Fails the Bechdel test
Seven
1995. Directed by David Fincher, written by Andrew Kevin Walker.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
0 / 3
Fails
-
No
1. At least two women
Fewer than two women characters. -
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 1 out of 3.
The film
Taking place in a nameless city, Se7en follows the story of two homicide detectives tracking down a sadistic serial killer who chooses his victims according to the seven deadly sins. Brad Pitt stars as Detective David Mills, a hopeful but naive rookie who finds himself partnered with veteran Detective William Somerset (Morgan Freeman). Together they trace the killer's every step, witnessing the aftermath of his horrific crimes one by one as the victims pile up in rapid succession, all the while moving closer to a gruesome fate neither of them could have predicted.
- Released
- 22 Sep 1995
- Genres
- Crime, Drama, Mystery
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 8.6 / 10
- Metascore
- 65 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 1 Oscar. 29 wins & 44 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Somerset 311 lines, man
- Mills 302 lines, man
- Tracy 69 lines, woman
- John Doe 42 lines, man
- Captain 35 lines
- California 23 lines, man
- William 20 lines, man
- Bleeker 16 lines, man
- Mrs Gold 9 lines, woman
- Crazed Man 8 lines, man
Full cast, 60 people
- Morgan Freeman as Somerset
- Brad Pitt as Mills
- Gwyneth Paltrow as Tracy
- John Cassini as Officer Davis
- Peter Crombie as Dr. O'Neill
- Reg E. Cathey as Dr. Santiago
- R. Lee Ermey as Police Captain
- Daniel Zacapa as Detective Taylor at First Murder
- Andrew Kevin Walker as Dead Man at 1st Crime Scene
- George Christy as Workman at Door of Somerset's Office
- Endre Hules as Cab Driver
- Hawthorne James as George the Night Guard at the Library
- Bob Mack as Gluttony Victim
- William Davidson as First Guard at the Library
- Bob Collins as Second Guard at the Library
- Jimmy Dale Hartsell as Library Janitor
- Richard Roundtree as Talbot
- Charline Su as TV News Reporter
- Dominique Jennings as TV News Reporter
- Allan Kolman as First Forensic Man in the Law Office
- Beverly Burke as TV Anchor Woman
- Gene Borkan as Eli Gould - Greed Victim
- Julie Araskog as Mrs. Gould
- Mario Di Donato as Fingerprint Forensic Man in Law Office
- Alfonso Freeman as Fingerprint Technician
- John C. McGinley as California
- Harrison White as Cop on SWAT Team
- Bob Stephenson as Cop on SWAT Team
- Michael Reid MacKay as Victor - Sloth Victim
- Richard Portnow as Dr. Beardsley
- Tudor Sherrard as Coupon Man Outside Pizza Parlor
- Mark Boone Junior as Greasy F.B.I. Man
- Pamala Tyson as Thin Vagrant by John Doe's Apartment
- Lennie Loftin as Policeman Who Takes Statement from Vagrant
- Sarah Reinhardt as Police Sketch Artist
- Emily Wagner as Detective Sara at John Doe's Apartment
- Martin Serene as Wild Bill
- Michael Massee as Man in Booth at Massage Parlor
- David Correia as First Cop at Massage Parlor
- Ron Blair as Second Cop at Massage Parlor
- Jennifer Mueller as Lust Victim
- Leland Orser as Crazed Man in Massage Parlor
- Lexie Bigham as Sweating Cop at Massage Parlor
- Evan Mirand as Paramedic at Massage Parlor
- Paul Eckstein as Paramedic at Massage Parlor
- Harris Savides as 911 Operator
- Rachel Flanagan as Additional 911 Operator
- Heidi Schanz as Pride Victim
- Brian Evers as Duty Sergeant
- Shannon Wilcox as Woman Cop Behind Desk
- Richard Schiff as Mark Swarr
- James Deeth as Helicopter Pilot
- John Santin as Helicopter Pilot
- Charles A. Tamburro as SWAT Helicopter Pilot
- Richmond Arquette as Delivery Man
- Duffy Gaver as Marksman in Helicopter
- Kevin Spacey as John Doe
- Charles S. Dutton as Cop (uncredited)
- Arthur Max as Man in Library (uncredited)
- Gregory Fennell as Los Angeles SWAT
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 5 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 5% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 202
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 5 | 1 | 9 |
| 6 to 10 | 0 | 7 |
| 11 to 15 | 0 | 28 |
| 16 to 20 | 0 | 56 |
| 21 to 25 | 12 | 16 |
| 26 to 30 | 1 | 24 |
| 31 to 35 | 0 | 24 |
| 36 to 40 | 0 | 10 |
| 41 to 45 | 1 | 37 |
| 46 to 50 | 21 | 21 |
| 51 to 55 | 8 | 34 |
| 56 to 60 | 0 | 35 |
| 61 to 65 | 9 | 34 |
| 66 to 70 | 0 | 19 |
| 71 to 75 | 0 | 23 |
| 76 to 80 | 0 | 22 |
| 81 to 85 | 0 | 38 |
| 86 to 90 | 1 | 20 |
| 91 to 95 | 0 | 8 |
| 96 to 100 | 0 | 41 |
| 101 to 105 | 0 | 4 |
| 106 to 110 | 0 | 5 |
| 111 to 115 | 3 | 22 |
| 116 to 120 | 11 | 15 |
| 121 to 125 | 4 | 6 |
| 126 to 130 | 0 | 0 |
| 131 to 135 | 2 | 31 |
| 136 to 140 | 0 | 17 |
| 141 to 145 | 2 | 26 |
| 146 to 150 | 7 | 33 |
| 151 to 155 | 0 | 44 |
| 156 to 160 | 0 | 6 |
| 161 to 165 | 0 | 7 |
| 166 to 170 | 0 | 15 |
| 171 to 175 | 0 | 10 |
| 176 to 180 | 0 | 11 |
| 181 to 185 | 0 | 4 |
| 186 to 190 | 0 | 9 |
| 191 to 195 | 0 | 46 |
| 196 to 200 | 3 | 5 |
| 201 to 202 | 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, 9 are women's.
86 lines from women, 822 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
12 women and 47 men in the cast. 5 women and 22 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 187 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 8% of the words (831), men 92% (9,673). Women have 9% 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
79
Exhibit E: behind the camera
2 of the 12 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 20% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- David Fincher (man)
- Written by
- Andrew Kevin Walker (man)
- Produced by
- Phyllis Carlyle (woman), Arnold Kopelson (man)
- Shot by
- Darius Khondji (man)
- Edited by
- Richard Francis-Bruce (man)
- Music by
- Howard Shore (man)
- Production design by
- Arthur Max (man)
- Costumes by
- Michael Kaplan (man)
- Cast by
- Kerry Barden (man), Billy Hopkins (man), Suzanne Smith Crowley (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
7 women, 23 men, 9 not listed
-
Production
9 women, 12 men, 14 not listed
-
Other crew
4 women, 13 men, 15 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 12 men, 11 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 8 men, 9 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 4 men, 6 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 6 men, 2 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 3 men, 3 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 22 on average. Men: 45 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Gwyneth Paltrow 22
Men
Brad Pitt 31, Andrew Kevin Walker 31, Reg E. Cathey 37, Peter Crombie 43, Daniel Zacapa 44, R. Lee Ermey 51, Morgan Freeman 58, George Christy 68
Exhibit G: the money
It made 9.9 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $33 million
- Box office
- $327 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 202 scenes and 958 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
