Fails the Bechdel test

Swordfish

Name: Swordfish
Released: 2001

2001. Directed by Dominic Sena, written by Skip Woods.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

1 / 3

Fails

Yes 1. At least two women
15 women characters. 5 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

When the DEA shut down its dummy corporation operation codenamed SWORDFISH in 1986, they had generated $400 million which they let sit around; fifteen years of compound interest has swelled it to $9.5 billion. A covert counter-terrorist unit called Black Cell, headed by the duplicitious and suave Gabriel Shear, wants the money to help finance their raise-the-stakes vengeance war against international terrorism, but it's all locked away behind super-encryption. He brings in convicted hacker Stanley Jobson, who only wants to see his daughter Holly again but can't afford the legal fees, to slice into the government mainframes and get the money.

Released: 08 Jun 2001
Genres: Action, Crime, Thriller
Rated: R
IMDb: 6.5 / 10
Metascore: 32 / 100
Awards: 5 wins & 10 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Gabriel 194 lines, man
Stanley 183 lines, man
Ginger 73 lines, woman
Roberts 58 lines, man
Reisman 16 lines, man
A.D. Joy 14 lines, man
Torvalds 13 lines, man
Holly 12 lines, woman
Kaplan 12 lines, man
Fbi Computer Geek #1 10 lines, man

Full cast, 53 people

John Travolta as Gabriel
Hugh Jackman as Stanley
Halle Berry as Ginger
Don Cheadle as Roberts
Vinnie Jones as Marco
Sam Shepard as Senator Reisman
Drea de Matteo as Melissa
Rudolf Martin as Axl Torvalds
Zach Grenier as A.D. Joy
Camryn Grimes as Holly
Angelo Pagán as Torres
Chic Daniel as Swat Leader
Kirk B.R. Woller as Lawyer
Carmen Argenziano as Agent
Tim DeKay as Agent
Laura Lane as Helga
Tait Ruppert as Ad Agency Executive
Craig Braun as Coroner
William Mapother as Gabriel's Crew
Ilia Volok as Gabriel's Crew
Jonathan Fraser as Gabriel's Crew
Shawn Woods as Gabriel's Crew
Leo Lee as Gabriel's Crew
Marina Black as Hostage
Kerry Kletter as Hostage
Ryan Wulff as Hostage
Ann Travolta as Hostage
Margaret Travolta as Hostage
Dana Hee as Hostage
Denney Pierce as Hostage
Jeff Ramsey as Hostage
Joey Box as Hostage
Debbie Evans as Hostage
Sam Travolta as Hostage
Tim Storms as Hostage
Jason Christopher as Club Kid
Jonathan Pessin as Club Kid
Scott Burkholder as FBI Geek
Mark Soper as FBI Geek
Craig Lally as Customs Agent
Rusty McClennon as Customs Agent
Mark Riccardi as Customs Agent
Debbie Entin as Helga's Friend
Natalia Sokolova as Helga's Friend
Anika Poitier as Helga's Friend
Nick Loren as Dark Suit
Tom Morris as Policeman
Richard Householder as Policeman
Brenda Eimers as Holly's Teacher
Timothy Omundson as Agent Thomas
Astrid Veillon as Bank Executive
Dean Rader Duval as Security Guard
Michael Arias as Policeman

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 4% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 181

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	22
5 to 8	0	9
9 to 12	0	2
13 to 16	0	4
17 to 20	0	2
21 to 24	0	5
25 to 28	12	22
29 to 32	8	3
33 to 36	16	30
37 to 40	0	5
41 to 44	0	7
45 to 48	0	2
49 to 52	0	7
53 to 56	6	40
57 to 60	10	39
61 to 64	12	16
65 to 68	7	13
69 to 72	5	37
73 to 76	4	11
77 to 80	2	11
81 to 84	0	10
85 to 88	0	6
89 to 92	0	18
93 to 96	0	10
97 to 100	5	43
101 to 104	0	0
105 to 108	0	34
109 to 112	0	0
113 to 116	0	0
117 to 120	0	7
121 to 124	0	22
125 to 128	0	41
129 to 132	0	1
133 to 136	0	19
137 to 140	0	5
141 to 144	0	10
145 to 148	0	1
149 to 152	0	1
153 to 156	0	0
157 to 160	0	1
161 to 164	0	0
165 to 168	0	3
169 to 172	0	10
173 to 176	2	8
177 to 180	17	10
181 to 181	5	5

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, 17 are women's.

111 lines from women, 552 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

15 women and 37 men in the cast. 5 women and 21 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 65 of 692. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 190 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 16% of the words (1,089), men 84% (5,781). Women have 17% 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

1 of the 11 people in these jobs is a woman. Across the whole crew, 21% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Dominic Sena (man)
Written by: Skip Woods (man)
Produced by: Joel Silver (man), Jonathan D. Krane (man), Paul Winze (gender not listed)
Shot by: Paul Cameron (man)
Edited by: Stephen E. Rivkin (man)
Music by: Christopher Young (man), Paul Oakenfold (man)
Production design by: Jeff Mann (man)
Costumes by: Ha Nguyen (woman)