Passes the Bechdel test
Roman J. Israel, Esq.
2017. Directed by Dan Gilroy, written by Dan Gilroy.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
16 women characters. 13 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 1 scene out of 1. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In that scene, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3, though someone marked that rating as dubious.
The film
ROMAN J. ISRAEL, ESQ. is a dramatic thriller set in the underbelly of the overburdened Los Angeles criminal court system. Denzel Washington stars as Roman Israel, a driven, idealistic defense attorney who, through a tumultuous series of events, finds himself in a crisis that leads to extreme action. Colin Farrell costars as the monied, cutthroat lawyer who recruits Roman to his firm.
- Released
- 22 Nov 2017
- Genres
- Crime, Drama, Thriller
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 6.5 / 10
- Metascore
- 58 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 1 Oscar. 2 wins & 11 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Roman 388 lines, man
- George 116 lines, man
- Maya 71 lines, woman
- Vernita 25 lines, woman
- Lynn 21 lines, woman
- Carter 20 lines, man
- Maya/Over Phone 20 lines, woman
- Connor 16 lines, man
- Derrell 11 lines, man
- Nurse 10 lines
Full cast, 44 people
- Denzel Washington as Roman J. Israel
- Colin Farrell as George Pierce
- Carmen Ejogo as Maya Alston
- Lynda Gravatt as Vernita Wells
- Amanda Warren as Lynn Jackson
- Hugo Armstrong as Fritz Molinar
- Sam Gilroy as Connor Novick
- Tony Plana as Jessie Salinas
- DeRon Horton as Derrell Ellerbee
- Amari Cheatom as Carter Johnson
- Vince Cefalu as Security Bailiff
- Tarina Pouncy as Hallway Bailiff
- Nazneen Contractor as Melina Nassour
- Niles Fitch as Langston Bailey
- Jocelyn Ayanna as Court Officer Bailiff
- Eli Bildner as Michael Wesley
- Robert Prescott as Adam Hilliard
- Sedale Threatt Jr. as Jeff
- Elisa Perry as Felicity Ellerbee
- Tinpo Lee as James Lee
- Brittany Ishibashi as Beth
- Cynthia Dallas as Lock-Up Guard
- Shelley Hennig as Olivia Reed
- Annie Sertich as Kate Becker
- Esperanza Spalding as Coalition Activist #1
- Jessica Camacho as Coalition Activist #2
- Ajgie Kirkland as Homeless Man
- Franco Vega as Will Wallace
- Lauren Ellen Thompson as Leslie Hunt
- Anthony Traina as Mugger
- Ludwig Manukian as Armenian Man
- Joseph David-Jones as Marcus Jones
- Kelly Sullivan as Kathryn
- Pej Vahdat as Abbas
- Henry G. Sanders as Pastor Jack
- Claudia de Vasco as Latino Wife
- Carlos E. Campos as Latino Husband
- Lawrence Tanter as Lakers PA Announcer
- Miles Heizer as Kyle Owens
- Kevin Hernandez as Diego Ortiz
- King Orba as Danny Barnes
- Just N. Time as Hitman
- Joy Bisco as ER Nurse (uncredited)
- James Paxton as Henry (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
We couldn't read who says what in this film's script, so there's no dialogue chart for it yet.
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: the passing scene
The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.
VERNITA: We’ll talk soon. LYNN: I’ll call you. VERNITA: You take care of yourself.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 24 are women's.
188 lines from women, 601 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
16 women and 25 men in the cast. 13 women and 13 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 5 of 864.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 122 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 18% of the words (1,541), men 82% (7,157). Women have 24% of the lines, so their lines run shorter 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
4
Two men
28
Exhibit F: behind the camera
3 of the 11 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 19% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Dan Gilroy (man)
- Written by
- Dan Gilroy (man)
- Produced by
- Jennifer Fox (woman), Denzel Washington (man), Todd Black (man)
- Shot by
- Robert Elswit (man)
- Edited by
- John Gilroy (man)
- Music by
- James Newton Howard (man)
- Production design by
- Kevin Kavanaugh (man)
- Costumes by
- Francine Jamison-Tanchuck (woman)
- Cast by
- Victoria Thomas (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
6 women, 13 men, 3 not listed
-
Other crew
1 women, 17 men, 3 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
2 women, 2 men, 3 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 4 men, 2 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 3 men
-
Camera
0 women, 2 men
-
Editing
0 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 50 on average. Men: 42 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Amanda Warren 35, Carmen Ejogo 44, Lynda Gravatt 71
Men
DeRon Horton 24, Sam Gilroy 30, Amari Cheatom 31, Colin Farrell 41, Denzel Washington 62, Tony Plana 65
Exhibit H: the money
It made 59% of what it cost.
- Budget
- $22 million
- Box office
- $13 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 1 scenes and 864 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
