Fails the Bechdel test

Moonrise Kingdom

Name: Moonrise Kingdom
Released: 2012

2012. Directed by Wes Anderson, written by Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

2 / 3

Fails

Yes 1. At least two women
5 women characters. 2 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
Women do talk to each other.
No 3. About something besides a man
Every conversation between women that our parser found mentions a man.

Second opinion

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

The film

Set on an island off the coast of New England in the 1960s, as a young boy and girl fall in love they are moved to run away together. Various factions of the town mobilize to search for them and the town is turned upside down - which might not be such a bad thing.

Released: 29 Jun 2012
Genres: Adventure, Comedy, Drama
Rated: PG-13
IMDb: 7.7 / 10
Metascore: 84 / 100
Awards: Nominated for 1 Oscar. 36 wins & 121 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Sam 125 lines, man
Captain Sharp 97 lines, man
Suzy 97 lines, woman
Social Services 30 lines, woman
Cousin Ben 26 lines, man
Skotak 23 lines, man
Redford 19 lines, man
Commander Pierce 15 lines, man
Narrator 11 lines, man
Gadge 8 lines, man

Full cast, 57 people

Jared Gilman as Sam Shakusky
Kara Hayward as Suzy Bishop
Bruce Willis as Captain Sharp
Edward Norton as Scout Master Ward
Bill Murray as Mr. Bishop
Frances McDormand as Mrs. Bishop
Tilda Swinton as Social Services
Jason Schwartzman as Cousin Ben
Bob Balaban as The Narrator
Lucas Hedges as Redford
Charlie Kilgore as Lazy Eye
Harvey Keitel as Commander Pierce
Chandler Frantz as Gadge
Gabriel Rush as Skotak
Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick as Roosevelt
Andreas Sheikh as Panagle
Rob H. Campbell as Deluca
L.J. Foley as Izod
Tommy Nelson as Nickleby
Larry Pine as Mr. Billingsley
Marianna Bassham as Becky
Neal Huff as Jed
Eric Chase Anderson as Secretary McIntire
Jake Ryan as Lionel
Tanner Flood as Murray
Wyatt Ralff as Rudy
Max Derderian as Chef
Hugo DeAscentis as Edgar
Liz Callahan as Mrs. Billingsley
James Demler as Noah
Christine Noel as Noah's Wife
Jean-Michael Pion as Ham
John Peet as Junior Khaki Scout Master
Carolyn Pickman as Mrs. Lynn
Ada-Nicole Sanger as Sparrow
Isabella Guinness as Owl
Violet Guinness as Bittern
Caris Yeoman as Curlew
Lily Tiger McEnerney as Dove
Kevin DeCoste as Morse Code Khaki Scout
Tyler Metivier as Bugle Boy Scout
Cooper Murray as Indian Chief Khaki Scout
Coledyn Garrow as Trampoline Khaki Scout
Ben Haffner as Archery Khaki Scout
Michael Malvesti as B-B-Q Khaki Scout
Richie Conant as Fort Lebanon Khaki Scout
Johnathon Deneault as Fort Lebanon Khaki Scout
Jack Lescoulie as Fort Lebanon Khaki Scout
Preston Hatch as Fort Lebanon Khaki Scout
Alex Milne as Fort Lebanon Khaki Scout
Jordan Puzzo as Fort Lebanon Khaki Scout
Steve Smith as Weather Man (voice)
Dakota Pimentel as Acolyte
Roman Keitel as Acolyte's Assistant
Derek Sardella as Pigeon Scout
John Franchi as Play Attendee (uncredited)
Al Conti as Townsman (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

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

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 68

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

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, 27 are women's.

138 lines from women, 367 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

5 women and 27 men in the cast. 2 women and 19 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 17 of 514. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 45 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 28% of the words (1,294), men 72% (3,373). Women have 27% 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

1 of the 13 people in these jobs is a woman. Across the whole crew, 27% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Wes Anderson (man)
Written by: Wes Anderson (man), Roman Coppola (man)
Produced by: Steven M. Rales (man), Jeremy Dawson (man), Wes Anderson (man), Scott Rudin (man)
Shot by: Robert D. Yeoman (man)
Edited by: Andrew Weisblum (man)
Music by: Alexandre Desplat (man)
Production design by: Adam Stockhausen (man)
Costumes by: Kasia Walicka Maimone (woman)
Cast by: Douglas Aibel (man)