Passes the Bechdel test

State of Play

Name: State of Play
Released: 2009

2009. Directed by Kevin Macdonald, written by Matthew Michael Carnahan and Tony Gilroy and Billy Ray.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
22 women characters. 11 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 3 scenes out of 129.
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

A petty thief is gunned down in an alley and a Representative's assistant (Maria Thayer) falls in front of a subway, two seemingly unrelated deaths. But not to wisecracking, brash newspaper reporter Cal McAffrey (Russell Crowe), who spies a conspiracy waiting to be uncovered. With a turbulent past connected to the Representative and the aid of ambitious young rookie writer Della Frye (Rachel McAdams), Cal begins uprooting clues that lead him to a corporate cover-up full of insiders, informants, and assassins. But as he draws closer to the truth, the relentless journalist must decide if it's worth risking his life and selling his soul to get the ultimate story.

Released: 17 Apr 2009
Genres: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Rated: PG-13
IMDb: 7.1 / 10
Metascore: 64 / 100
Awards: 2 wins & 4 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Cal 328 lines, man
Della 134 lines, woman
Stephen 102 lines, man
Foy 47 lines, man
Cameron 43 lines, woman
Anne 38 lines, woman
Red-Six 19 lines, man
Rhonda 19 lines, woman
Fergus 16 lines, man
Detective Bell 15 lines, man

Full cast, 60 people

Russell Crowe as Cal McAffrey
Ben Affleck as Stephen Collins
Rachel McAdams as Della Frye
Helen Mirren as Cameron Lynne
Robin Wright as Anne Collins
Jason Bateman as Dominic Foy
Jeff Daniels as George Fergus
Michael Berresse as Robert Bingham
Harry Lennix as Det. Donald Bell
Josh Mostel as Pete
Michael Weston as Hank
Barry Shabaka Henley as Gene Stavitz
Viola Davis as Dr. Judith Franklin
David Harbour as PointCorp Insider
Sarah Lord as Mandi Brokaw
Tuck Milligan as Pointcorp Executive
Steve Park as Chris Kawai
Brennan Brown as Andrew
Maria Thayer as Sonia Baker
Wendy Makkena as Greer Thornton
Zoe Lister-Jones as Jessy
Michael Jace as Stuart Brown
Rob Benedict as Milt
Ladell Preston as Deshaun Stagg
Dan Brown as Vernon Sando
Katy Mixon as Rhonda Silver
Shane Edelman as D.A. Purcell
Maurice Burnice Harcum as Ben's Cashier
Cornell Womack as Junior Detective #1
Nat Benchley as Junior Detective #2
Gregg Binkley as Ferris
Trula M. Marcus as Carol
Carolyn Barrett as Policewoman Escorting Della
Wil Love as Iowan Congressman
David E. Goodman as Graves
John Badila as Mr. James
Brigid Cleary as Mrs. James
Joy Spears as Waitress / Dancer #1
Brandi Oglesby as Waitress / Dancer #2
R.B. Brenner as Globe Production Manager
Lucía Navarro as Telemundo Reporter
Chris Matthews as MSNBC Reporter
Lou Dobbs as CNN Reporter
James Vance III as Reporter
Sharon Dugan as Business Woman
Noel Werking as Business Man
Rose Coleman as Jackie
Lee von Ernst as ICU Nurse
Richard Ruyle as Karaoke Singer
Stuart Brazell as Karaoke Bar Hostess
Herbert Gordon as News Reporter #1
Keith Anthony Garvin as News Reporter #2
Julie Carey as News Reporter #3
Yang Eun as News Reporter #4
Denae D'Arcy as News Reporter #5
Natasha Chughtai as News Reporter #6
Greg Graham as The Wolf
Eric Hatch as Peter
Josh Rhodes as The Hunter
Stacey Walker as Waitress / Dancer #3

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 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 129

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	1
4 to 6	1	2
7 to 9	3	29
10 to 12	8	10
13 to 15	7	16
16 to 18	1	30
19 to 21	20	22
22 to 24	6	11
25 to 27	0	4
28 to 30	1	8
31 to 33	2	3
34 to 36	4	5
37 to 39	1	3
40 to 42	15	9
43 to 45	10	23
46 to 48	0	1
49 to 51	16	12
52 to 54	7	8
55 to 57	16	30
58 to 60	12	6
61 to 63	7	20
64 to 66	2	40
67 to 69	41	6
70 to 72	14	12
73 to 75	5	12
76 to 78	0	12
79 to 81	0	3
82 to 84	6	13
85 to 87	11	9
88 to 90	0	6
91 to 93	10	11
94 to 96	2	30
97 to 99	3	37
100 to 102	6	36
103 to 105	6	8
106 to 108	2	22
109 to 111	0	21
112 to 114	5	20
115 to 117	2	9
118 to 120	2	3
121 to 123	3	2
124 to 126	6	30
127 to 129	1	1

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.

CAMERON: What was her background - before she went to work for Collins? DELLA: She's got some very random moments in her resume. Got into Georgetown Law but dropped out in Year Two. A couple different waitressing jobs, …

DELLA: I'm not giving up the story. DELLA: If I could just have, just a few more days, just to see... I promise I won't let you down. CAMERON: Oh, for crissake...don’t throw those dewy cub-reporters eyes at me. It’s insupportable! Fuck you very much!

RHONDA: Okay, so here's my question... Pictures of her. They'd be worth something, right? I have some great ones... RHONDA: They're not like nudes or anything, but they're kind of crazy... DELLA: How long did you and Sonia share the apartment? RHONDA: Umm, lemme see. She moved in like, summer of '06. I moved out in August of '07. I got married - separated 3 weeks later - but that’s a whole…

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 31 are women's.

264 lines from women, 596 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

22 women and 29 men in the cast. 11 women and 17 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 5 of 911. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 41 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 (3,688), men 68% (7,862). Women have 31% of the lines, so their lines run longer 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

3 of the 15 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 30% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Kevin Macdonald (man)
Written by: Matthew Michael Carnahan (man), Billy Ray (man), Tony Gilroy (man)
Produced by: Tim Bevan (man), Eric Fellner (man), Andrew Hauptman (man), Eric Hayes (man), Kwame Parker (gender not listed)
Shot by: Rodrigo Prieto (man)
Edited by: Justine Wright (woman)
Music by: Alex Heffes (man)
Production design by: Mark Friedberg (man)
Costumes by: Jacqueline West (woman)
Cast by: Avy Kaufman (woman)