Passes the Bechdel test
The Girl on the Train
2016. Directed by Tate Taylor, written by Erin Cressida Wilson and Paula Hawkins.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
9 women characters. 10 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 14 scenes out of 151. -
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
Rachel Watson clings to the wreckage of her identity by self-medicating with cheap vodka and voyeurism. Her daily transit offers a window into a life she no longer possesses, fixating on a neighborhood blonde who represents everything Rachel has lost. This obsession curdles into a frantic, disjointed nightmare when she witnesses a perceived betrayal. Driven by a surge of righteous, drunken fury, she descends into a mental fog that swallows the events of a single, violent evening. She awakens battered and stained with blood. Haunted by the void in her memory and the news of a local disappearance, Rachel weaponizes her own instability, choosing to trust her fractured instincts over the terrifying reality of her mounting cognitive rot.
- Released
- 07 Oct 2016
- Genres
- Crime, Drama, Mystery
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 6.5 / 10
- Metascore
- 48 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 1 BAFTA Award. 4 wins & 14 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Rachel 242 lines, woman
- Tom 88 lines, man
- Anna 74 lines, woman
- Megan 69 lines, woman
- Scott 49 lines, man
- Riley 47 lines, woman
- Dr. Abdic 36 lines, man
- Cathy 23 lines, woman
- Martha 18 lines, woman
- Man In The Suit 9 lines, man
Full cast, 31 people
- Emily Blunt as Rachel
- Rebecca Ferguson as Anna
- Haley Bennett as Megan
- Justin Theroux as Tom
- Luke Evans as Scott
- Allison Janney as Detective Riley
- Edgar Ramírez as Dr. Abdic
- Lisa Kudrow as Martha
- Laura Prepon as Cathy
- Darren Goldstein as Man in Suit
- Cleta Elaine Ellington as Oyster Bar Woman
- Lana Young as Doctor
- Rachel Christopher as Woman with Child
- Fernando Medina as Pool Player
- Gregory Morley as Officer Pete
- Mac Tavares as Detective Gaskill
- John Norris as Jason
- Nathan Shapiro as Meeting Member
- Tamiel Paynes as Central Park Drummer Boy
- Peter Mayer-Klepchick as Mac
- Frank Anello as Field Reporter (uncredited)
- Alexander Jameson as Parochial School Kid (uncredited)
- Mauricio Ovalle as Conductor (uncredited)
- Ross Gibby as David (uncredited)
- Guy Sparks as Uniformed NYPD Officer (uncredited)
- Phil Oddo as Train Passenger (uncredited)
- Jesse VanDerveer as Parochial Student (uncredited)
- Kevin D. McGee as Passenger (uncredited)
- Doris McCarthy as Businesswoman (uncredited)
- Alice Niedermair as Social Worker (uncredited)
- Johnny Otto as Officer Martin (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 6% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 151
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 | 6 | 0 |
| 5 to 8 | 5 | 0 |
| 9 to 12 | 22 | 0 |
| 13 to 16 | 15 | 4 |
| 17 to 20 | 26 | 0 |
| 21 to 24 | 12 | 10 |
| 25 to 28 | 0 | 0 |
| 29 to 32 | 0 | 0 |
| 33 to 36 | 16 | 3 |
| 37 to 40 | 0 | 0 |
| 41 to 44 | 4 | 1 |
| 45 to 48 | 4 | 2 |
| 49 to 52 | 9 | 0 |
| 53 to 56 | 10 | 3 |
| 57 to 60 | 3 | 4 |
| 61 to 64 | 14 | 3 |
| 65 to 68 | 50 | 2 |
| 69 to 72 | 31 | 4 |
| 73 to 76 | 22 | 20 |
| 77 to 80 | 19 | 20 |
| 81 to 84 | 27 | 27 |
| 85 to 88 | 19 | 6 |
| 89 to 92 | 9 | 5 |
| 93 to 96 | 5 | 1 |
| 97 to 100 | 6 | 0 |
| 101 to 104 | 3 | 2 |
| 105 to 108 | 19 | 19 |
| 109 to 112 | 20 | 3 |
| 113 to 116 | 15 | 8 |
| 117 to 120 | 19 | 3 |
| 121 to 124 | 6 | 9 |
| 125 to 128 | 2 | 0 |
| 129 to 132 | 7 | 6 |
| 133 to 136 | 36 | 9 |
| 137 to 140 | 9 | 8 |
| 141 to 144 | 13 | 15 |
| 145 to 148 | 4 | 0 |
| 149 to 151 | 1 | 0 |
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.
ANNA: Oh, hello. ANNA: I swear I sometimes feel like my heart is gonna explode. I mean, look at her. Look at her! ANNA: You’re not sleeping! You’re not sleeping... MEGAN: Hello? Hello?
MEGAN: Hello...? ANNA: Is that another hang-up? MEGAN: ...Mm-hmm.
ANNA: ...and grab the corners. And straighten. MEGAN: I got another job. ANNA: ...You what? MEGAN: I’m really sorry, Anna.
CATHY: Rachel, you have to stop calling them. Okay? RACHEL: I really appreciate this room. I do. I thought that I would just be here for a couple of weeks or a month. CATHY: Yeah. That was two years ago. CATHY: Get some sleep.
RACHEL: Oh my god... CATHY: Rachel, open the door. RACHEL: Cathy, I just need a sec. CATHY: Are you ok? Rachel, open the door.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 71 are women's.
488 lines from women, 197 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
9 women and 14 men in the cast. 10 women and 10 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
A woman speaks the first line.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 8 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 75% of the words (5,020), men 25% (1,705). Women have 71% of the lines, so their lines run longer than men's.
Exhibit E: the test the other way
Run the other way, for men, the film scores 1 out of 3.
Conversations between two named characters
Two women
28
Two men
0
Exhibit F: behind the camera
5 of the 14 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 35% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Tate Taylor (man)
- Written by
- Erin Cressida Wilson (woman)
- From the novel by
- Paula Hawkins (woman)
- Produced by
- Marc Platt (man), Jared LeBoff (man)
- Shot by
- Charlotte Bruus Christensen (woman)
- Edited by
- Michael McCusker (man), Andrew Buckland (man)
- Music by
- Danny Elfman (man)
- Production design by
- Kevin Thompson (man)
- Costumes by
- Michelle Matland (woman), Ann Roth (woman)
- Cast by
- Kerry Barden (man), Paul Schnee (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Costume & Make-Up
4 women, 6 men, 4 not listed
-
Other crew
3 women, 7 men
-
Production
5 women, 5 men
-
Sound
0 women, 6 men
-
Directing
2 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Visual Effects
0 women, 4 men, 1 not listed
-
Art
2 women, 1 men
-
Camera
1 women, 0 men, 2 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 40 on average. Men: 41 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Haley Bennett 28, Rebecca Ferguson 32, Emily Blunt 33, Laura Prepon 36, Lisa Kudrow 53, Allison Janney 56
Men
Luke Evans 37, Edgar Ramírez 39, Darren Goldstein 42, Justin Theroux 45
Exhibit H: the money
It made 3.8 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $45 million
- Box office
- $173 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 151 scenes and 732 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
