Passes the Bechdel test
Snowpiercer
2014. Directed by Bong Joon Ho, written by Jacques Lob and Benjamin Legrand and Jean-Marc Rochette.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
9 women characters. 8 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 3 scenes out of 72. -
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, though someone marked that rating as dubious.
The film
Set in 2031, the entire world is frozen except for those aboard the Snowpiercer. For seventeen years, the world's survivors are on a train hurtling around the globe creating their own economy and class system. Led by Curtis (Chris Evans), a group of lower-class citizens living in squalor at the back of the train are determined to get to the front of the train and spread the wealth around. Each section of the train holds new surprises for the group who have to battle their way through. A revolution is underway.
- Released
- 11 Jul 2014
- Genres
- Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.1 / 10
- Metascore
- 84 / 100
- Awards
- 36 wins & 109 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Curtis 219 lines, man
- Namgoong 97 lines, man
- Edgar 69 lines, man
- Mason 56 lines, woman
- Gilliam 49 lines, man
- Wilford 45 lines, man
- Yona 43 lines, woman
- Tanya 32 lines, woman
- Teacher 25 lines, woman
- Fuyu 20 lines, man
Full cast, 44 people
- Chris Evans as Curtis
- Song Kang-ho as Namgoong Minsu
- Ed Harris as Wilford
- John Hurt as Gilliam
- Tilda Swinton as Mason
- Jamie Bell as Edgar
- Octavia Spencer as Tanya
- Ewen Bremner as Andrew
- Ko Asung as Yona
- Alison Pill as Teacher
- Luke Pasqualino as Grey
- Vlad Ivanov as Franco The Elder
- Adnan Hasković as Franco The Younger
- Emma Levie as Claude
- Steve Park as Fuyu
- Clark Middleton as Painter
- Marcanthonee Reis as Tim
- Paul Lazar as Paul
- Tómas Lemarquis as Egg-Head
- Kenny Doughty as News Reporter
- Robert Russell as Gerald
- Magda Weigertová as Doris
- Jim High as Soldier 1
- Peter Hallin as Soldier 2
- Haruna Honcoop as Female Officer
- Ana Braun as Ylfa
- Griffin Seymour as Boy
- Tyler John Williams as Young Wilford
- Luna Sophia Bar-Cohen as Magdalena
- Sean Connor Renwick as Sergio
- Karel Veselý as Andy
- Park Sungtaek as Chan
- Brian Foley as Soldier A
- Kendrick Roger Ong as Soldier B
- Seisuke Tsukahara as Old Man
- Tomáš Dianiška as Dark Voice (voice)
- Miroslav Navrátil as Giant
- Huh Chan as Plan Tender 1
- Lucie Burianová as Plan Tender 2
- Dana Green as Voice Actor (voice)
- Jonny Loquasto as Voice Actor (voice)
- Parry Shen as Voice Actor (voice)
- Joseph Bertót as Voice Actor (voice)
- Song Eun-kyung as Korean Translator Voice (voice)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 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 72
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 | 0 | 8 |
| 3 to 4 | 2 | 34 |
| 5 to 6 | 2 | 56 |
| 7 to 8 | 4 | 20 |
| 9 to 10 | 22 | 15 |
| 11 to 12 | 0 | 2 |
| 13 to 14 | 0 | 7 |
| 15 to 16 | 0 | 7 |
| 17 to 18 | 9 | 84 |
| 19 to 20 | 5 | 14 |
| 21 to 22 | 20 | 90 |
| 23 to 24 | 0 | 1 |
| 25 to 26 | 23 | 27 |
| 27 to 28 | 1 | 26 |
| 29 to 30 | 10 | 6 |
| 31 to 32 | 6 | 3 |
| 33 to 34 | 37 | 18 |
| 35 to 36 | 0 | 5 |
| 37 to 38 | 2 | 1 |
| 39 to 40 | 2 | 6 |
| 41 to 42 | 1 | 1 |
| 43 to 44 | 1 | 1 |
| 45 to 46 | 1 | 2 |
| 47 to 48 | 5 | 11 |
| 49 to 50 | 2 | 1 |
| 51 to 52 | 0 | 0 |
| 53 to 54 | 3 | 86 |
| 55 to 56 | 1 | 7 |
| 57 to 58 | 0 | 13 |
| 59 to 60 | 3 | 3 |
| 61 to 62 | 1 | 9 |
| 63 to 64 | 9 | 45 |
| 65 to 66 | 0 | 0 |
| 67 to 68 | 0 | 0 |
| 69 to 70 | 1 | 0 |
| 71 to 72 | 0 | 2 |
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.
TANYA: Have you seen these kids? MASON: ... TANYA: Where did you take them? MASON: I don’t know anything about...
MASON: Don’t mind me. Back to work, everyone, back to work. MASON: No - no - they’re friendly. They won’t bite. Well, they’ll bite the tomatoes...ha! YONA: You eat this too?
YLFA: I heard all Tail Sectioners were lazy dogs who slept all day in their own shit. TEACHER: Ylfa! MASON: No - they’re very nice and they’re very just and merciful. So it is. Please don’t let us interrupt... TEACHER: We were just about to show a video.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 22 are women's.
173 lines from women, 611 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
9 women and 27 men in the cast. 8 women and 28 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 12 of 821.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 72 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 22% of the words (1,564), men 78% (5,420).
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
10
Two men
57
Exhibit F: behind the camera
3 of the 14 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 25% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Bong Joon Ho (man)
- Written by
- Bong Joon Ho (man), Kelly Masterson (man)
- Produced by
- Jeong Tae-sung (man), Steven Nam (man), Jeong Won-jo (man)
- Shot by
- Hong Kyung-pyo (man)
- Edited by
- Steve M. Choe (man), Kim Chang-ju (man)
- Music by
- Marco Beltrami (man)
- Production design by
- Ondřej Nekvasil (man)
- Costumes by
- Catherine George (woman)
- Cast by
- Jenny Jue (woman), Johanna Ray (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Visual Effects
0 women, 14 men, 31 not listed
-
Production
10 women, 22 men, 3 not listed
-
Sound
4 women, 16 men, 11 not listed
-
Art
5 women, 10 men, 15 not listed
-
Editing
1 women, 6 men, 19 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
10 women, 3 men, 7 not listed
-
Other crew
1 women, 6 men, 10 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 10 men, 4 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 36 on average. Men: 47 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Ko Asung 20, Alison Pill 27, Octavia Spencer 43, Tilda Swinton 52
Men
Jamie Bell 27, Chris Evans 32, Ewen Bremner 41, Song Kang-ho 46, Ed Harris 62, John Hurt 73
Exhibit H: the money
It made 2.2 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $39.2 million
- Box office
- $86.8 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 72 scenes and 821 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
