Passes the Bechdel test

Nomadland

Name: Nomadland
Released: 2021

2021. Directed by Chloé Zhao, written by Chloé Zhao and Jessica Bruder.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
6 women characters. 4 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 14 scenes out of 168.
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

Following the economic collapse of a company town in rural Nevada, Fern (Frances McDormand) packs her van and sets off on the road exploring a life outside of conventional society as a modern-day nomad. The third feature film from director Chloé Zhao, NOMADLAND features real nomads Linda May, Swankie and Bob Wells as Fern's mentors and comrades in her exploration through the vast landscape of the American West.

Released: 19 Feb 2021
Genres: Drama
Rated: R
IMDb: 7.3 / 10
Metascore: 87 / 100
Awards: Won 3 Oscars. 254 wins & 160 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Fern 278 lines, woman
Dave 73 lines, man
Swankie 45 lines, woman
Linda May 40 lines, woman
Dolly 27 lines, woman
Derek 24 lines, man
Patty 12 lines
James 11 lines, man
Bob Wells 9 lines, man
Brandy 9 lines

Full cast, 48 people

Frances McDormand as Fern
David Strathairn as Dave
Linda May as Linda
Swankie as Swankie
Gay DeForest as Gay
Patricia Grier as Patty
Angela Reyes as Angela
Carl R. Hughes as Carl
Douglas G. Soul as Doug
Ryan Aquino as Ryan
Teresa Buchanan as Teresa
Karie Lynn McDermott Wilder as Karie
Brandy Wilber as Brandy
Makenzie Etcheverry as Makenzie
Bob Wells as Bob
Annette Webb as Annette
Rachel Bannon as Rachel
Bryce Bedsworth as Bryce
Sherita Deni Coker as Deni
Merle Redwing as Merle
Forrest Bault as Forrest
Suanne Carlson as Suanne
Donnie Miller as Donnie
Roxanne Bay as Roxy
Matt Sfaelos as Noodle
Ronald O. Zimmerman as Ron
Derek Endres as Derek
Paige Dean as Paige
Paul Winer as Paul
Derrick Janis as Victor
Greg Barber as Greg
Carol Anne Hodge as Carol
Matthew Stinson as Nurse Matt
Terry Phillip as Terry
Bradford Lee Riza as Brad
Tay Strathairn as James
Cat Clifford as Cat
James R. Taylor Jr. as James
Jeremy Greenman as Jeremy
Ken Greenman as Ken
Melissa Smith as Dolly
Warren Keith as George
Jeff Andrews as Jeff
Paul Cunningham as Paul
Emily Foley as Emily
Mike Sells as Mike
Peter Spears as Peter
Cheryl Davis as Cheri

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 15% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 168

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	0
5 to 8	3	0
9 to 12	0	0
13 to 16	33	0
17 to 20	25	0
21 to 24	16	1
25 to 28	13	0
29 to 32	3	0
33 to 36	1	3
37 to 40	5	3
41 to 44	10	8
45 to 48	2	0
49 to 52	6	3
53 to 56	26	0
57 to 60	28	0
61 to 64	19	0
65 to 68	5	0
69 to 72	7	6
73 to 76	3	2
77 to 80	13	4
81 to 84	15	16
85 to 88	6	0
89 to 92	6	6
93 to 96	2	0
97 to 100	11	9
101 to 104	12	11
105 to 108	6	7
109 to 112	0	0
113 to 116	1	0
117 to 120	1	1
121 to 124	8	0
125 to 128	46	8
129 to 132	16	0
133 to 136	31	21
137 to 140	4	3
141 to 144	26	14
145 to 148	0	0
149 to 152	0	0
153 to 156	1	0
157 to 160	0	1
161 to 164	4	2
165 to 168	1	0

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.

LINDA MAY: I quit. FERN: What?! LINDA MAY: I know. Forty-three years. Wasn’t as hard as I thought. FERN: I salute you, Linda May.

FERN: No thanks, I’m a carnivore. SWANKIE: I’m a carnivore too!

LINDA MAY: Hey Fern! Come join us. FERN: No. I’m just gonna take a little walk. Be right back.

SWANKIE: They are HUGE! FERN: Like dinosaurs. LINDA MAY: Do you know how much money is sitting right here?

FERN: Washer and dryer! LINDA MAY: Now that’s real nice.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 76 are women's.

415 lines from women, 129 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

6 women and 6 men in the cast. 4 women and 6 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 2 of 637. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 5 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 72% of the words (4,411), men 28% (1,693). Women have 76% of the lines, so their lines run shorter than men's.

Exhibit E: the test the other way

Run the other way, for men, the film scores 1 out of 3.

Conversations between two named characters

Two women

Two men

Exhibit F: behind the camera

7 of the 12 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 49% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Chloé Zhao (woman)
Written by: Chloé Zhao (woman)
Produced by: Chloé Zhao (woman), Frances McDormand (woman), Dan Janvey (man), Mollye Asher (woman), Peter Spears (man)
Shot by: Joshua James Richards (man)
Edited by: Chloé Zhao (woman)
Music by: Ludovico Einaudi (man)
Production design by: Joshua James Richards (man)
Costumes by: Hannah Peterson (woman)