Passes the Bechdel test

S. Darko

Name: S. Darko
Released: 2009

2009. Directed by Chris Fisher, written by Nate Atkins and Richard Kelly.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
10 women characters. 9 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 8 scenes out of 168.
Yes 3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.

Second opinion

Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.

The film

July, 1995, the time is out of joint. Two teen girls, Sam and Corey, have left Virginia for L.A. to start over. Sam's brother has died and her family's shattered; Corey's too wild. They have car trouble in a small desert town, where Corey immediately starts her partying ways, where a meteorite strikes a windmill, and where a burned-out Desert Storm vet predicts the end of the world in four days. Sam hallucinates while sleepwalking, young men have disappeared from town, and cars come out of nowhere to cause accidents. Time travel may be possible, but it takes courage and resolve. Is the addled war veteran right? If he is, can Corey or Sam make things right?

Released: 21 Aug 2009
Genres: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Rated: R
IMDb: 3.6 / 10
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Sam 175 lines, woman
Corey 132 lines, woman
Chris 110 lines, man
Jeremy 102 lines, man
Officer O'Dell 39 lines, man
Randy 32 lines, man
Trudy 21 lines, woman
Ruth 20 lines, woman
Father Homeijer 18 lines, man
Billy Moorcroft 10 lines, man

Full cast, 25 people

Daveigh Chase as Samantha Darko
Elizabeth Berkley as Trudy Potter
Briana Evigan as Corey
James Lafferty as Iraq Jack
Ed Westwick as Randy
Bret Roberts as Officer O'Dell
Jackson Rathbone as Jeremy
Barbara Tarbuck as Agatha
Matthew Davis as Pastor John
Walter Platz as Frank
John Hawkes as Phil
Nathan Stevens as Jeff
Ryan Templeman as Mike
Zulay Henao as Baelyn
JJ Neward as Co-Worker
Bridger El-Bakhi as Billy
Joey Naber
Gregory T. Collett as Ted Moncton (uncredited)
Kristen Hillier as Local Girl (uncredited)
Bob Lanoue as F.B.I. Agent (uncredited)
Kristina Malota as Susie Bates (uncredited)
Marina Malota as Emily Bates (uncredited)
Thomas McMinn as Partier (uncredited)
Savannah Ostler as Barfing Girl / Waitress (uncredited)
Josh Piper as Barbecue Guy (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 1% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 168

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	0	0
5 to 8	12	3
9 to 12	26	14
13 to 16	2	0
17 to 20	1	12
21 to 24	28	18
25 to 28	14	12
29 to 32	11	14
33 to 36	0	1
37 to 40	26	12
41 to 44	9	11
45 to 48	17	14
49 to 52	5	11
53 to 56	22	20
57 to 60	22	23
61 to 64	12	12
65 to 68	1	3
69 to 72	1	0
73 to 76	6	6
77 to 80	4	1
81 to 84	0	1
85 to 88	0	0
89 to 92	13	3
93 to 96	4	8
97 to 100	10	6
101 to 104	14	12
105 to 108	17	11
109 to 112	15	19
113 to 116	1	3
117 to 120	0	4
121 to 124	17	19
125 to 128	5	26
129 to 132	18	25
133 to 136	4	1
137 to 140	0	1
141 to 144	0	2
145 to 148	8	14
149 to 152	11	16
153 to 156	1	3
157 to 160	1	4
161 to 164	0	0
165 to 168	15	13

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.

COREY: What time is it? SAM: Early...

SAM: Turn it off. COREY: What? SAM: Turn off the car. SAM: Doesn't look too good...

COREY: We need a room. SAM: How much is it?

RUTH: You get checked into the motel alright? COREY: Yep.

SAM: I'm really tired. COREY: Yeah, I think we'll just head back. Been a long day, ya know?

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 50 are women's.

373 lines from women, 378 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

10 women and 15 men in the cast. 9 women and 12 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

A woman speaks the first line. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 22 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 44% of the words (2,621), men 56% (3,396). Women have 50% 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

Two men

Exhibit F: behind the camera

None of the 8 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 10% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Chris Fisher (man)
Written by: Nate Atkins (man)
Produced by: Ash R. Shah (man), Adam Fields (man)
Shot by: Marvin V. Rush (man)
Edited by: Kent Beyda (man)
Music by: Ed Harcourt (man)
Production design by: Alfred Sole (man)

The crew, department by department

Production

0 women, 5 men
Other crew

0 women, 3 men
Sound

0 women, 3 men
Art

0 women, 2 men
Costume & Make-Up

2 women, 0 men
Directing

0 women, 2 men
Writing

0 women, 2 men
Camera

0 women, 1 men

Women
Men
Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit G: how old the stars were

Women: 36 on average. Men: 25 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Daveigh Chase 18, Briana Evigan 22, Elizabeth Berkley 36, Barbara Tarbuck 67

Men

Ed Westwick 21, James Lafferty 23, Jackson Rathbone 24, Matthew Davis 30

Exhibit H: the money

It made 1.0 times what it cost.

Budget: $4 million
Box office: $4.1 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 168 scenes and 762 lines of dialogue. How the test works

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