Fails the Bechdel test

Source Code

Name: Source Code
Released: 2011

2011. Directed by Duncan Jones, written by Ben Ripley.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

1 / 3

Fails

Yes 1. At least two women
5 women characters. 2 of them speak.
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

Army Captain Colter Stevens finds himself working on a special program where his consciousness can be inserted into another human being. The only catch is can only be there for 8 minutes at any given time. That morning, a bomb exploded on a commuter train just outside Chicago. He occupies the body of teacher going to work on that train and is confused as to what he is doing or why he is there as his last memory is of flying his helicopter on a combat mission in Afghanistan. Those in charge of the program explain to him that there is a bomb on the train, and that he must locate it. More importantly, he must identify the bomber as another bombing is expected later that day. He is also told however that he cannot change the past and can only gather information. As he develops a liking for his traveling companion Christina, he sets out to test that theory.

Released: 01 Apr 2011
Genres: Action, Drama, Mystery
Rated: PG-13
IMDb: 7.5 / 10
Metascore: 74 / 100
Awards: 1 win & 8 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Colter 360 lines, man
Christina 133 lines, woman
Goodwin 107 lines, woman
Rutledge 74 lines, man
Derek 22 lines, man
Conductor 20 lines, man
Guzman 10 lines, man
Technician 8 lines, man
College Student 3 lines, man
Computer Engineer 2 lines

Full cast, 27 people

Jake Gyllenhaal as Colter Stevens
Michelle Monaghan as Christina Warren
Vera Farmiga as Colleen Goodwin
Jeffrey Wright as Dr. Rutledge
Michael Arden as Derek Frost
Cas Anvar as Hazmi
Russell Peters as Max Denoff
Brent Skagford as George Troxel
Craig Thomas as Gold Watch Executive
Gordon Masten as Conductor
Susan Bain as Nurse
Paula Jean Hixson as Coffee Mug Lady
Lincoln Ward as Minister Sudoku
Kyle Gatehouse as College Student
Albert Kwan as Soda Can Guy
Anne Day-Jones as Office Manager
Clarice Byrne as Secretary
James A. Woods as Aviator Glasses Guy
Joe Cobden as Lab Technician
Tom Tammi as CNN Anchor
Matt Holland as Lock Tech
Jasson Finney as M.P.
Kyle Allatt as Aide
Frédérick de Grandpré as Sean Fentress Reflection
Pierre Leblanc as Train Official
Raynald Lapierre as UPG Medic
Scott Bakula as Colter's Father (voice)

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 100

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	0	0
4 to 6	11	33
7 to 9	1	1
10 to 12	2	0
13 to 15	0	1
16 to 18	0	6
19 to 21	26	20
22 to 24	3	26
25 to 27	0	9
28 to 30	49	48
31 to 33	0	2
34 to 36	26	86
37 to 39	37	40
40 to 42	8	8
43 to 45	0	0
46 to 48	14	10
49 to 51	0	1
52 to 54	18	89
55 to 57	0	10
58 to 60	0	3
61 to 63	7	0
64 to 66	1	0
67 to 69	1	45
70 to 72	4	8
73 to 75	16	15
76 to 78	0	7
79 to 81	0	10
82 to 84	0	3
85 to 87	0	4
88 to 90	2	0
91 to 93	3	3
94 to 96	4	2
97 to 99	5	8
100 to 100	2	1

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, 32 are women's.

240 lines from women, 499 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

5 women and 19 men in the cast. 2 women and 8 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 5 of 758. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 51 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 32% of the words (3,614), men 68% (7,778).

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

Two men

Exhibit E: behind the camera

2 of the 12 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 25% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Duncan Jones (man)
Written by: Ben Ripley (man)
Produced by: Philippe Rousselet (man), Jordan Wynn (man), Mark Gordon (man)
Shot by: Don Burgess (man)
Edited by: Paul Hirsch (man)
Music by: Chris Bacon (man)
Production design by: Barry Chusid (man)
Costumes by: Renée April (woman)
Cast by: John Papsidera (man), Lucie Robitaille (woman)

The crew, department by department

Visual Effects

1 women, 9 men, 36 not listed
Art

2 women, 8 men, 17 not listed
Sound

3 women, 18 men, 6 not listed
Costume & Make-Up

10 women, 1 men, 15 not listed
Other crew

2 women, 8 men, 13 not listed
Editing

1 women, 4 men, 18 not listed
Lighting

0 women, 2 men, 17 not listed
Camera

0 women, 9 men, 9 not listed

Women
Men
Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit F: how old the stars were

Women: 36 on average. Men: 41 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Michelle Monaghan 35, Vera Farmiga 37

Men

Michael Arden 28, Jake Gyllenhaal 30, Russell Peters 40, Jeffrey Wright 45, Cas Anvar 45, Gordon Masten 60

Exhibit G: the money

It made 4.6 times what it cost.

Budget: $32 million
Box office: $147 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 100 scenes and 758 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

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