Fails the Bechdel test

Moonlight

Name: Moonlight
Released: 2016

2016. Directed by Barry Jenkins, written by Barry Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

1 / 3

Fails

Yes 1. At least two women
2 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 1 out of 3.

The film

Three time periods - young adolescence, mid-teen and young adult - in the life of black-American Chiron is presented. When a child, Chiron lives with his single, crack addict mother Paula in a crime ridden neighborhood in Miami. Chiron is a shy, withdrawn child largely due to his small size and being neglected by his mother, who is more concerned about getting her fixes and satisfying her carnal needs than taking care of him. Because of these issues, Chiron is bullied, the slurs hurled at him which he doesn't understand beyond knowing that they are meant to be hurtful. Besides his same aged Cuban-American friend Kevin, Chiron is given what little guidance he has in life from a neighborhood drug dealer named Juan, who can see that he is neglected, and Juan's caring girlfriend Teresa, whose home acts as a sanctuary away from the bullies and away from Paula's abuse. With this childhood as a foundation, Chiron may have a predetermined path in life, one that will only be magnified in terms of its problems when he reaches his difficult teen years when peer pressure affects what he and many of his peers do, unless he follows Juan's advice of truly making his own decisions for himself.

Released: 18 Nov 2016
Genres: Drama
Rated: R
IMDb: 7.4 / 10
Metascore: 99 / 100
Awards: Won 3 Oscars. 237 wins & 315 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Kevin 145 lines, man
Juan 65 lines, man
Paula 55 lines, woman
Chiron 50 lines, man
Terrell 38 lines, man
Teresa 24 lines
Little 23 lines, man
Voice 11 lines
Travis 9 lines, man
Mr. Pierce 8 lines, man

Full cast, 26 people

Trevante Rhodes as Black
André Holland as Kevin
Janelle Monáe as Teresa
Ashton Sanders as Chiron
Jharrel Jerome as Kevin Age 16
Alex R. Hibbert as Little
Jaden Piner as Kevin Age 9
Naomie Harris as Paula
Mahershala Ali as Juan
Shariff Earp as Terrence
Duan Sanderson as Azu
Herman 'Caheei McGloun as Longshoreman
Kamal Ani-Bellow as Portable Boy 1
Keomi Givens as Portable Boy 2
Eddie Blanchard as Portable Boy 3
Rudi Goblen as Gee
Edson Jean as Mr. Pierce
Patrick Decile as Terrel
Herveline Moncion as Samantha
Fransley Hyppolite as Pizzo
Jesus Mitchell as Old School Guard
Larry Anderson as Antwon
Tanisha Cidel as Principal Williams
Stephon Bron as Travis
Don Seward as Tip
Justin Ebenhack as Gang Member (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 9% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 101

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 3	0	11
4 to 6	0	7
7 to 9	0	7
10 to 12	0	5
13 to 15	9	3
16 to 18	0	17
19 to 21	0	25
22 to 24	1	5
25 to 27	0	12
28 to 30	0	0
31 to 33	12	9
34 to 36	0	28
37 to 39	0	17
40 to 42	1	5
43 to 45	0	4
46 to 48	5	3
49 to 51	6	34
52 to 54	0	0
55 to 57	0	50
58 to 60	0	34
61 to 63	7	3
64 to 66	0	0
67 to 69	0	0
70 to 72	19	0
73 to 75	0	9
76 to 78	2	0
79 to 81	0	19
82 to 84	0	0
85 to 87	0	0
88 to 90	0	0
91 to 93	0	16
94 to 96	0	27
97 to 99	0	11
100 to 101	0	4

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, 15 are women's.

62 lines from women, 365 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

2 women and 13 men in the cast. 3 women and 7 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 40 of 468. 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 20% of the words (813), men 80% (3,167). Women have 15% of the lines, so their lines run longer 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

Two men

Exhibit E: behind the camera

6 of the 13 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 36% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Barry Jenkins (man)
Written by: Barry Jenkins (man)
Story by: Tarell Alvin McCraney (man)
Produced by: Adele Romanski (woman), Jeremy Kleiner (man), Dede Gardner (woman)
Shot by: James Laxton (man)
Edited by: Joi McMillon (woman), Nat Sanders (man)
Music by: Nicholas Britell (man)
Production design by: Hannah Beachler (woman)
Costumes by: Caroline Eselin (woman)
Cast by: Yesi Ramirez (woman)