Passes the Bechdel test
The Butler
2013. Directed by Lee Daniels, written by Danny Strong and Wil Haygood.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
13 women characters. 11 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 2 scenes out of 164. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3.
The film
Cecil Gaines was a sharecropper's son who grew up in the 1920s as a domestic servant for the white family who casually destroyed his. Eventually striking out on his own, Cecil becomes a hotel valet of such efficiency and discreteness in the 1950s that he becomes a butler in the White House itself. There, Cecil would serve numerous US Presidents over the decades as a passive witness of history with the American Civil Rights Movement gaining momentum even as his family has troubles of its own. As his wife, Gloria, struggles with her addictions and his defiant eldest son, Louis, strives for a just world, Cecil must decide whether he should take action in his own way.
- Released
- 16 Aug 2013
- Genres
- Biography, Drama
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 7.2 / 10
- Metascore
- 65 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 2 BAFTA Awards. 16 wins & 55 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Cecil 216 lines, man
- Gloria 104 lines, woman
- Louis 84 lines, man
- Cecil V.O 41 lines, man
- Carter 39 lines, man
- Charlie 32 lines, man
- Holloway 30 lines, man
- Howard 26 lines, man
- Nixon 22 lines, man
- Carol 19 lines, woman
Full cast, 53 people
- Forest Whitaker as Cecil Gaines
- Oprah Winfrey as Gloria Gaines
- David Oyelowo as Louis Gaines
- John Cusack as Richard Nixon
- Jane Fonda as Nancy Reagan
- Cuba Gooding Jr. as Carter Wilson
- Mariah Carey as Hattie Pearl
- Terrence Howard as Howard
- Lenny Kravitz as James Holloway
- Aml Ameen as Cecil Gaines (15)
- Michael Rainey Jr. as Cecil Gaines (8)
- James Marsden as John F. Kennedy
- Alex Pettyfer as Thomas Westfall
- Vanessa Redgrave as Annabeth Westfall
- Alan Rickman as Ronald Reagan
- Liev Schreiber as Lyndon B. Johnson
- Robin Williams as Dwight H. Eisenhower
- Yaya DaCosta as Carol Hammie
- David Banner as Earl Gaines
- Colman Domingo as Freddie Fallows
- Nelsan Ellis as Martin Luther King Jr.
- Nealla Gordon as Senator Kassebaum
- Elijah Kelley as Charlie Gaines (15-18)
- Minka Kelly as Jackie Kennedy
- Adriane Lenox as Gina
- Mo McRae as Eldridge Huggins
- Pernell Walker as Lorraine
- Jesse Williams as Rev. James Lawson
- Clarence Williams III as Maynard
- LaJessie Smith as Abraham
- John P. Fertitta as Mr. Jenkins
- Jim Gleason as R.D. Warner
- Isaac White as Charlie Gaines (10)
- Joe Chrest as White Usher
- Tyson Ford as Elroy
- James DuMont as Sherman Adams
- Robert Aberdeen as Herbert Brownell
- Olivia Washington as Olivia
- Margaret M. Owens as Woolworth Diner Patron #1
- Eric Ducote as Woolworth Diner Patron #2
- Chloe Barach as Caroline Kennedy
- Danny Strong as Freedom Bus Journalist
- Clara Hopkins Daniels as Freedom Bus Rider
- Dana Gourrier as Helen Holloway
- Shirley Pugh as Malcolm X Goer
- Bill Newman as Pastor
- Colin Walker as John Ehrlichman
- Alex Manette as Bob Haldeman
- Rusty Robertson as Senator Robertson
- Stephen Rider as Admiral Rochon
- Sam Malone as Young Abraham (uncredited)
- Tarra Riggs as Sophie Wilson (uncredited)
- Xosha Roquemore as Foxy (uncredited)
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 164
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 | 4 |
| 5 to 8 | 4 | 13 |
| 9 to 12 | 0 | 7 |
| 13 to 16 | 0 | 6 |
| 17 to 20 | 0 | 11 |
| 21 to 24 | 0 | 3 |
| 25 to 28 | 0 | 3 |
| 29 to 32 | 0 | 9 |
| 33 to 36 | 10 | 25 |
| 37 to 40 | 21 | 39 |
| 41 to 44 | 1 | 23 |
| 45 to 48 | 0 | 11 |
| 49 to 52 | 0 | 38 |
| 53 to 56 | 8 | 53 |
| 57 to 60 | 6 | 8 |
| 61 to 64 | 2 | 12 |
| 65 to 68 | 3 | 1 |
| 69 to 72 | 0 | 1 |
| 73 to 76 | 10 | 13 |
| 77 to 80 | 11 | 19 |
| 81 to 84 | 2 | 34 |
| 85 to 88 | 3 | 13 |
| 89 to 92 | 10 | 23 |
| 93 to 96 | 0 | 4 |
| 97 to 100 | 7 | 14 |
| 101 to 104 | 15 | 34 |
| 105 to 108 | 0 | 8 |
| 109 to 112 | 1 | 2 |
| 113 to 116 | 0 | 23 |
| 117 to 120 | 0 | 1 |
| 121 to 124 | 17 | 62 |
| 125 to 128 | 0 | 12 |
| 129 to 132 | 3 | 6 |
| 133 to 136 | 12 | 21 |
| 137 to 140 | 0 | 17 |
| 141 to 144 | 11 | 26 |
| 145 to 148 | 3 | 11 |
| 149 to 152 | 0 | 3 |
| 153 to 156 | 1 | 25 |
| 157 to 160 | 11 | 15 |
| 161 to 164 | 0 | 11 |
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.
HELEN: Leave my bird alone. GLORIA: You know three kids got killed down there. Trying to get colored folks registered to vote.
GLORIA: Because I read JET Magazine. I’m not just sitting up there sewing for you all day. CAROL: I’m getting sick and tired of gettin’ thrown in jail.
CAROL: We provide free breakfast for children, free medical clinics, free clothing and self defense classes. GLORIA: And why y’all need self defense?
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 21 are women's.
172 lines from women, 664 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
13 women and 32 men in the cast. 11 women and 29 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 16 of 873.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 55 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 23% of the words (2,240), men 77% (7,540). Women have 21% 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
9
Two men
70
Exhibit F: behind the camera
3 of the 14 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 40% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Lee Daniels (man)
- Written by
- Danny Strong (man)
- Produced by
- Buddy Patrick (gender not listed), Lee Daniels (man), Cassian Elwes (man), Laura Ziskin (woman), Ari Daniel Pinchot (gender not listed)
- Shot by
- Andrew Dunn (man)
- Edited by
- Joe Klotz (man)
- Music by
- Rodrigo Leão (man)
- Production design by
- Tim Galvin (man)
- Costumes by
- Ruth E. Carter (woman)
- Cast by
- Leah Daniels-Butler (woman), Billy Hopkins (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Art
2 women, 7 men, 28 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
15 women, 4 men, 17 not listed
-
Sound
8 women, 18 men, 8 not listed
-
Production
10 women, 9 men, 8 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 6 men, 18 not listed
-
Lighting
0 women, 3 men, 15 not listed
-
Other crew
4 women, 6 men, 7 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 3 men, 9 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 59 on average. Men: 43 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Mariah Carey 44, Oprah Winfrey 59, Jane Fonda 75
Men
Aml Ameen 28, David Oyelowo 37, Terrence Howard 44, Cuba Gooding Jr. 45, John Cusack 47, Lenny Kravitz 49, Forest Whitaker 52
Exhibit H: the money
It made 7.1 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $25 million
- Box office
- $177 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 164 scenes and 873 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
