Passes the Bechdel test
Prisoners
2013. Directed by Denis Villeneuve, written by Aaron Guzikowski.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
14 women characters. 16 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 7 scenes out of 248. -
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
How far would you go to protect your family? Keller Dover is facing every parent's a lot of people worst nightmare. His six-year-old daughter, Anna, is missing, together with her young friend, Joy, and as minutes turn to hours, panic sets in. The only lead is a dilapidated RV that had earlier been parked on their street. Heading the investigation, Detective Loki arrests its driver, Alex Jones, but a lack of evidence forces his release. As the police pursue multiple leads and pressure mounts, knowing his child's life is at stake the frantic Dover decides he has no choice but to take matters into his own hands. But just how far will this desperate father go to protect his family?
- Released
- 20 Sep 2013
- Genres
- Crime, Drama, Mystery
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 8.2 / 10
- Metascore
- 70 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 1 Oscar. 10 wins & 38 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Loki 170 lines, man
- Keller 141 lines, man
- Holly Jones 56 lines, woman
- Grace 50 lines, woman
- Nancy 40 lines, woman
- Ralph 31 lines, man
- Franklin 29 lines, man
- Captain Richard O'Malley 24 lines, man
- Eliza 17 lines, woman
- Jones 15 lines
Full cast, 39 people
- Hugh Jackman as Keller Dover
- Jake Gyllenhaal as Detective Loki
- Viola Davis as Nancy Birch
- Maria Bello as Grace Dover
- Terrence Howard as Franklin Birch
- Melissa Leo as Holly Jones
- Paul Dano as Alex Jones
- Dylan Minnette as Ralph Dover
- Zoë Soul as Eliza Birch
- Erin Gerasimovich as Anna Dover
- Kyla-Drew as Joy Birch
- Wayne Duvall as Captain Richard O'Malley
- Len Cariou as Father Patrick Dunn
- David Dastmalchian as Bob Taylor
- Brad James as Officer Carter
- Anthony Reynolds as Officer Wedge
- Robert C. Treveiler as Forensics Guy
- Sandra Ellis Lafferty as Mrs. Milland
- Victoria Staley as Check Out Girl
- Todd Truley as Detective Chemelinski
- Brian Daye as Desk Sergeant
- Alisa Harris as Police Clerk
- Robert Mello as Roger
- Jeff Pope as Sex Offender #1
- Rodrick Goins as Sex Offender #2
- Mark Drum as Sex Offender #3
- Lana Yoo as Chinese Waitress
- Pam Smith as Police Station Reporter #1
- Gloria Webber as Police Station Reporter #2
- Michelle Keller as Woman at Vigil
- John Atwood as Newscaster
- Stacy Melich as Woman Motorist
- J. Omar Castro as Cop in Hospital
- Jane McNeill as Nurse
- Dennis Christopher as Mr. Jones (uncredited)
- Takara Clark as Captain O'Malley's Secretary (uncredited)
- Jason Davis as Paul Brewer (uncredited)
- Katrina Despain as Kim Milland (uncredited)
- Brody Rose as Bill Brewer (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 6 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 4% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 248
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 6 | 9 | 11 |
| 7 to 12 | 21 | 19 |
| 13 to 18 | 2 | 6 |
| 19 to 24 | 2 | 20 |
| 25 to 30 | 6 | 9 |
| 31 to 36 | 1 | 7 |
| 37 to 42 | 6 | 37 |
| 43 to 48 | 0 | 7 |
| 49 to 54 | 0 | 10 |
| 55 to 60 | 5 | 28 |
| 61 to 66 | 4 | 11 |
| 67 to 72 | 0 | 3 |
| 73 to 78 | 10 | 23 |
| 79 to 84 | 8 | 14 |
| 85 to 90 | 2 | 13 |
| 91 to 96 | 6 | 13 |
| 97 to 102 | 5 | 15 |
| 103 to 108 | 9 | 2 |
| 109 to 114 | 7 | 3 |
| 115 to 120 | 0 | 1 |
| 121 to 126 | 0 | 21 |
| 127 to 132 | 1 | 3 |
| 133 to 138 | 1 | 3 |
| 139 to 144 | 0 | 12 |
| 145 to 150 | 0 | 12 |
| 151 to 156 | 0 | 14 |
| 157 to 162 | 6 | 30 |
| 163 to 168 | 14 | 19 |
| 169 to 174 | 3 | 16 |
| 175 to 180 | 1 | 6 |
| 181 to 186 | 15 | 12 |
| 187 to 192 | 1 | 5 |
| 193 to 198 | 5 | 9 |
| 199 to 204 | 19 | 9 |
| 205 to 210 | 16 | 1 |
| 211 to 216 | 0 | 3 |
| 217 to 222 | 0 | 1 |
| 223 to 228 | 0 | 0 |
| 229 to 234 | 1 | 2 |
| 235 to 240 | 0 | 1 |
| 241 to 246 | 5 | 3 |
| 247 to 248 | 6 | 6 |
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.
GRACE: Wait, Anna. ANNA: Are we taking the truck?
NANCY: You’re in charge of this. Us veterinarians make lousy butchers. GRACE: No problem. ANNA: Can I go outside with Joy?
GRACE: They didn’t come to get you earlier -- they were supposed to come and get you. ELIZA: We haven’t seen them since we ate.
NANCY: She’s not answering. NANCY: Eliza, honey open the door. Open the door, sweetheart -- Oh Jesus -- Break it down! Hurry up! ELIZA: Fuck you both. Next time you’re going to leave me here alone -- maybe you could try at least telling me where you’re going. NANCY: I’m sorry, honey, we thought you were sleeping -- we were at the police station --
ELIZA: What is it? NANCY: I told you to feed it! Why didn’t you feed it?!
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 31 are women's.
197 lines from women, 440 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
14 women and 18 men in the cast. 16 women and 14 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 5 of 667.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 72 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 34% of the words (2,424), men 66% (4,721). Women have 31% of the lines, so their lines run longer than men's.
Exhibit E: 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
8
Two men
38
Exhibit F: behind the camera
2 of the 14 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 21% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Denis Villeneuve (man)
- Written by
- Aaron Guzikowski (man)
- Produced by
- Kira Davis (woman), Adam Kolbrenner (man), Andrew A. Kosove (man), Broderick Johnson (man)
- Shot by
- Roger Deakins (man)
- Edited by
- Gary D. Roach (man), Joel Cox (man)
- Music by
- Jóhann Jóhannsson (man)
- Production design by
- Patrice Vermette (man)
- Costumes by
- Renée April (woman)
- Cast by
- Paul Schnee (man), Kerry Barden (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
7 women, 26 men, 32 not listed
-
Production
6 women, 15 men, 16 not listed
-
Art
2 women, 6 men, 17 not listed
-
Sound
3 women, 19 men, 3 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
3 women, 2 men, 13 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 8 men, 9 not listed
-
Lighting
0 women, 4 men, 10 not listed
-
Editing
1 women, 2 men, 8 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 34 on average. Men: 33 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Erin Gerasimovich 8, Zoë Soul 17, Maria Bello 46, Viola Davis 48, Melissa Leo 53
Men
Dylan Minnette 16, Paul Dano 29, Jake Gyllenhaal 32, Hugh Jackman 44, Terrence Howard 44
Exhibit H: the money
It made 2.7 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $46 million
- Box office
- $122 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 248 scenes and 667 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
