Fails the Bechdel test
Nine
2009. Directed by Rob Marshall, written by Michael Tolkin and Anthony Minghella and Arthur Kopit.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
24 women characters. 12 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
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 2 out of 3.
The film
Arrogant, self-centered movie director Guido Contini (Daniel Day-Lewis) finds himself struggling to find meaning, purpose, and a script for his latest movie endeavor. With only a week left before shooting begins, he desperately searches for answers and inspiration from his wife, his mistress, his muse, and his mother. As his chaotic profession steadily destroys his personal life, Guido must find a balance between creating art and succumbing to its obsessive demands.
- Released
- 25 Dec 2009
- Genres
- Drama, Musical, Romance
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 5.8 / 10
- Metascore
- 49 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 4 Oscars. 8 wins & 60 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Guido 275 lines, man
- Dante 60 lines, man
- Carla 55 lines, woman
- Luisa 47 lines, woman
- Lilli 45 lines, woman
- Claudia 26 lines, woman
- Stephanie 24 lines, woman
- Cardinal'S Secretary 17 lines
- Pierpaolo 17 lines, man
- Fausto 13 lines, man
Full cast, 109 people
- Daniel Day-Lewis as Guido Contini
- Marion Cotillard as Luisa Contini
- Penélope Cruz as Carla
- Nicole Kidman as Claudia
- Judi Dench as Lilli
- Sophia Loren as Mamma
- Kate Hudson as Stephanie
- Fergie as Saraghina
- Ricky Tognazzi as Dante
- Enzo Cilenti as Leopardi
- Giuseppe Cederna as Fausto
- Elio Germano as Pierpaolo
- Andrea Di Stefano as Benito
- Roberto Nobile as Jaconelli
- Amy Bailey as Female Dancer
- Claudia Mancinelli as Female Dancer
- Remo Remotti as Cardinal
- Michele Alhaique as Don Mario
- Martina Stella as Donatella
- Valerio Mastandrea as De Rossi
- Sandro Dori as Studio Superintendent
- Romina Carancini as Production Assistant/Female Dancer
- Alessandro Denipotti as Production Assistant
- Alessandro Fiore as Production Assistant
- Erica Gohdes as Production Assistant
- Gianluca Frezzato as Production Assistant/Male Dancer
- Paola Zaccari as Production Assistant/Female Dancer
- Roberta Mastromichele as Roberta/Female Dancer
- Francesco De Vito as Radio Reporter
- Francesca Fanti as Dinardo
- Enzo Squillino Jr. as Reporter 1
- Michael Peluso as Reporter 2
- Jonathan Del Vecchio as Reporter 3
- Jake Canuso as Reporter 4
- Eliot Giuralarocca as Reporter 5
- Tommaso Colognese as Reporter
- Jennifer Iacono as Reporter/Female Dancer
- Vicky Lambert as Reporter/Female Dancer
- Lavinia Savignoni as Reporter/Female Dancer
- Damiano Bisozzi as Bellman/Male Dancer
- Marcello Magni as Doctor
- Anna-Maria Everett as Nurse
- Mark Bousie as 'Folies' Pianist
- Giuseppe Spitaleri as Young Guido
- Pietro Lais as Boy on the Beach
- Samuele Minotti as Boy on the Beach
- Francesco Manuel Pappalardo as Boy on the Beach
- Pietro Revelli as Boy on the Beach
- Gianluigi Tosti Di Valminuta as Boy on the Beach
- Massimiliano Belsito as Priest on the Beach/Male Dancer
- Roberto Sbraccia as Priest on the Beach
- Mario Vernazza as Principal
- Marco Liotti as Male Band Singer
- Monica Scattini as Pensione Matron
- Roberto Citran as Doctor Rondi
- Georgina Leonidas as Matron's Daughter
- Vincent Riotta as Luigi
- Shannon Belcastro as Film Crew/Male Dancer
- Joey Pizzi as Film Crew/Male Dancer
- Jean Martin as Film Crew
- Kerry Warn as Film Crew
- Eleonora Scopelliti as Screen Test Actress 1/Female Dancer
- Ilaria Cavola as Screen Test Actress 2/Female Dancer
- Alessia Piovan as Alessia
- Giovanni Luca Izzo as Man with Luisa
- Simone Cappotto as Simone
- Giacomo Valdameri as Actor
- Anna Safroncik as Actress
- Irina Aggrey as Female Dancer
- Lauren Brooke as Female Dancer
- Maria Teresa Corsi as Female Dancer
- Denise Faye as Female Dancer
- Tamara Fernando as Female Dancer
- Manuela Guastalli as Female Dancer
- Gemma Lawrence as Female Dancer
- Jennifer Leung as Female Dancer
- Tara Nicole Hughes as Female Dancer
- Holly Mayes as Female Dancer
- Claire Rogers as Female Dancer
- Katrina Vasilieva as Female Dancer
- Glenn Ball as Male Dancer
- Ramon Christian as Male Dancer
- Nicholas Cunningham as Male Dancer
- Leon Else as Male Dancer
- Antonio Fiore as Male Dancer
- Ste Hopps as Male Dancer
- James P. Rees as Male Dancer
- Tristan Temple as Male Dancer
- Emiliano Caroselli as Terrace Restaurant Band
- Costantino Ladisa as Terrace Restaurant Band
- Alberto Lombardi as Terrace Restaurant Band
- Menotti Minervini as Terrace Restaurant Band
- Alessio Scialo as Terrace Restaurant Band
- Layla Amir as Italian Lady (uncredited)
- Alex Argenti as Head of Art Department (uncredited)
- Iris Cayatte as (uncredited)
- Ch'Lu as Italian Tutor (uncredited)
- James Currie as Journalist (uncredited)
- Filippo Delaunay as Photographer (uncredited)
- Domenico Dolce as Extra (uncredited)
- Stefano Gabbana as Extra (uncredited)
- Aykut Hilmi as Reporter (uncredited)
- Kostas Katsikis as Journalist/Photographer (uncredited)
- Gino Picciano as Preist (uncredited)
- John Simmit as Alberto Preston (uncredited)
- Jesse James Sims as Italian Businessman in Bar (uncredited)
- Alexi Stavrou as Alesio/Auditioner (uncredited)
- Lorraine Stewart as The Widow (uncredited)
- Nico Toffoli as Casino's Dancer (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 12% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 147
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 | 16 |
| 5 to 8 | 10 | 32 |
| 9 to 12 | 9 | 22 |
| 13 to 16 | 0 | 4 |
| 17 to 20 | 0 | 8 |
| 21 to 24 | 1 | 4 |
| 25 to 28 | 0 | 5 |
| 29 to 32 | 3 | 2 |
| 33 to 36 | 12 | 25 |
| 37 to 40 | 1 | 14 |
| 41 to 44 | 4 | 4 |
| 45 to 48 | 10 | 7 |
| 49 to 52 | 19 | 24 |
| 53 to 56 | 2 | 32 |
| 57 to 60 | 19 | 25 |
| 61 to 64 | 1 | 3 |
| 65 to 68 | 2 | 0 |
| 69 to 72 | 3 | 0 |
| 73 to 76 | 24 | 27 |
| 77 to 80 | 8 | 8 |
| 81 to 84 | 11 | 13 |
| 85 to 88 | 20 | 17 |
| 89 to 92 | 2 | 0 |
| 93 to 96 | 3 | 2 |
| 97 to 100 | 0 | 4 |
| 101 to 104 | 4 | 4 |
| 105 to 108 | 11 | 9 |
| 109 to 112 | 1 | 19 |
| 113 to 116 | 11 | 26 |
| 117 to 120 | 8 | 9 |
| 121 to 124 | 7 | 7 |
| 125 to 128 | 6 | 31 |
| 129 to 132 | 5 | 3 |
| 133 to 136 | 3 | 9 |
| 137 to 140 | 0 | 0 |
| 141 to 144 | 11 | 12 |
| 145 to 147 | 0 | 7 |
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, 35 are women's.
231 lines from women, 434 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
24 women and 33 men in the cast. 12 women and 21 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 40 of 755.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 39 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 40% of the words (2,741), men 60% (4,129). Women have 35% 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
2
Two men
38
Exhibit E: behind the camera
6 of the 17 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 26% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Rob Marshall (man)
- Written by
- Michael Tolkin (man), Anthony Minghella (man)
- Produced by
- Marc Platt (man), Harvey Weinstein (man), Rob Marshall (man), John DeLuca (man)
- Shot by
- Dion Beebe (man)
- Edited by
- Claire Simpson (woman), Wyatt Smith (man)
- Music by
- Andrea Guerra (man)
- Production design by
- John Myhre (man)
- Costumes by
- Colleen Atwood (woman)
- Cast by
- Francine Maisler (woman), Kate Dowd (woman), Béatrice Kruger (woman), Teresa Razzauti (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Costume & Make-Up
9 women, 8 men, 20 not listed
-
Sound
4 women, 23 men, 9 not listed
-
Other crew
3 women, 10 men, 14 not listed
-
Visual Effects
1 women, 2 men, 13 not listed
-
Production
5 women, 8 men, 1 not listed
-
Directing
3 women, 5 men, 5 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 6 men, 1 not listed
-
Writing
0 women, 5 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 46 on average. Men: 47 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Kate Hudson 30, Marion Cotillard 34, Fergie 34, Penélope Cruz 35, Nicole Kidman 42, Judi Dench 74, Sophia Loren 75
Men
Enzo Cilenti 35, Daniel Day-Lewis 52, Ricky Tognazzi 54
Exhibit G: the money
It made 67% of what it cost.
- Budget
- $80 million
- Box office
- $53.8 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 147 scenes and 755 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
