Fails the Bechdel test
The Bourne Ultimatum
2007. Directed by Paul Greengrass, written by Tony Gilroy and Scott Z. Burns and George Nolfi.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
7 women characters. 2 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
Bourne is once again brought out of hiding, this time inadvertently by London-based reporter Simon Ross who is trying to unveil Operation Blackbriar--an upgrade to Project Treadstone--in a series of newspaper columns. Bourne sets up a meeting with Ross and realizes instantly they're being scanned. Information from the reporter stirs a new set of memories, and Bourne must finally, ultimately, uncover his dark past whilst dodging The Company's best efforts in trying to eradicate him.
- Released
- 03 Aug 2007
- Genres
- Action, Mystery, Thriller
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 8 / 10
- Metascore
- 85 / 100
- Awards
- Won 3 Oscars. 29 wins & 42 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Vosen 134 lines, man
- Bourne 102 lines, man
- Landy 72 lines, woman
- Wills 32 lines, man
- Nicky 29 lines, woman
- Hirsch 26 lines, man
- Ross 24 lines, man
- Cronin 14 lines, man
- Kramer 13 lines, man
- Tech 12 lines
Full cast, 66 people
- Matt Damon as Jason Bourne
- Julia Stiles as Nicky Parsons
- David Strathairn as Noah Vosen
- Scott Glenn as CIA Director Ezra Kramer
- Paddy Considine as Simon Ross
- Edgar Ramírez as Paz
- Albert Finney as Dr. Albert Hirsch
- Joan Allen as Pamela Landy
- Tom Gallop as Tom Cronin
- Corey Johnson as Conrad Wills
- Daniel Brühl as Martin Kreutz
- Joey Ansah as Desh Bouksani
- Colin Stinton as Neal Daniels
- Dan Fredenburgh as Jimmy
- Lucy Liemann as Lucy
- Bryan Reents as Technician
- Arkie Reece as Technician
- John Roberson as Technician
- Russ Huards as Technician
- Mark Bazeley as Betancourt
- Sinead O'Keeffe as Chamberlain
- Charles Venn as Agent Hammond
- Scott Adkins as Agent Kiley
- Branko Tomović as Russian Policeman
- Laurentiu Possa as Russian Policeman
- Trevor St. John as Tactical Team Leader
- Albert Jones as Tactical Team Agent
- Jeffrey Lee Gibson as Vosen's Driver
- Uriel Emil Pollack as Morgue Attendant
- Omar Hernández as NYPD Officer
- William H. Burns as NYPD Officer
- Michael Wildman as CRI Agent
- Kai Martin as Hoody
- Michael Ahl as Businessman (uncredited)
- Alex Argenti as Witness to a Murder (uncredited)
- Martin Ballantyne as Commuter (uncredited)
- Arthur Benjamins as Senator (uncredited)
- David Boston as Businessman on Street (uncredited)
- Glynis Brooks as Senator Gillham (uncredited)
- Mahmud Chowdhury as Train Commuter (uncredited)
- James Ciccone as Construction Worker (uncredited)
- Casey Cipriani as Girl at Hot Dog Stand (uncredited)
- Brian Cox as Ward Abbott (voice) (archive footage) (uncredited)
- Julie Eagleton as Commuter (uncredited)
- Richard El Khazen as Police Officer (uncredited)
- Ronald E. Giles as Commuter (uncredited)
- Ilan Krigsfeld as Decoy Bystander (uncredited)
- Kirk Lambert as Attorney (uncredited)
- Chris Mansfield as Commuter (uncredited)
- Bill Massof as CRI Agent (uncredited)
- Luis Mottola as Mob (uncredited)
- Mark Mottram as Special Agent in Car (uncredited)
- Karl Olsen as CIA Sub-station Chief (uncredited)
- Jose Pecino as Station Commuter (uncredited)
- Franka Potente as Marie Helena Kreutz (archive footage) (uncredited)
- Walter A. Saunders III as Security Guard (uncredited)
- James Schram as Hospital Patient (uncredited)
- Brian Smyj as Agent (uncredited)
- John Snowden as News Agent
- Albert Tang as Underground Passenger (uncredited)
- Anthony Wanzer as Police Officer (uncredited)
- John Warman as Policeman (uncredited)
- Chris Wilson as Commuter (uncredited)
- Simon John Wilson as Commuter (uncredited)
- Ben Youcef as Nabile (uncredited)
- Sebastian Feldman as Buenos Aires Cafe Patron (voice) (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 7 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 13% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 319
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 7 | 0 | 4 |
| 8 to 14 | 5 | 31 |
| 15 to 21 | 0 | 14 |
| 22 to 28 | 0 | 16 |
| 29 to 35 | 0 | 3 |
| 36 to 42 | 0 | 9 |
| 43 to 49 | 0 | 7 |
| 50 to 56 | 0 | 18 |
| 57 to 63 | 0 | 14 |
| 64 to 70 | 0 | 11 |
| 71 to 77 | 0 | 14 |
| 78 to 84 | 0 | 5 |
| 85 to 91 | 0 | 6 |
| 92 to 98 | 20 | 15 |
| 99 to 105 | 9 | 12 |
| 106 to 112 | 0 | 1 |
| 113 to 119 | 0 | 4 |
| 120 to 126 | 1 | 7 |
| 127 to 133 | 17 | 16 |
| 134 to 140 | 7 | 17 |
| 141 to 147 | 7 | 11 |
| 148 to 154 | 4 | 8 |
| 155 to 161 | 0 | 4 |
| 162 to 168 | 8 | 13 |
| 169 to 175 | 1 | 2 |
| 176 to 182 | 0 | 0 |
| 183 to 189 | 2 | 4 |
| 190 to 196 | 1 | 4 |
| 197 to 203 | 2 | 7 |
| 204 to 210 | 4 | 3 |
| 211 to 217 | 5 | 7 |
| 218 to 224 | 0 | 4 |
| 225 to 231 | 0 | 7 |
| 232 to 238 | 0 | 0 |
| 239 to 245 | 0 | 3 |
| 246 to 252 | 0 | 11 |
| 253 to 259 | 3 | 5 |
| 260 to 266 | 0 | 4 |
| 267 to 273 | 0 | 6 |
| 274 to 280 | 0 | 8 |
| 281 to 287 | 0 | 4 |
| 288 to 294 | 0 | 5 |
| 295 to 301 | 4 | 11 |
| 302 to 308 | 0 | 3 |
| 309 to 315 | 1 | 37 |
| 316 to 319 | 0 | 2 |
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, 20 are women's.
101 lines from women, 397 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
7 women and 42 men in the cast. 2 women and 26 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 16 of 573.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 161 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 19% of the words (880), men 81% (3,818). Women have 20% 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
1
Two men
41
Exhibit E: behind the camera
2 of the 17 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 22% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Paul Greengrass (man)
- Written by
- George Nolfi (man), Tony Gilroy (man), Scott Z. Burns (man)
- From the novel by
- Robert Ludlum (man)
- Produced by
- Patrick Crowley (man), Frank Marshall (man), Paul Sandberg (man), Andrew R. Tennenbaum (gender not listed)
- Shot by
- Oliver Wood (man)
- Edited by
- Christopher Rouse (man)
- Music by
- John Powell (man)
- Production design by
- Peter Wenham (man)
- Costumes by
- Shay Cunliffe (woman)
- Cast by
- John Hubbard (man), Avy Kaufman (woman), Dan Hubbard (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
11 women, 53 men, 24 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 29 men, 42 not listed
-
Production
13 women, 28 men, 23 not listed
-
Art
7 women, 14 men, 32 not listed
-
Sound
5 women, 28 men, 12 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
10 women, 7 men, 19 not listed
-
Lighting
0 women, 9 men, 26 not listed
-
Directing
4 women, 9 men, 6 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 38 on average. Men: 49 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Julia Stiles 26, Joan Allen 50
Men
Edgar Ramírez 30, Paddy Considine 33, Matt Damon 36, Corey Johnson 46, David Strathairn 58, Scott Glenn 68, Albert Finney 71
Exhibit G: the money
It made 6.3 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $70 million
- Box office
- $443 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 319 scenes and 573 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
