Fails the Bechdel test
Queen & Slim
2019. Directed by Melina Matsoukas, written by Lena Waithe and James Frey.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
6 women characters. 4 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
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 2 out of 3.
The film
Slim and Queen's first date takes an unexpected turn when a policeman pulls them over for a minor traffic violation. When the situation escalates, Slim takes the officer's gun and shoots him in self-defense. Now labeled cop-killers in the media, Slim and Queen feel that they have no choice but to go on the run and evade the law. When a video of the incident goes viral, the unwitting outlaws soon become a symbol of trauma, terror, grief, and pain for people all across the country.
- Released
- 27 Nov 2019
- Genres
- Crime, Drama, Romance
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.1 / 10
- Metascore
- 74 / 100
- Awards
- 13 wins & 44 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Slim 354 lines, man
- Queen 351 lines, woman
- Uncle Earl 62 lines, man
- Police Officer 40 lines, man
- Black Man 31 lines, man
- Older Black Man 21 lines, man
- Mr. Shepherd 18 lines, man
- Sheriff 16 lines
- Chubby 14 lines, man
- Goddess 14 lines, woman
Full cast, 28 people
- Daniel Kaluuya as Slim
- Jodie Turner-Smith as Queen
- Bokeem Woodbine as Uncle Earl
- Sturgill Simpson as Police Officer Reed
- Flea as Mr. Shepherd
- Chloë Sevigny as Mrs. Shepherd
- Lillah Indya Moore as Goddess
- Benito Martinez as Sheriff Edgar
- Jahi Di'Allo Winston as Junior
- Gralen Bryant Banks as Older Black Man
- D.A. Obahor as Large Black Man
- Bryant Tardy as Chubby
- Thom Gossom Jr. as Slim's Father
- Melanie Halfkenny as Naomi
- Brian Thornton as Swat Leader
- Joseph Poliquin as Cashier
- Karen Kaia Livers as Bartender
- Bertrand E. Boyd II as Black Man
- Lucky Johnson as Black Cop at Protest
- Reynolds Washam as Cop
- Andre De'Sean Shanks as Black Cop
- Robert Walker Branchaud as White Cop at Shepherd House
- Colby Boothman-Shepard as Teenage White Boy
- Andy Dylan as Cop (Bullhorn)
- Regina Swanson as Newscaster
- Soledad O'Brien as Herself
- Gayle King as Herself
- Gregory Keith Grainger as Black Cop
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 3% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 97
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 | 42 | 42 |
| 4 to 6 | 8 | 28 |
| 7 to 9 | 24 | 46 |
| 10 to 12 | 25 | 24 |
| 13 to 15 | 3 | 9 |
| 16 to 18 | 8 | 6 |
| 19 to 21 | 10 | 9 |
| 22 to 24 | 23 | 53 |
| 25 to 27 | 11 | 28 |
| 28 to 30 | 9 | 6 |
| 31 to 33 | 51 | 45 |
| 34 to 36 | 22 | 21 |
| 37 to 39 | 3 | 18 |
| 40 to 42 | 2 | 7 |
| 43 to 45 | 29 | 29 |
| 46 to 48 | 18 | 17 |
| 49 to 51 | 15 | 20 |
| 52 to 54 | 8 | 26 |
| 55 to 57 | 10 | 31 |
| 58 to 60 | 7 | 7 |
| 61 to 63 | 6 | 3 |
| 64 to 66 | 0 | 10 |
| 67 to 69 | 0 | 0 |
| 70 to 72 | 10 | 13 |
| 73 to 75 | 11 | 16 |
| 76 to 78 | 0 | 4 |
| 79 to 81 | 6 | 9 |
| 82 to 84 | 3 | 15 |
| 85 to 87 | 5 | 12 |
| 88 to 90 | 15 | 30 |
| 91 to 93 | 8 | 32 |
| 94 to 96 | 0 | 0 |
| 97 to 97 | 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, 39 are women's.
392 lines from women, 616 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
6 women and 19 men in the cast. 4 women and 16 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
A woman speaks the first line.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 20 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 38% of the words (2,683), men 62% (4,412). Women have 39% 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
33
Exhibit E: behind the camera
9 of the 16 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 38% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Melina Matsoukas (woman)
- Written by
- Lena Waithe (woman)
- Story by
- Lena Waithe (woman), James Frey (man)
- Produced by
- Pamela Abdy (woman), Michelle Knudsen (woman), Lena Waithe (woman), James Frey (man), Andrew Coles (gender not listed), Melina Matsoukas (woman) and 1 more
- Shot by
- Tat Radcliffe (man)
- Edited by
- Pete Beaudreau (man)
- Music by
- Devonté Hynes (man)
- Production design by
- Karen Murphy (woman)
- Costumes by
- Shiona Turini (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
2 women, 14 men, 7 not listed
-
Production
8 women, 6 men, 4 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 3 men, 6 not listed
-
Camera
2 women, 4 men, 2 not listed
-
Other crew
2 women, 4 men, 1 not listed
-
Directing
2 women, 2 men, 3 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
3 women, 0 men, 2 not listed
-
Writing
2 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 34 on average. Men: 42 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Lillah Indya Moore 24, Jodie Turner-Smith 33, Chloë Sevigny 45
Men
Jahi Di'Allo Winston 15, Daniel Kaluuya 30, Sturgill Simpson 41, Bokeem Woodbine 46, Benito Martinez 48, Flea 57, Gralen Bryant Banks 58
Exhibit G: the money
It made 2.4 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $20 million
- Box office
- $47.8 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 97 scenes and 1,041 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
