Fails the Bechdel test
The Beach
2000. Directed by Danny Boyle, written by John Hodge and Alex Garland.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
13 women characters. 4 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
Garland's novel centers on a young nicotine-addicted traveler named Richard, an avid pop-culture buff with a particular love for video games and Vietnam War movies. While at a hotel in Bangkok, he finds a map left by his strange, whacked-out neighbor, who just committed suicide. The map supposedly leads to a legendary island paradise where some other wayward souls have settled.
- Released
- 11 Feb 2000
- Genres
- Adventure, Drama, Romance
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 6.6 / 10
- Metascore
- 43 / 100
- Awards
- 7 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Richard 311 lines, man
- Francoise 79 lines, woman
- Sal 71 lines, woman
- Etienne 58 lines, man
- Keaty 27 lines, man
- Zeph 25 lines, man
- Daffy 16 lines, man
- Christo 14 lines, man
- Sammy 11 lines, man
- Bugs 7 lines, man
Full cast, 47 people
- Leonardo DiCaprio as Richard
- Virginie Ledoyen as Françoise
- Guillaume Canet as Étienne
- Tilda Swinton as Sal
- Staffan Kihlbom as Christo
- Paterson Joseph as Keaty
- Peter Youngblood Hills as Zeph
- Robert Carlyle as Daffy
- Jerry Swindall as Sammy
- Lars Arentz-Hansen as Bugs
- Jukka Hiltunen as Karl
- Magnus Lindgren as Sten
- Daniel York Loh as Hustler
- Daniel Caltagirone as Unhygienix
- Zelda Tinska as Sonja
- Victoria Smurfit as Weather Girl
- Samuel Gough as Guitarist
- Somboon Phutaroth as Housekeeper
- Patcharawan Patarakijjanon as Hotel Receptionist
- Kaneung Kenia as Farmer
- Sanya Cheunjit as Farmer
- Weeratham 'Norman' Wichairaksakui as Detective
- Krongthong Thampradith as Woman with Keys
- Hélène de Fougerolles as Hélène
- Sahajak Boonthanakit as Travel Agent
- Apichart Chusakul as Senior Farmer
- Somchai Santitharangkun as Farmer
- Seng Kawee as Farmer
- Somkuan 'Kuan' Siroon as Farmer
- Peter Gevisser as Gregorio
- Lidija Zovkić as Mirjana
- Isabella Seibert as Beach Community Member
- Sian Ejiwunmi-Le Berre as Beach Community Member
- Gunilla Karlson as Beach Community Member
- Elizabeth Thomas as Beach Community Member
- Andrew Carmichael as Beach Community Member
- Myriam Acharki as Beach Community Member
- Bindu De Stoppani as Beach Community Member
- Stacy Hart as Beach Community Member
- Nina Jacques as Beach Community Member
- Sheridan Jones as Beach Community Member
- Michael Thorpe as Beach Community Member
- Timothy Webster as Beach Community Member
- Ramon Woolfe as Beach Community Member
- Saskia Mulder as Hilda
- Simone Huber as Eva
- Raweeporn 'Non' Srimonju as Sumet
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 168
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 | 9 |
| 5 to 8 | 1 | 25 |
| 9 to 12 | 5 | 25 |
| 13 to 16 | 0 | 5 |
| 17 to 20 | 1 | 6 |
| 21 to 24 | 0 | 2 |
| 25 to 28 | 4 | 17 |
| 29 to 32 | 1 | 21 |
| 33 to 36 | 0 | 2 |
| 37 to 40 | 12 | 22 |
| 41 to 44 | 0 | 24 |
| 45 to 48 | 0 | 1 |
| 49 to 52 | 5 | 28 |
| 53 to 56 | 4 | 11 |
| 57 to 60 | 4 | 24 |
| 61 to 64 | 0 | 15 |
| 65 to 68 | 14 | 30 |
| 69 to 72 | 0 | 30 |
| 73 to 76 | 21 | 18 |
| 77 to 80 | 10 | 8 |
| 81 to 84 | 5 | 4 |
| 85 to 88 | 6 | 3 |
| 89 to 92 | 4 | 15 |
| 93 to 96 | 8 | 17 |
| 97 to 100 | 4 | 4 |
| 101 to 104 | 3 | 6 |
| 105 to 108 | 15 | 16 |
| 109 to 112 | 0 | 3 |
| 113 to 116 | 7 | 12 |
| 117 to 120 | 0 | 4 |
| 121 to 124 | 5 | 16 |
| 125 to 128 | 1 | 19 |
| 129 to 132 | 10 | 14 |
| 133 to 136 | 0 | 0 |
| 137 to 140 | 0 | 7 |
| 141 to 144 | 8 | 7 |
| 145 to 148 | 0 | 4 |
| 149 to 152 | 2 | 3 |
| 153 to 156 | 1 | 5 |
| 157 to 160 | 0 | 0 |
| 161 to 164 | 0 | 6 |
| 165 to 168 | 0 | 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, 25 are women's.
161 lines from women, 489 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
13 women and 16 men in the cast. 4 women and 14 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 29 of 685.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 40 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 (1,691), men 84% (9,119). Women have 25% 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
0
Two men
43
Exhibit E: behind the camera
2 of the 10 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 26% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Danny Boyle (man)
- Written by
- John Hodge (man)
- From the novel by
- Alex Garland (man)
- Produced by
- Andrew Macdonald (man)
- Shot by
- Darius Khondji (man)
- Edited by
- Masahiro Hirakubo (man)
- Music by
- Angelo Badalamenti (man)
- Production design by
- Andrew McAlpine (man)
- Costumes by
- Rachael Fleming (woman)
- Cast by
- Gail Stevens (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
1 women, 12 men, 8 not listed
-
Other crew
4 women, 5 men, 3 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
4 women, 2 men, 3 not listed
-
Production
3 women, 3 men, 3 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 4 men, 3 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 5 men, 1 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 31 on average. Men: 31 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Virginie Ledoyen 23, Tilda Swinton 39
Men
Peter Youngblood Hills 22, Leonardo DiCaprio 25, Guillaume Canet 26, Lars Arentz-Hansen 33, Paterson Joseph 35, Staffan Kihlbom 36, Robert Carlyle 38
Exhibit G: the money
It made 3.6 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $40 million
- Box office
- $144 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 168 scenes and 685 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
