Fails the Bechdel test

Submarine

Name: Submarine
Released: 2011

2011. Directed by Richard Ayoade, written by Richard Ayoade and Joe Dunthorne.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

2 / 3

Fails

Yes 1. At least two women
9 women characters. 7 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
Women do talk to each other.
No 3. About something besides a man
Every conversation between women that our parser found mentions a man.

Second opinion

Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.

The film

Precocious Oliver struggles with being popular in school but when a dark-haired beauty takes interest in him, he's determined to become the best boyfriend in the world. Meanwhile, his parents' already rocky relationship is threatened when his mother's ex-boyfriend moves in next door. Oliver makes some unorthodox plans to ensure that his parents stay together and that Jordana still likes him.

Released: 18 Mar 2011
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Rated: R
IMDb: 7.3 / 10
Metascore: 76 / 100
Awards: Nominated for 1 BAFTA Award. 6 wins & 17 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Oliver 313 lines, man
Jill 127 lines, woman
Lloyd 109 lines, man
Jordana 96 lines, woman
Graham 51 lines, man
Chips 22 lines, man
Jackie 13 lines, man
Mark Pritchard 8 lines
Bryn 7 lines
Jordanna 6 lines

Full cast, 29 people

Noah Taylor as Lloyd Tate
Paddy Considine as Graham Purvis
Craig Roberts as Oliver Tate
Yasmin Paige as Jordana Bevan
Sally Hawkins as Jill Tate
Steffan Rhodri as Mr. Davey
Darren Evans as Chips
Osian Cai Dulais as Mark Pritchard
Lily McCann as Zoe Preece
Otis Lloyd as Keiron
Elinor Crawley as Abby Smuts
Gemma Chan as Kim-Lin
Melanie Walters as Jude Bevan
Sion Tudor Owen as Brynn Bevan
Adrienne O'Sullivan as Jackie
Jonny Wier as Malcolm
Lydia Fox as Miss Dutton
Lynn Hunter as Gene
Claire Cage as News Reporter
Edwin Ashcroft as Dafydd
Andrew Phillips as Rhydian Bird / School Boy
James Alexander Hill as School Boy
Rikki Hall as School Boy
Tom Ryan as School Boy
James Jones as School Boy
Sophy Brady-Halligan as Watkins Twin
Tanya Brady-Halligan as Watkins Twin
Sarah Pasquali as Woman Who Looks Nothing Like Jordana
Ben Stiller as Soap Opera Star (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 4 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 176

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 4	0	4
5 to 8	1	8
9 to 12	1	14
13 to 16	0	9
17 to 20	0	4
21 to 24	6	10
25 to 28	0	7
29 to 32	1	5
33 to 36	4	43
37 to 40	10	15
41 to 44	23	23
45 to 48	13	20
49 to 52	13	32
53 to 56	10	14
57 to 60	8	15
61 to 64	2	4
65 to 68	1	3
69 to 72	10	18
73 to 76	0	0
77 to 80	14	13
81 to 84	21	30
85 to 88	0	2
89 to 92	16	22
93 to 96	1	11
97 to 100	2	8
101 to 104	0	8
105 to 108	12	12
109 to 112	20	22
113 to 116	1	8
117 to 120	0	18
121 to 124	1	22
125 to 128	0	6
129 to 132	12	14
133 to 136	0	1
137 to 140	0	3
141 to 144	3	3
145 to 148	0	1
149 to 152	1	2
153 to 156	8	34
157 to 160	2	3
161 to 164	1	2
165 to 168	0	5
169 to 172	2	11
173 to 176	12	22

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, 30 are women's.

232 lines from women, 531 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

9 women and 7 men in the cast. 7 women and 5 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 10 of 801. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 44 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 (1,677), men 78% (5,970). Women have 30% of the lines, so their lines run shorter than men's.

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

3 of the 14 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 33% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Richard Ayoade (man)
Written by: Richard Ayoade (man)
From the novel by: Joe Dunthorne (man)
Produced by: Mark Herbert (man), Rebecca Davies (gender not listed), Andy Stebbing (man), Mary Burke (woman)
Shot by: Erik Wilson (man)
Edited by: Chris Dickens (man), Nick Fenton (man)
Music by: Andrew Hewitt (man)
Production design by: Gary Williamson (man)
Costumes by: Charlotte Walter (woman)
Cast by: Karen Lindsay-Stewart (woman)