Luther Stickell
- Sean Harris as Lane
- Simon McBurney as Atlee
- Zhang Jingchu as Lauren
- Tom Hollander as Prime Minister
- Jens Hultén as Janik Vinter
- Alec Baldwin as Alan Hunley
- Mateo Rufino as A400M Pilot
- Fernando Abadie as A400M Pilot
- Alec Utgoff as A400M Crewman
- Hermione Corfield as Record Shop Girl
- Nigel Barber as Chairman
- William Roberts as Senator
- Patrick Poletti as Senator
- Martin Cochrane as Senator
- David Peart as Senator
- Barnabás Réti as Janik's Sentry
- Ash Merat as Janik's Sentry
- James Weber Brown as IMF Operator
- Robert Maaser as Officer Assassin
- Wolfgang Stegemann as Flautist Assassin
- Eva-Marie Becker as Opera Lighting Technician
- Adam Ganne as Opera Lighting Technician
- Jesus Alvarez as Caláf
- America Olivo as Turandot
- James Cleverton as The Mandarin
- Martin Nelson as Altoum
- James McOran Campbell as Ping
- Tom Lowe as Pang
- Nicholas Sharratt as Pong
- Nicholas Lupu as Conductor
- Stella Stocker as Opera Stage Manager
- Martin Bermoser as Opera Director
- Benjamin Plautz as Opera Staff
- Nina Hartmann as Opera Security
- Daniela Nitsch as Opera Security
- Carola Niederhuber as Opera Police
- Tim Breyvogel as Opera Police
- Laurence Rupp as Opera Police
- Wolfgang Cerny as Opera Police
- Rupert Wickham as Chancellor
- Judith Bogner as Chancellor's Wife
- Peter Stark as Chancellor's Security Aide
- Ulli Ackermann as Chancellor's Security Aide
- Saif Al-Warith as Saif
- Robert Luckay as Lane Bodyguard
- Tarrick Benham as CIA Agent
- Tyler Fayose as CIA Agent
- Rachel Handshaw as Drone Technician
- Julian Moore-Cook as Drone Technician
- Sean Cronin as Masked Syndicate Man
- Emilio Aniba as Power Plant Guard
- Volkan Ay as Power Plant Guard
- Amra Mallassi as Power Plant Guard
- Hadrian Howard as Power Plant Security
- Walles Hamonde as Power Plant Security
- Shamir Dawood as Control Lab Technician
- Sagar Radia as Control Lab Technician
- Yasen Atour as Control Lab Technician
- Noor Dillan-Night as Control Lab Technician
- Mingus Johnston as Lead Biker
- Osy Ikhile as CIA Jet Agent
- Nigel Allen as CIA Jet Agent
- Georgina Redhead as Prime Minister's Wife
- Bruce Lawrence as Prime Minister's Bodyguard
- Femi Ogunbanjo as Prime Minister's Bodyguard
- Katie Pattinson as Auctioneer
- Jorge Leon as CIA Agent (uncredited)
- Alana Maria as Embassy Tech 1 (uncredited)
- Jessica Allain as Stewardess (uncredited)
- Anna-Marie Sullivan as Opera Staff (uncredited)
- Romeo Visca as Belarus Guard (uncredited)
- Tom Coulston as Chancellor's Aide (uncredited)
- Steven Gätjen as Syndicate Member (uncredited)
- Teddy Newton as Mission brief (Voice) (Uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 6 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 288
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 6 | 0 | 43 |
| 7 to 12 | 0 | 7 |
| 13 to 18 | 0 | 6 |
| 19 to 24 | 0 | 7 |
| 25 to 30 | 9 | 77 |
| 31 to 36 | 0 | 4 |
| 37 to 42 | 0 | 6 |
| 43 to 48 | 5 | 38 |
| 49 to 54 | 1 | 2 |
| 55 to 60 | 0 | 3 |
| 61 to 66 | 0 | 5 |
| 67 to 72 | 0 | 14 |
| 73 to 78 | 0 | 0 |
| 79 to 84 | 0 | 2 |
| 85 to 90 | 0 | 0 |
| 91 to 96 | 0 | 0 |
| 97 to 102 | 0 | 0 |
| 103 to 108 | 0 | 0 |
| 109 to 114 | 1 | 3 |
| 115 to 120 | 18 | 28 |
| 121 to 126 | 1 | 8 |
| 127 to 132 | 11 | 54 |
| 133 to 138 | 8 | 10 |
| 139 to 144 | 2 | 1 |
| 145 to 150 | 14 | 41 |
| 151 to 156 | 0 | 1 |
| 157 to 162 | 7 | 6 |
| 163 to 168 | 0 | 0 |
| 169 to 174 | 0 | 0 |
| 175 to 180 | 1 | 0 |
| 181 to 186 | 1 | 15 |
| 187 to 192 | 0 | 5 |
| 193 to 198 | 0 | 5 |
| 199 to 204 | 0 | 0 |
| 205 to 210 | 0 | 11 |
| 211 to 216 | 0 | 22 |
| 217 to 222 | 31 | 90 |
| 223 to 228 | 0 | 28 |
| 229 to 234 | 0 | 18 |
| 235 to 240 | 0 | 46 |
| 241 to 246 | 0 | 9 |
| 247 to 252 | 0 | 28 |
| 253 to 258 | 2 | 10 |
| 259 to 264 | 0 | 7 |
| 265 to 270 | 0 | 7 |
| 271 to 276 | 2 | 9 |
| 277 to 282 | 2 | 4 |
| 283 to 288 | 2 | 17 |
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, 14 are women's.
118 lines from women, 697 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
12 women and 51 men in the cast. 3 women and 17 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 105 of 866.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 138 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 13% of the words (1,284), men 87% (8,228). Women have 14% 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
84
Exhibit E: behind the camera
3 of the 16 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 19% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Christopher McQuarrie (man)
- Written by
- Christopher McQuarrie (man)
- Story by
- Christopher McQuarrie (man), Drew Pearce (man)
- Produced by
- J.J. Abrams (man), Tom Cruise (man), David Ellison (man), Bryan Burk (man), Don Granger (man)
- Shot by
- Robert Elswit (man)
- Edited by
- Eddie Hamilton (man)
- Music by
- Joe Kraemer (man)
- Production design by
- James D. Bissell (man)
- Costumes by
- Joanna Johnston (woman)
- Cast by
- Mindy Marin (woman), Lucinda Syson (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Directing
2 women, 12 men, 29 not listed
-
Production
7 women, 16 men, 9 not listed
-
Other crew
2 women, 17 men, 9 not listed
-
Sound
1 women, 13 men, 9 not listed
-
Art
2 women, 9 men, 10 not listed
-
Visual Effects
2 women, 6 men, 12 not listed
-
Camera
1 women, 16 men, 2 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
6 women, 1 men, 12 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 33 on average. Men: 50 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Rebecca Ferguson 31, Zhang Jingchu 35
Men
Jeremy Renner 44, Simon Pegg 45, Tom Hollander 47, Sean Harris 49, Jens Hultén 51, Tom Cruise 53, Ving Rhames 56, Simon McBurney 57
Exhibit G: the money
It made 4.6 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $150 million
- Box office
- $683 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 288 scenes and 866 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
