Passes the Bechdel test

Smashed

Name: Smashed
Released: 2012

2012. Directed by James Ponsoldt, written by Susan Burke and James Ponsoldt.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
15 women characters. 13 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 11 scenes out of 76.
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

Kate and Charlie Hannah have a relationship well lubricated with alcohol, but Kate finally finds her chemical appetites have gotten completely out of control. With the help of an ex-addict friend at work, Kate finds a support group that helps her begin to conquer her addictions. However, that recovery proves just part of a larger personal challenge to rebuild her life even as her marriage with her drunken husband deteriorates.

Released: 14 Dec 2012
Genres: Drama
Rated: R
IMDb: 6.7 / 10
Metascore: 71 / 100
Awards: 10 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Kate 408 lines, woman
Charlie 204 lines, man
Mr. Davies 65 lines, man
Principal Barnes 48 lines, woman
Jenny 25 lines, woman
Freda 21 lines, woman
Owen 20 lines, man
Rochelle 18 lines, woman
Bartender 13 lines
Clerk 11 lines

Full cast, 33 people

Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Kate Hannah
Aaron Paul as Charlie Hannah
Octavia Spencer as Jenny
Nick Offerman as Dave Davies
Megan Mullally as Principal Barnes
Mary Kay Place as Rochelle
Kyle Gallner as Owen Hannah
Mackenzie Davis as Millie
Bree Turner as Freda
Brad Carter as Felix
Barrett Shuler as Greg
Rene Rivera as Rico
Richmond Arquette as Arlo
David Grammer as Junior
Ron Lynch as Chuck
Elise Salomon as Tina
Anjini Taneja Azhar as Winnie
Aileen Davila as Hillary
Silas Agape Garcia as Ramon
Wilson Schwartz as Toby
Haley Brooke Walker as Isabel
Lisa Yamada as Angela
Murray Gershenz as Ted
Jane Noltemeyer as Susan
Brian C. Haynes as DJ Supa Crispy
Patti Allison as Rocky (uncredited)
Gabriel Aslan as Classroom Student (uncredited)
Carol Avery as Lily (uncredited)
Susan Burke as Cora (uncredited)
Danilo Di Julio as Jimmy (uncredited)
Natalie Dreyfuss as Amber (uncredited)
Kelly Ebsary as Shana (uncredited)
Daniel Jay Salmen as Donovan (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 6% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 76

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 2	20	20
3 to 4	40	0
5 to 6	2	0
7 to 8	0	0
9 to 10	0	0
11 to 12	7	9
13 to 14	2	2
15 to 16	21	0
17 to 18	29	7
19 to 20	15	17
21 to 22	13	16
23 to 24	22	10
25 to 26	0	1
27 to 28	11	0
29 to 30	7	5
31 to 32	8	0
33 to 34	27	21
35 to 36	20	7
37 to 38	0	0
39 to 40	0	0
41 to 42	0	0
43 to 44	2	2
45 to 46	23	16
47 to 48	16	16
49 to 50	11	6
51 to 52	31	9
53 to 54	16	8
55 to 56	11	15
57 to 58	20	6
59 to 60	32	21
61 to 62	44	0
63 to 64	5	6
65 to 66	24	1
67 to 68	21	19
69 to 70	10	1
71 to 72	10	13
73 to 74	9	15
75 to 76	20	26

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.

KATE: You okay? FREDA: Yeah. Are you? KATE: Um...sure. FREDA: Good. Hey, I'm not really okay.

FREDA: You know, you shouldn't drink and drive. KATE: I wasn't -- FREDA: Just kidding. Can I have a sip? FREDA: I'm really thirsty.

KATE: I... PRINCIPAL BARNES: I can only imagine the chemistry experiment that's going on -- PRINCIPAL BARNES: -- in there.

JENNY: ...all I knew about taking care of myself was fucking people over and lying to get by. I had no idea how to even look for a normal job or pa… JENNY: And I found a love in cooking. I've got my own catering business now. And...maybe I just replaced alcohol with chocolate chips and cigarette… KATE: I kinda like her.

KATE: Hey, I liked your speech. JENNY: Thanks. All that dumb shit happened so I'm glad that now it's at least entertaining. What's your name? KATE: Kate. This is my first meeting. Or... first meeting where I'm not wasted. JENNY: Oh, yeah -- I remember doing some of that.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 65 are women's.

549 lines from women, 295 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

15 women and 9 men in the cast. 13 women and 4 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 5 of 900. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 5 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 64% of the words (6,031), men 36% (3,364). Women have 65% 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

7 of the 14 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 57% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: James Ponsoldt (man)
Written by: James Ponsoldt (man), Susan Burke (woman)
Produced by: Andrea Sperling (woman), Jennifer Cochis (gender not listed), Jonathan Schwartz (man)
Shot by: Tobias Datum (man)
Edited by: Suzanne Spangler (woman)
Music by: Eric D. Johnson (man), Andy Cabic (man)
Production design by: Linda Sena (woman)
Costumes by: Diaz Jacobs (woman)
Cast by: Kim Taylor-Coleman (woman), Avy Kaufman (woman)