Passes the Bechdel test
The Card Counter
2021. Directed by Paul Schrader, written by Paul Schrader.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
11 women characters. 6 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 1 scene out of 85. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In that scene, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.
The film
Deeply traumatized by his actions at Abu Ghraib prison camp, former soldier William Tell spent ten years in prison. Now he travels across the US as a gambler. When he meets Cirk, whose father was broken by his experiences in Iraq, he tries to dissuade the young man from seeking revenge on the ruthless, unpunished trainer of the soldiers.
- Released
- 10 Sep 2021
- Genres
- Crime, Drama, Thriller
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 6.2 / 10
- Metascore
- 78 / 100
- Awards
- 3 wins & 22 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Tell 239 lines, man
- La Linda 101 lines, woman
- Cirk 100 lines, man
- Tell V.O 41 lines, man
- Gordo 19 lines, man
- Slippery Joe 16 lines, man
- Hoskins 8 lines, man
- Judy On Screen 5 lines, woman
- Timecut 5 lines, man
- Cirk On Screen 4 lines, man
Full cast, 29 people
- Oscar Isaac as William Tell
- Tiffany Haddish as La Linda
- Tye Sheridan as Cirk
- Willem Dafoe as Gordo
- Alexander Babara as Mr. USA
- Bobby C. King as Slippery Joe
- Ekaterina Baker as Sara
- Bryan Truong as Minnesota
- Dylan Flashner as Sergeant Hoskins
- Adrienne Lau as Crystal
- Joel Michaely as Ronnie
- Rachel Michiko Whitney as Nancy
- Muhsin Fliah as Civilian Translator
- Joseph Singletary as Inmate
- Kirill Sheynerman as Prison Guard
- Amia Edwards as Tournament Clerk
- Britton Webb as Roger Baufort
- Amye Gousset as Judy Baufort
- Billy Slaughter as Lackey #1
- Shane LeCocq as Lackey #2
- Olivia Peck as MP
- Rob Eubanks as Second Player
- April Alsbury as Casino Patron (uncredited)
- Marlon Hayes as Poker Tournament Attendant (uncredited)
- Alireza Mirmontazeri as Military Guard (uncredited)
- Fran Robertson as Casino Patron (uncredited)
- Brittney Souther as Female Prison Guard (uncredited)
- Kate Lyn Whitaker as News Anchor / Female Soldier (uncredited)
- Luca De Massis as Prisoner (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 2% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 85
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 | 3 |
| 3 to 4 | 0 | 9 |
| 5 to 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 to 8 | 4 | 5 |
| 9 to 10 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 to 12 | 0 | 19 |
| 13 to 14 | 18 | 28 |
| 15 to 16 | 0 | 3 |
| 17 to 18 | 0 | 6 |
| 19 to 20 | 0 | 1 |
| 21 to 22 | 0 | 0 |
| 23 to 24 | 0 | 30 |
| 25 to 26 | 0 | 3 |
| 27 to 28 | 0 | 24 |
| 29 to 30 | 0 | 5 |
| 31 to 32 | 0 | 3 |
| 33 to 34 | 16 | 25 |
| 35 to 36 | 0 | 10 |
| 37 to 38 | 10 | 7 |
| 39 to 40 | 6 | 9 |
| 41 to 42 | 16 | 18 |
| 43 to 44 | 0 | 3 |
| 45 to 46 | 0 | 1 |
| 47 to 48 | 0 | 2 |
| 49 to 50 | 0 | 16 |
| 51 to 52 | 0 | 12 |
| 53 to 54 | 0 | 3 |
| 55 to 56 | 0 | 9 |
| 57 to 58 | 0 | 12 |
| 59 to 60 | 0 | 44 |
| 61 to 62 | 1 | 1 |
| 63 to 64 | 16 | 16 |
| 65 to 66 | 6 | 7 |
| 67 to 68 | 0 | 27 |
| 69 to 70 | 0 | 27 |
| 71 to 72 | 21 | 24 |
| 73 to 74 | 3 | 6 |
| 75 to 76 | 0 | 4 |
| 77 to 78 | 0 | 0 |
| 79 to 80 | 0 | 21 |
| 81 to 82 | 0 | 0 |
| 83 to 84 | 0 | 1 |
| 85 to 85 | 0 | 0 |
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: the passing scene
The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.
LA LINDA: Trust me on this. LA LINDA O.S: It’s a, well, it’s sort of a botantical garden but they light it up for the holidays. My mom took me when I was a kid. Like this, better.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 21 are women's.
117 lines from women, 444 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
11 women and 15 men in the cast. 6 women and 10 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 14 of 570.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 105 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 (987), men 84% (5,190). Women have 21% of the lines, so their lines run shorter 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
2
Two men
26
Exhibit F: behind the camera
2 of the 12 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 28% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Paul Schrader (man)
- Written by
- Paul Schrader (man)
- Produced by
- Braxton Pope (man), Lauren Mann (gender not listed), David M. Wulf (man)
- Shot by
- Alexander Dynan (man)
- Edited by
- Ben Rodriguez Jr. (man)
- Music by
- Robert Levon Been (man), Giancarlo Vulcano (man)
- Production design by
- Ashley Fenton (woman)
- Costumes by
- Lisa Madonna (gender not listed)
- Cast by
- Susan Shopmaker (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
6 women, 13 men, 13 not listed
-
Art
3 women, 0 men, 18 not listed
-
Camera
1 women, 4 men, 13 not listed
-
Sound
1 women, 8 men, 9 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 7 men, 6 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
2 women, 0 men, 9 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 1 men, 2 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 37 on average. Men: 44 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Ekaterina Baker 33, Adrienne Lau 37, Tiffany Haddish 41
Men
Tye Sheridan 24, Oscar Isaac 42, Willem Dafoe 66
Exhibit H: the money
What it cost and made, where TMDB lists it.
- Budget
- Not listed
- Box office
- $5 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 85 scenes and 570 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
