Fails the Bechdel test

Papillon

Name: Papillon
Released: 2018

2018. Directed by Michael Noer, written by Aaron Guzikowski and Henri Charrière and Dalton Trumbo.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

1 / 3

Fails

Yes 1. At least two women
5 women characters. 3 of them speak.
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

Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.

The film

Based on the international best-selling autobiographical books "Papillon" and "Banco", PAPILLON follows the epic story of Henri "Papillon" Charrière (Charlie Hunnam), a safecracker from the Parisian underworld who is framed for murder and condemned to life in the notorious penal colony on Devil's Island. Determined to regain his freedom, Papillon forms an unlikely alliance with quirky convicted counterfeiter Louis Dega (Rami Malek), who in exchange for protection, agrees to finance Papillon's escape.

Released: 24 Aug 2018
Genres: Adventure, Biography, Crime
Rated: R
IMDb: 7.2 / 10
Metascore: 51 / 100
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Papillon 260 lines, man
Dega 137 lines, man
Clousiot 49 lines, man
Santini 23 lines, man
Guard 18 lines, man
Maturette 18 lines, man
Sierra 18 lines, man
Warden Barrot 18 lines, man
Julot 14 lines, man
Masked Breton 14 lines, man

Full cast, 33 people

Charlie Hunnam as Henri 'Papillon' Charrière
Rami Malek as Louis Dega
Christopher Fairbank as Jean Castili
Eve Hewson as Nennete
Michael Socha as Julot
Brian Vernel as Guittou
Nicholas Asbury as Commandant
Louisa Pili as Clara
Antonio de la Cruz as Tribouillard
Andre Flynn as Galgani
Yorick van Wageningen as Warden Barrot
Nikola Kent as Deputy Warden Brioulet
Mark Phelan as Sierra
Michael Adams as Bartiloni
Roland Møller as Celier
Slavko Sobin as El Caiman
Luka Peroš as Santini
Goran Navojec as Smuggler
Dragan Mićanović as Doctor Guibert
Joel Basman as Maturette
Petar Ćirica as Abda
Nenad Heraković as Mouton
Brian Nickles as Manhunter #1
Cali Nelle as Manhunter #2
Eydel Francisco Balbuena as Manhunter #3
Reshad Strik as Prison Guard #4
Tommy Flanagan as Masked Breton
Lorena Andrea as Lali
Poppy Mahendra as Zoraima
Juan Leonardo Solari as Zori
Veronica Quilligan as Mother Superior
Mirjam Novak as Young Irish Nun
Demetri Goritsas as Jean-Pierre Castelnau

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 5% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 127

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 3	0	3
4 to 6	0	2
7 to 9	2	11
10 to 12	8	17
13 to 15	0	20
16 to 18	0	18
19 to 21	0	21
22 to 24	0	20
25 to 27	0	27
28 to 30	0	9
31 to 33	0	37
34 to 36	0	21
37 to 39	0	36
40 to 42	0	30
43 to 45	0	10
46 to 48	0	7
49 to 51	0	1
52 to 54	2	25
55 to 57	0	6
58 to 60	0	4
61 to 63	0	44
64 to 66	0	46
67 to 69	0	8
70 to 72	0	5
73 to 75	0	9
76 to 78	0	3
79 to 81	0	11
82 to 84	0	36
85 to 87	4	16
88 to 90	0	21
91 to 93	0	77
94 to 96	0	4
97 to 99	1	3
100 to 102	0	10
103 to 105	14	12
106 to 108	3	2
109 to 111	0	3
112 to 114	0	4
115 to 117	0	7
118 to 120	0	19
121 to 123	0	10
124 to 126	0	0
127 to 127	0	10

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.

34 lines from women, 685 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

5 women and 23 men in the cast. 3 women and 26 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 19 of 758. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 300 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 (315), men 96% (7,244). 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

Two men

Exhibit E: behind the camera

4 of the 15 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 34% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Michael Noer (man)
Written by: Aaron Guzikowski (man)
Produced by: David Koplan (man), Roger Corbi (gender not listed), Joey McFarland (man), Ram Bergman (man)
Shot by: Hagen Bogdanski (man)
Edited by: John Axelrad (man), Lee Haugen (gender not listed)
Music by: David Buckley (man)
Production design by: Tom Meyer (man)
Costumes by: Bojana Nikitović (woman)
Cast by: Mary Vernieu (woman), Marisol Roncali (woman), Kate Ringsell (woman)