Fails the Bechdel test
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
2001. Directed by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, written by Homer and Ethan Coen and Joel Coen.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
0 / 3
Fails
-
No
1. At least two women
Fewer than two women characters. -
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 0 out of 3.
The film
Loosely based on Homer's Odyssey, Ulysses Everett McGill engages in picaresque adventures with his companions Delmar and Pete in 1930s Mississippi. Sprung from a chain gang and trying to reach Everett's home to recover the buried loot of a bank heist, they are confronted by a series of strange characters--among them sirens, a cyclops, bank robber George "Baby Face" Nelson (who is very annoyed by that nickname), a campaigning governor and his opponent, a KKK lynch mob, and a blind prophet who warns the trio that "the treasure you seek shall not be the treasure you find."
- Released
- 02 Feb 2001
- Genres
- Adventure, Comedy, Crime
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 7.7 / 10
- Metascore
- 69 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 2 Oscars. 8 wins & 38 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Everett 209 lines, man
- Delmar 100 lines, man
- Pete 81 lines, man
- Pappy 33 lines, man
- Eckard 29 lines, man
- Penny 23 lines, woman
- Stokes 23 lines, man
- Big Dan 19 lines, man
- Spivey 19 lines
- Nelson 18 lines, man
Full cast, 46 people
- George Clooney as Everett
- John Turturro as Pete Hogwallop
- Tim Blake Nelson as Delmar O'Donnell
- John Goodman as Big Dan Teague
- Holly Hunter as Penny
- Chris Thomas King as Tommy Johnson
- Charles Durning as Pappy O'Daniel
- Del Pentecost as Junior O'Daniel
- Michael Badalucco as George Nelson
- J.R. Horne as Pappy's Staff
- Brian Reddy as Pappy's Staff
- Wayne Duvall as Homer Stokes
- Ed Gale as The Little Man
- Ray McKinnon as Vernon T. Waldrip
- Daniel von Bargen as Sheriff Cooley
- Royce D. Applegate as Man with Bullhorn
- Frank Collison as Wash Hogwallop
- Quinn Gasaway as Boy Hogwallop
- Lee Weaver as Blind Seer
- Millford Fortenberry as Pomade Vendor
- Stephen Root as Radio Station Man
- John Locke as Mr. French
- Gillian Welch as Soggy Bottom Customer
- A. Ray Ratliff as Record Store Clerk
- Mia Tate as Siren
- Musetta Vander as Siren
- Christy Taylor as Siren
- April Hardcastle as Waitress
- Michael W. Finnell as Interrogator
- Georgia Rae Rainer as Wharvey Gal
- Marianna Breland as Wharvey Gal
- Lindsey Miller as Wharvey Gal
- Natalie Shedd as Wharvey Gal
- John McConnell as Woolworths Manager
- Issac Freeman as Gravedigger
- Wilson Waters Jr. as Gravedigger
- Robert Hamlett as Gravedigger
- Willard Cox as Cox Family
- Evelyn Cox as Cox Family
- Suzanne Cox as Cox Family
- Sidney Cox as Cox Family
- Buck White as The Whites
- Sharon White as The Whites
- Cheryl White as The Whites
- Ed Snodderly as Village Idiot
- David Holt as Village Idiot
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 1 scene, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 13% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 7
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 1 | 0 | 74 |
| 2 to 2 | 1 | 128 |
| 3 to 3 | 0 | 6 |
| 4 to 4 | 2 | 47 |
| 5 to 5 | 10 | 125 |
| 6 to 6 | 0 | 143 |
| 7 to 7 | 19 | 86 |
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, 5 are women's.
32 lines from women, 609 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
7 women and 22 men in the cast. 2 women and 17 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 124 of 736.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 186 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 4% of the words (309), men 96% (7,271). Women have 5% of the lines, so their lines run shorter 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
0
Two men
46
Exhibit E: behind the camera
3 of the 12 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 24% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Joel Coen (man)
- Written by
- Ethan Coen (man), Joel Coen (man)
- Produced by
- Ethan Coen (man)
- Shot by
- Roger Deakins (man)
- Edited by
- Ethan Coen (man), Tricia Cooke (woman), Joel Coen (man)
- Music by
- T Bone Burnett (man)
- Production design by
- Dennis Gassner (man)
- Costumes by
- Mary Zophres (woman)
- Cast by
- Ellen Chenoweth (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
12 women, 15 men, 20 not listed
-
Other crew
5 women, 14 men, 26 not listed
-
Art
2 women, 9 men, 23 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 23 men, 11 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
6 women, 1 men, 10 not listed
-
Camera
1 women, 8 men, 6 not listed
-
Editing
1 women, 4 men, 4 not listed
-
Lighting
0 women, 5 men, 4 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 42 on average. Men: 46 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Holly Hunter 42
Men
Tim Blake Nelson 36, Del Pentecost 36, Chris Thomas King 37, George Clooney 39, John Turturro 43, Michael Badalucco 45, John Goodman 48, J.R. Horne 56, Charles Durning 77
Exhibit G: the money
It made 2.8 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $26 million
- Box office
- $71.9 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 7 scenes and 736 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
