Passes the Bechdel test

The Boxtrolls

Name: The Boxtrolls
Released: 2014

2014. Directed by Graham Annable and Anthony Stacchi, written by Irena Brignull and Adam Pava and Anthony Stacchi.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
5 women characters. 4 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 3 scenes out of 75.
Yes 3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.

Second opinion

Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 2 out of 3.

The film

THE BOXTROLLS are a community of quirky, mischievous creatures who have lovingly raised an orphaned human boy named Eggs in the amazing cavernous home they've built beneath the streets of a city called Cheesebridge. The story is about a young orphaned boy raised by underground cave-dwelling trash collectors who tries to save his friends from an evil exterminator, the town's villain, Archibald Snatcher. When Snatcher comes up with a plot to get rid of the Boxtrolls. Eggs decides to venture above ground and "into the light," where he meets and teams up with fabulously feisty Winnie. Together, they devise a daring plan to save The BoxTrolls family. The film is based upon the children's novel 'Here Be Monsters' by Alan Snow.

Released: 26 Sep 2014
Genres: Animation, Adventure, Comedy
Rated: PG
IMDb: 6.8 / 10
Metascore: 61 / 100
Awards: Nominated for 1 Oscar. 8 wins & 61 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Eggs 174 lines, man
Snatcher 153 lines, man
Winnie 148 lines, woman
Lord Portley-Rind 77 lines, man
Mr. Pickles 71 lines, man
Mr. Trout 53 lines, man
Mr. Gristle 39 lines, man
Fish 29 lines, man
Herbert 26 lines, man
Madame Frou Frou 21 lines, woman

Full cast, 21 people

Ben Kingsley as Snatcher (voice)
Isaac Hempstead Wright as Eggs (voice)
Elle Fanning as Winnie Portley-Rind (voice)
Dee Bradley Baker as Fish / Wheels / Bucket (voice)
Toni Collette as Lady Cynthia Portley-Rind (voice)
Jared Harris as Lord Portley-Rind (voice)
Nick Frost as Mr. Trout (voice)
Richard Ayoade as Mr. Pickles (voice)
Tracy Morgan as Mr. Gristle (voice)
Simon Pegg as Herbert Trubshaw (voice)
Nika Futterman as Oil Can / Knickers (voice)
Pat Fraley as Fragile / Sweets (voice)
Fred Tatasciore as Clocks / Specs (voice)
Maurice LaMarche as Sir Langsdale (voice)
James Urbaniak as Sir Broderick / Male Workman 1 / Male Workman 2 (voice)
Brian George as Boulanger / Male Aristocrat 3 (voice)
Lori Tritel as Female Aristocrat 1 (voice)
Steve Blum as Shoe / Sparky (voice)
Laraine Newman as Female Townsfolk 1 / Female Townsfolk 2 (voice)
Max Mitchell as Baby Eggs (voice)
Reckless Jack as Background Boy (voice)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 7% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 75

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 2	0	1
3 to 4	0	20
5 to 6	0	6
7 to 8	0	6
9 to 10	0	21
11 to 12	1	5
13 to 14	1	4
15 to 16	0	4
17 to 18	1	12
19 to 20	1	2
21 to 22	6	23
23 to 24	1	1
25 to 26	2	0
27 to 28	7	10
29 to 30	8	37
31 to 32	0	7
33 to 34	0	2
35 to 36	20	15
37 to 38	17	11
39 to 40	0	21
41 to 42	0	17
43 to 44	0	70
45 to 46	7	32
47 to 48	0	10
49 to 50	20	34
51 to 52	10	9
53 to 54	12	1
55 to 56	26	22
57 to 58	11	5
59 to 60	9	9
61 to 62	11	31
63 to 64	0	30
65 to 66	0	28
67 to 68	5	22
69 to 70	8	41
71 to 72	12	81
73 to 74	6	21
75 to 75	0	16

The evidence

Straight from the script
Counted from the script and the credits

Tap an exhibit to open it.

Exhibit A: the passing scenes

The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.

WINNIE: No, no. You kiss a lady's hand. LADY CYNTHIA: Darling, it's time to take off that dress and... burn it. WINNIE: Don't move. I'll be right back.

MADAME FROU FROU/SNATCHER: Oooh! Vatch your hands, monsieur! WINNIE: There you are.

MADAME FROU FROU/SNATCHER: You have me. I am not a true red head. LADY CYNTHIA: Poor woman.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 23 are women's.

202 lines from women, 687 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

5 women and 16 men in the cast. 4 women and 29 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 64 of 954. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 112 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 24% of the words (1,406), men 76% (4,457). Women have 23% of the lines, so their lines run longer than men's.

Exhibit E: 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 F: behind the camera

4 of the 16 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 23% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Graham Annable (man), Anthony Stacchi (man)
Written by: Irena Brignull (woman), Adam Pava (man)
From the novel by: Alan Snow (man)
Produced by: Travis Knight (man), David Bleiman Ichioka (man)
Shot by: John Ashlee Prat (gender not listed)
Edited by: Edie Ichioka (woman)
Music by: Dario Marianelli (man)
Production design by: Paul Lasaine (man), Michel Breton (gender not listed), August Hall (gender not listed), Tom McClure (gender not listed)
Costumes by: Deborah Cook (woman)
Cast by: Mary Hidalgo (woman)