Fails the Bechdel test

Pawn Sacrifice

Name: Pawn Sacrifice
Released: 2015

2015. Directed by Edward Zwick, written by Steven Knight and Stephen J. Rivele and Christopher Wilkinson.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

2 / 3

Fails

Yes 1. At least two women
13 women characters. 6 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 1 out of 3.

The film

During the height of the Cold War, American chess prodigy Bobby Fischer finds himself caught between two superpowers when he challenges the Soviet Empire.

Released: 25 Sep 2015
Genres: Biography, Drama, History
Rated: PG-13
IMDb: 7 / 10
Metascore: 65 / 100
Awards: 1 win & 1 nomination total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Bobby 301 lines, man
Marshall 150 lines, man
Lombardy 107 lines, man
Joan 51 lines, woman
Regina 33 lines, woman
Boris 30 lines, man
Schmid 21 lines, man
Donna 19 lines, woman
Geller 18 lines, man
Carmine 15 lines, man

Full cast, 66 people

Tobey Maguire as Bobby Fischer
Peter Sarsgaard as Father Bill Lombardy
Liev Schreiber as Boris Spassky
Michael Stuhlbarg as Paul Marshall
Lily Rabe as Joan Fischer
Sophie Nélisse as Young Joan
Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick as Teen Bobby Fischer
Conrad Pla as Carmine Nigro
Aiden Lovekamp as Young Bobby Fischer
Evelyne Brochu as Donna
Robin Weigert as Regina Fischer
Andreas Apergis as Uncle Paul
Katie Bird Nolan as Maria
Ilia Volok as KGB Agent
Peter Janov as KGB Agent
Spiro Malandrakis as Reporter
Arthur Holden as Party Guest #3
Raphael Grosz-Harvey as Donald Byrne
John Maclaren as Theodore Tremblay
Vitali Makarov as Yovanovic
Eric Lee Huffman as KGB Bodyguard
Brett Watson as Lothar Schmid
Shawn Campbell as Cyril Pustan
Eugene Nomura as Japanese Anchorman
Norman Lehnert as German Reporter
Edward Zinoviev as Geller
Sam Stone as Deli Customer
Jonathan Dubsky as Tremblay's Aide
Mark Slacke as Icelandic Journalist
Alexandre Gorchkov as Iivo Nei
Igor Ovadis as Russian Bookstore Owner
Bobo Vian as Bookstore Owner's Wife
Joe Cobden as Motel Clerk
Brent Skagford as Businessman (Motel)
Richard Jutras as Referee - Santa Monica
Yanick Bousquet as Foreign Reporter #1 (French)
Shanmugasunder Chetty as Foreign Reporter #2 (East Indian)
Mohsen El Gharbi as Foreign Reporter #3 (Dutch)
Andrew Peplowski as ABC News Anchor
David Pryde as 50's Reporter
Roc LaFortune as Official (Soviet Accres.)
Vito DeFilippo as Russian Opponent (Bulgaria 1967)
Ellen David as Party Guest #1 (Fischer Apt.)
Rosaruby Kagan as Party Guest #2 (Fischer Apt.)
Alain Goulem as Reporter #1 (Vancouver)
Carlo Mestroni as Reporter #2 (Vancouver)
Glen Bowser as Bus Driver
Zach Fraser as Long Haired Hippy
Alexandra Van Loon as Joan's Daughter
Marco Verdoni as Joan's Husband
Matt Keyes as JFK Airport Journalist
Edward Yankie as President Nixon
Al Vandecruys as Arbiter - Bulgaria
Al Dubois as NBC Reporter
Francois Cote as Marshall Heavy
François Ducharme as Bent Larsen
Maurice Demers as President Brezhnev
Grace Anne as Bobby Fischer Fan (uncredited)
Nathaly Thibault as Press Conference (uncredited)
Benoit Priest as Texan Trucker (uncredited)
Sigurbjörn Guðmundsson as Icelandic Policeman (uncredited)
Natalija Ugrina as Bikini Babe (uncredited)
Lydia Zadel as Kissing Woman (uncredited)
Dennis Staroselsky as (uncredited)
André Sogliuzzo as Henry Kissinger (voice, uncredited)
Bobby Fischer as Self (archive footage)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 7% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 165

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	20	35
5 to 8	16	19
9 to 12	9	8
13 to 16	16	52
17 to 20	22	28
21 to 24	0	74
25 to 28	1	17
29 to 32	7	34
33 to 36	0	18
37 to 40	3	10
41 to 44	0	7
45 to 48	7	21
49 to 52	0	14
53 to 56	0	29
57 to 60	8	77
61 to 64	0	19
65 to 68	1	51
69 to 72	0	0
73 to 76	0	8
77 to 80	8	33
81 to 84	0	1
85 to 88	0	11
89 to 92	0	7
93 to 96	0	4
97 to 100	0	16
101 to 104	0	3
105 to 108	0	9
109 to 112	0	15
113 to 116	0	8
117 to 120	0	8
121 to 124	0	5
125 to 128	0	18
129 to 132	0	17
133 to 136	0	3
137 to 140	1	5
141 to 144	0	11
145 to 148	0	18
149 to 152	0	4
153 to 156	0	2
157 to 160	0	0
161 to 164	0	4
165 to 165	0	3

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, 14 are women's.

119 lines from women, 726 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

13 women and 51 men in the cast. 6 women and 32 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 10 of 904. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 159 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 10% of the words (888), men 90% (7,785). Women have 14% 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 14 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 29% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Edward Zwick (man)
Written by: Steven Knight (man)
Story by: Christopher Wilkinson (man), Stephen J. Rivele (man), Steven Knight (man)
Produced by: Tobey Maguire (man), Gail Katz (woman), Edward Zwick (man)
Shot by: Bradford Young (man)
Edited by: Steven Rosenblum (man)
Music by: James Newton Howard (man)
Production design by: Isabelle Guay (woman)
Costumes by: Renée April (woman)
Cast by: Victoria Thomas (woman)