Passes the Bechdel test
Sinners
2025. Directed by Ryan Coogler, written by Ryan Coogler.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
12 women characters. 11 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 9 scenes out of 111. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3.
The film
1930s. Brothers "Smoke" and "Stack" Moore return home to Mississippi after working for the Chicago Mafia. They buy a sawmill and a juke joint and use their experience as gangsters to ensure that their businesses flourish. Things appear to be going well but trouble has just hit town, trouble in supernatural form.
- Released
- 18 Apr 2025
- Genres
- Horror
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.5 / 10
- Metascore
- 84 / 100
- Awards
- Won 4 Oscars. 344 wins & 506 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Smoke 182 lines, man
- Stack 139 lines, man
- Sammie 123 lines, man
- Annie 89 lines, woman
- Delta Slim 68 lines, man
- Mary 67 lines, woman
- Remmick 44 lines, man
- Cornbread 37 lines, man
- Grace 36 lines, woman
- Pearline 30 lines, woman
Full cast, 59 people
- Michael B. Jordan as Smoke / Stack
- Hailee Steinfeld as Mary
- Miles Caton as Sammie Moore
- Jack O'Connell as Remmick
- Wunmi Mosaku as Annie
- Jayme Lawson as Pearline
- Omar Benson Miller as Cornbread
- Delroy Lindo as Delta Slim
- Li Jun Li as Grace Chow
- Yao as Bo Chow
- Lola Kirke as Joan
- Peter Dreimanis as Bert
- Buddy Guy as Old Sammie
- Saul Williams as Jedidiah
- Andrene Ward-Hammond as Ruthie
- Tenaj L. Jackson as Beatrice
- Dave Maldonado as Hogwood
- Aadyn Encalarde as Teenager
- Helena Hu as Lisa Chow
- Sam Malone as Terry
- Ja'Quan Monroe-Henderson as Second Thief
- Percy Bell as Incarcerated Worker #1 / Smoke & Stack Body Double
- Emonie Ellison as Therise
- Kai Thompson as Young Girl in Annie's Shop
- Nathaniel Arcand as Chayton
- Mark L. Patrick as Mississippi Choctaw Horseback Scout
- Gralen Bryant Banks as Patterson
- Nicoye Banks as Jacob
- Christian Robinson as Chris
- Justin William Davis as Jeff
- Deneen Tyler as Partygoer
- Michael A. Newcomer as Bartender
- Theodus Crane as Bouncer
- Kendalyn Dene Breakfield as Dancer
- Airelle Brooks as Dancer
- Gabriel Cavallini as Dancer
- Jeremy Denzel as Dancer
- Le'Andre Douglas as Dancer
- Akeem J. Edwards as Dancer
- Arouna Guindo as Dancer
- Jarrell Hamilton as Dancer
- Leroy Harris Jr. as Dancer
- Jeoffrey Harris Jr. as Dancer
- Alex Huynh as Dancer
- Ritho Johnson as Dancer
- Donald Jones Jr. as Dancer
- Breonna Jordan as Dancer
- Trinity Jaden Mitchell as Dancer
- Ian Monroe as Dancer
- Cuso Mora as Dancer
- Winnie Mu as Dancer
- Jahaira Myers as Dancer
- Andrea Peoples as Dancer
- Phyouture as Dancer
- Faith Rockward as Dancer
- Ahmari Vaughn as Dancer
- Tyler Wilson as Dancer
- Caelan Wolfe as Townsperson
- Ricardo Vargas as Choctaw Posse / Body Double: Nathaniel Arcand (uncredited)
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 111
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 | 7 | 0 |
| 4 to 6 | 13 | 18 |
| 7 to 9 | 3 | 27 |
| 10 to 12 | 5 | 5 |
| 13 to 15 | 0 | 20 |
| 16 to 18 | 0 | 38 |
| 19 to 21 | 5 | 41 |
| 22 to 24 | 1 | 31 |
| 25 to 27 | 13 | 13 |
| 28 to 30 | 21 | 60 |
| 31 to 33 | 15 | 50 |
| 34 to 36 | 1 | 11 |
| 37 to 39 | 0 | 0 |
| 40 to 42 | 0 | 0 |
| 43 to 45 | 0 | 0 |
| 46 to 48 | 0 | 4 |
| 49 to 51 | 4 | 19 |
| 52 to 54 | 0 | 5 |
| 55 to 57 | 9 | 10 |
| 58 to 60 | 23 | 36 |
| 61 to 63 | 4 | 3 |
| 64 to 66 | 25 | 62 |
| 67 to 69 | 14 | 13 |
| 70 to 72 | 3 | 8 |
| 73 to 75 | 1 | 30 |
| 76 to 78 | 1 | 13 |
| 79 to 81 | 2 | 0 |
| 82 to 84 | 6 | 7 |
| 85 to 87 | 23 | 37 |
| 88 to 90 | 26 | 29 |
| 91 to 93 | 7 | 14 |
| 94 to 96 | 9 | 26 |
| 97 to 99 | 14 | 5 |
| 100 to 102 | 5 | 10 |
| 103 to 105 | 0 | 15 |
| 106 to 108 | 1 | 14 |
| 109 to 111 | 3 | 32 |
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.
YOUNG BLACK GIRL: Just this Miss Annie... YOUNG BLACK GIRL: And a pinch of High John. ANNIE: Don’t sell none of them on your way home. Don’t need yo mama coming at me crazy later. ANNIE: Excuse me?
MARY: Tha t’s none of- ANNIE: She here cause she family.
ANNIE: You doin’ alright? ANNIE: Look like you need something to eat. Food in Little Rock ain't no good? MARY: It’s fine. Just grieving. You ain't got none of that gumbo here do you? ANNIE: Catfish sandwich?
JOAN: No she don’t need it. MARY: What makes you say that?
PEARLINE: What was in that jar? ANNIE: Pickled garlic. These ain't Haints. They vampires.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 27 are women's.
264 lines from women, 706 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
12 women and 24 men in the cast. 11 women and 18 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 75 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 23% of the words (2,362), men 77% (8,042). Women have 27% 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
16
Two men
71
Exhibit F: behind the camera
5 of the 11 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 29% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Ryan Coogler (man)
- Written by
- Ryan Coogler (man)
- Produced by
- Sev Ohanian (man), Zinzi Coogler (woman), Ryan Coogler (man)
- Shot by
- Autumn Durald Arkapaw (woman)
- Edited by
- Michael P. Shawver (man)
- Music by
- Ludwig Göransson (man)
- Production design by
- Hannah Beachler (woman)
- Costumes by
- Ruth E. Carter (woman)
- Cast by
- Francine Maisler (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
13 women, 42 men, 37 not listed
-
Sound
8 women, 29 men, 12 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
9 women, 4 men, 15 not listed
-
Art
4 women, 4 men, 19 not listed
-
Production
8 women, 12 men, 4 not listed
-
Visual Effects
2 women, 11 men, 8 not listed
-
Camera
3 women, 0 men, 13 not listed
-
Lighting
0 women, 2 men, 7 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 34 on average. Men: 42 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Jayme Lawson 27, Hailee Steinfeld 28, Wunmi Mosaku 38, Li Jun Li 41
Men
Miles Caton 20, Jack O'Connell 34, Michael B. Jordan 38, Omar Benson Miller 46, Delroy Lindo 72
Exhibit H: the money
It made 3.7 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $100 million
- Box office
- $371 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 111 scenes and 996 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
