Fails the Bechdel test

Swiss Army Man

Name: Swiss Army Man
Released: 2016

2016. Directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, written by Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

2 / 3

Fails

Yes 1. At least two women
4 women characters. 3 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 2 out of 3.

The film

Hank, stranded on a deserted island and about to kill himself, notices a corpse washed up on the beach. He befriends it, naming it Manny, only to discover that his new friend can talk and has a myriad of supernatural abilities...which may help him get home.

Released: 01 Jul 2016
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
Rated: R
IMDb: 6.9 / 10
Metascore: 64 / 100
Awards: 8 wins & 32 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Hank 277 lines, man
Manny 225 lines, man
Sarah 17 lines, woman
Sarah/Hank 13 lines, man
Officer 8 lines
Crissie 7 lines, woman
Reporter 7 lines, woman
Coroner 6 lines, man
Cameraman 4 lines, man
Dad 3 lines, man

Full cast, 11 people

Paul Dano as Hank
Daniel Radcliffe as Manny
Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Sarah
Antonia Ribero as Crissie
Timothy Eulich as Preston
Richard Gross as Hank's Dad
Marika Casteel as Reporter
Andy Hull as Cameraman
Aaron Marshall as Officer #1
Shane Carruth as Coroner
Jessica Harbeck as Officer #2 (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 2% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 136

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	0	0
7 to 9	0	5
10 to 12	0	8
13 to 15	0	2
16 to 18	0	2
19 to 21	0	2
22 to 24	0	0
25 to 27	0	3
28 to 30	0	7
31 to 33	0	70
34 to 36	0	74
37 to 39	0	14
40 to 42	0	59
43 to 45	0	39
46 to 48	0	58
49 to 51	0	8
52 to 54	0	0
55 to 57	0	0
58 to 60	0	1
61 to 63	0	29
64 to 66	0	3
67 to 69	0	17
70 to 72	0	0
73 to 75	0	0
76 to 78	0	0
79 to 81	0	24
82 to 84	0	7
85 to 87	0	16
88 to 90	0	3
91 to 93	0	6
94 to 96	0	2
97 to 99	0	2
100 to 102	0	1
103 to 105	0	3
106 to 108	0	4
109 to 111	0	3
112 to 114	0	2
115 to 117	0	3
118 to 120	16	28
121 to 123	0	0
124 to 126	13	22
127 to 129	0	2
130 to 132	0	1
133 to 135	0	0
136 to 136	2	6

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, 5 are women's.

31 lines from women, 536 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

4 women and 7 men in the cast. 3 women and 6 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 500 of 580. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 499 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 4% of the words (239), men 96% (5,767). Women have 5% 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 16 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 26% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Daniel Kwan (man), Daniel Scheinert (man)
Written by: Daniel Kwan (man), Daniel Scheinert (man)
Produced by: Jonathan Wang (man), Miranda Bailey (woman), Lawrence Inglee (man), Eyal Rimmon (man), Lauren Mann (gender not listed), Amanda Marshall (woman)
Shot by: Larkin Seiple (man)
Edited by: Matthew Hannam (man)
Music by: Andy Hull (man), Robert McDowell (man)
Production design by: Jason Kisvarday (man)
Costumes by: Stephani Lewis (woman)