Passes the Bechdel test

Mudbound

Name: Mudbound
Released: 2017

2017. Directed by Dee Rees, written by Virgil Williams and Dee Rees and Hillary Jordan.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
7 women characters. 8 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 9 scenes out of 162.
Yes 3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.

Second opinion

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

The film

In the aftermath of WWII, somewhere in the muddy Mississippi Delta, two families--one black, the Jacksons, and the other white, the McAllans--are forced to share the same patch of land, keeping a frail race-based peace with each other. However, as they both struggle with hardship and dire poverty, the long-awaited return of two war veterans--Ronsel, the Jacksons' eldest son, and Jamie, Henry McAllan's younger brother--will unexpectedly nurture a budding friendship that transcends prejudice and race. But, in the end, against a backdrop of fevered Mississippi sunsets and vitriolic racism, life can be hard when the law of the land is still segregation and hatred. And then, no one can be safe.

Released: 17 Nov 2017
Genres: Drama, War
Rated: R
IMDb: 7.4 / 10
Metascore: 85 / 100
Awards: Nominated for 4 Oscars. 36 wins & 117 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Jamie 177 lines, man
Henry 173 lines, man
Laura 161 lines, woman
Ronsel 108 lines, man
Florence 69 lines, woman
Hap 69 lines, man
Pappy 68 lines, man
Stokes 18 lines, man
Lilly May 12 lines
Sheriff Thacker 12 lines

Full cast, 21 people

Carey Mulligan as Laura McAllan
Jason Clarke as Henry McAllan
Jason Mitchell as Ronsel Jackson
Mary J. Blige as Florence Jackson
Garrett Hedlund as Jamie McAllan
Rob Morgan as Hap Jackson
Jonathan Banks as Pappy McAllan
Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Weeks
Kerry Cahill as Rose Tricklebank
Claudio Laniado as Dr. Pearlman
Kennedy Derosin as Lilly May Jackson
Dylan Arnold as Carl Atwood
Lucy Faust as Vera Atwood
Henry Frost as Teddy
Jason Kirkpatrick as Oris Stokes
Elizabeth Windley as Amanda Leigh McAllan
Joshua J. Williams as Ruel Jackson
Piper Blair as Isabelle McAllan
Rebecca Chulew as Pedestrian
Frankie Smith as Marlon Jackson
Roderick Hill as Sergeant

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 4% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 162

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 4	0	29
5 to 8	16	10
9 to 12	9	27
13 to 16	13	11
17 to 20	3	5
21 to 24	9	19
25 to 28	3	20
29 to 32	3	23
33 to 36	16	30
37 to 40	0	14
41 to 44	0	0
45 to 48	0	4
49 to 52	1	1
53 to 56	8	11
57 to 60	13	3
61 to 64	21	11
65 to 68	0	2
69 to 72	6	26
73 to 76	15	0
77 to 80	15	31
81 to 84	14	29
85 to 88	15	9
89 to 92	8	11
93 to 96	3	63
97 to 100	5	9
101 to 104	7	8
105 to 108	0	5
109 to 112	25	0
113 to 116	7	4
117 to 120	0	2
121 to 124	3	26
125 to 128	1	3
129 to 132	10	37
133 to 136	6	36
137 to 140	5	22
141 to 144	0	48
145 to 148	6	7
149 to 152	6	22
153 to 156	2	7
157 to 160	2	5
161 to 162	0	2

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.

AMANDA LEIGH: Mommy flowers! LAURA: I see, honey. You didn’t tell me we had azaleas.

AMANDA LEIGH: Momma, I have to tinkle. LAURA: Okay, sweetheart, come on.

FLORENCE: I seen this with my own children. We need to get liquid down ‘em. But first we got to clear some of that phlegm out. LAURA: How? FLORENCE: Make ‘em some horehound tea. That was real good, you making the steam for ‘em. We’ll keep after ‘em with it. Mist McAllan, would you kindly … FLORENCE: That tea’ll draw the phlegm right out.

AMANDA LEIGH: Momma? FLORENCE: Morning. Glad to see you feeling better. I’ll go fetch your momma.

FLORENCE: ‘Scuse me, Mist McAllan? I’m ready. LAURA: We can’t thank you enough for your help, Florence. FLORENCE: You’re welcome. Just keep after ‘em with the tea. They’ll be fine now. LAURA: We have some good news for you. We’d like to offer you a job. Working here. For me. I’ll need help with the girls, cooking, cleaning, that s…

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 30 are women's.

276 lines from women, 632 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

7 women and 12 men in the cast. 8 women and 12 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 31 of 945. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 68 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 29% of the words (3,009), men 71% (7,385). Women have 30% 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

8 of the 18 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 44% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Dee Rees (woman)
Written by: Dee Rees (woman), Virgil Williams (man)
From the novel by: Hillary Jordan (woman)
Produced by: Carl Effenson (man), Kim Roth (woman), Christopher Lemole (gender not listed), Tim Zajaros (man), Charles D. King (man), Sally Jo Effenson (gender not listed) and 1 more
Shot by: Rachel Morrison (woman)
Edited by: Mako Kamitsuna (woman)
Music by: Tamar-kali (woman)
Production design by: David J. Bomba (man)
Costumes by: Michael T. Boyd (gender not listed)
Cast by: Ashley Ingram (woman), Billy Hopkins (man)