Fails the Bechdel test
Prometheus
2012. Directed by Ridley Scott, written by Jon Spaihts and Damon Lindelof and Dan O'Bannon.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
7 women characters. 1 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
Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3.
The film
In 2089, archaeologists discover a star map suggesting humanity's origins lie with a powerful alien race, the Engineers. A team travels to a distant moon to find them, led by the wealthy and aging Peter Weyland. They discover an ancient structure and the Engineers, but the encounter turns deadly. The Engineers, it turns out, were attempting to destroy humanity, and a deadly bio weapon is unleashed. The survivors must escape the wrath of the Engineers and confront the terrifying truth about their own origins.
- Released
- 08 Jun 2012
- Genres
- Adventure, Sci-Fi
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7 / 10
- Metascore
- 64 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 1 Oscar. 6 wins & 48 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Watts 160 lines, woman
- Holloway 118 lines, man
- Janek 64 lines, man
- David 63 lines, man
- Vickers 35 lines, woman
- Weyland 20 lines, man
- Milburn 19 lines, man
- Fifield 17 lines, man
- Brick 13 lines, man
- Downs 13 lines
Full cast, 45 people
- Noomi Rapace as Elizabeth Shaw
- Michael Fassbender as David
- Charlize Theron as Meredith Vickers
- Idris Elba as Janek
- Guy Pearce as Peter Weyland
- Logan Marshall-Green as Charlie Holloway
- Sean Harris as Fifield
- Rafe Spall as Millburn
- Emun Elliott as Chance
- Benedict Wong as Ravel
- Kate Dickie as Ford
- Branwell Donaghey as Mercenary 1
- Vladimir "Furdo" Furdik as Mercenary 2
- C.C. Smiff as Mercenary 3
- Shane Steyn as Mercenary 4
- Ian Whyte as Last Engineer
- John Lebar as Ghost Engineer
- Daniel James Peterson as Sacrifice Engineer
- Patrick Wilson as Shaw's Father
- Lucy Hutchinson as Young Shaw
- Giannina Facio as Shaw's Mother
- Anil Biltoo as Linguist Teacher
- Louisa Staples as Greeting Message Violinist
- James Embree as Mechanic 1
- Florian Robin as Mechanic 2
- Matthew Burgess as Mechanic 3
- Eugene O'Hare as Mechanic 4
- Richard Thomson as Archaeological Assistant
- Philip McGinley as Archaeological Assistant
- Jenny Rainsford as Archaeological Assistant
- Rhona Croker as Archaeological Assistant
- Wambui Wa-Ngatho as Automated Voice (Swahili) (voice)
- Wannaporn Rienjang as Automated Voice (Thai) (voice)
- Zed Sevcikova as Automated Voice (Czech) (voice)
- Sonam Dugdak as Automated Voice (Tibetan) (voice)
- Reynir Thor Eggertsson as Automated Voice (Icelandic) (voice)
- Shin-Ichiro Okajima as Automated Voice (Japanese) (voice)
- Charalambos Dendrinos as Automated Voice (Greek) (voice)
- Berhane Woldegabriel as Automated Voice (Amharic) (voice)
- Annie Penn as Ship Computer Voice (voice)
- Robin Atkin Downes as Ship Computer Voice (voice)
- James Currie as Weyland Guest (uncredited)
- Dan Dewhirst as Peter Weyland Files (uncredited)
- Phill Martin as Elephantine Engineer (uncredited)
- Matt Rook as Elder Engineer (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 18% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 143
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 | 1 |
| 4 to 6 | 3 | 1 |
| 7 to 9 | 4 | 3 |
| 10 to 12 | 2 | 3 |
| 13 to 15 | 5 | 4 |
| 16 to 18 | 10 | 40 |
| 19 to 21 | 1 | 3 |
| 22 to 24 | 21 | 33 |
| 25 to 27 | 0 | 1 |
| 28 to 30 | 2 | 12 |
| 31 to 33 | 3 | 11 |
| 34 to 36 | 0 | 3 |
| 37 to 39 | 0 | 5 |
| 40 to 42 | 1 | 3 |
| 43 to 45 | 2 | 5 |
| 46 to 48 | 2 | 3 |
| 49 to 51 | 1 | 2 |
| 52 to 54 | 2 | 20 |
| 55 to 57 | 8 | 22 |
| 58 to 60 | 2 | 5 |
| 61 to 63 | 0 | 3 |
| 64 to 66 | 2 | 4 |
| 67 to 69 | 0 | 6 |
| 70 to 72 | 8 | 14 |
| 73 to 75 | 5 | 10 |
| 76 to 78 | 3 | 9 |
| 79 to 81 | 16 | 13 |
| 82 to 84 | 4 | 4 |
| 85 to 87 | 6 | 6 |
| 88 to 90 | 11 | 16 |
| 91 to 93 | 8 | 8 |
| 94 to 96 | 0 | 3 |
| 97 to 99 | 2 | 6 |
| 100 to 102 | 15 | 21 |
| 103 to 105 | 0 | 1 |
| 106 to 108 | 1 | 2 |
| 109 to 111 | 10 | 5 |
| 112 to 114 | 15 | 1 |
| 115 to 117 | 11 | 14 |
| 118 to 120 | 0 | 0 |
| 121 to 123 | 5 | 8 |
| 124 to 126 | 0 | 0 |
| 127 to 129 | 1 | 3 |
| 130 to 132 | 2 | 0 |
| 133 to 135 | 0 | 0 |
| 136 to 138 | 0 | 1 |
| 139 to 141 | 1 | 0 |
| 142 to 143 | 0 | 0 |
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, 37 are women's.
195 lines from women, 338 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
7 women and 23 men in the cast. 1 women and 9 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 3 of 651.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 19 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 31% of the words (1,557), men 69% (3,470). Women have 37% 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
8
Two men
38
Exhibit E: behind the camera
3 of the 13 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 16% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Ridley Scott (man)
- Written by
- Jon Spaihts (man), Damon Lindelof (man)
- Produced by
- Ridley Scott (man), Walter Hill (man), David Giler (man)
- Shot by
- Dariusz Wolski (man)
- Edited by
- Pietro Scalia (man)
- Music by
- Marc Streitenfeld (man)
- Production design by
- Arthur Max (man)
- Costumes by
- Janty Yates (woman)
- Cast by
- Nina Gold (woman), Avy Kaufman (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Art
2 women, 11 men, 11 not listed
-
Sound
3 women, 15 men, 2 not listed
-
Visual Effects
1 women, 14 men, 5 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
3 women, 2 men, 12 not listed
-
Production
2 women, 8 men, 1 not listed
-
Other crew
1 women, 7 men, 1 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 6 men, 2 not listed
-
Directing
2 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 34 on average. Men: 37 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Noomi Rapace 32, Charlize Theron 36
Men
Emun Elliott 28, Rafe Spall 29, Michael Fassbender 35, Logan Marshall-Green 35, Idris Elba 39, Benedict Wong 40, Guy Pearce 44, Sean Harris 46
Exhibit G: the money
It made 3.1 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $130 million
- Box office
- $403 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 143 scenes and 651 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
