Passes the Bechdel test

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Name: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Released: 2011

2011. Directed by David Fincher, written by Steven Zaillian and Stieg Larsson.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
28 women characters. 24 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 1 scene out of 306.
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.

Poster for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

The film

Mikael Blomkvist is a disgraced journalist who is asked by a wealthy industrialist to write a biography on his family. But what he really wants Blomkvist to do is to find out what happened to his niece, who went missing 40 years ago. At first Blomkvist isn't interested, until the man offers to help him clear his name. Blomkvist begins by talking to the man's relatives who were there when the girl went missing, but some of them are not forthcoming. Blomkvist eventually believes that her disappearance might have something to do with some serial killings that took place 20 years before she disappeared, so he asks for a research assistant. The industrialist's man suggests Lisbeth Salander, a talented hacker who does background checks for them and who even did one on Blomkvist. When he sees her report, he's impressed and asks her to work with him and she does. She's anti-social but is extremely efficient.

Released: 21 Dec 2011
Genres: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Rated: R
IMDb: 7.8 / 10
Metascore: 71 / 100
Awards: Won 1 Oscar. 26 wins & 92 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Blomkvist 372 lines, man
Salander 196 lines, woman
Martin 97 lines, man
Vanger 75 lines, man
Frode 73 lines, man
Bjurman 45 lines, man
Erika 44 lines, woman
Cecilia 21 lines, woman
Anita 19 lines, woman
Morell 19 lines, man

Full cast, 89 people

Daniel Craig as Mikael Blomkvist
Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander
Christopher Plummer as Henrik Vanger
Stellan Skarsgård as Martin Vanger
Robin Wright as Erika Berger
Yorick van Wageningen as Nils Bjurman
Steven Berkoff as Dirch Frode
Joely Richardson as Anita Vanger
Geraldine James as Cecilia Vanger
Goran Višnjić as Dragan Armansky
Donald Sumpter as Detective Inspector Gustaf Morell
Ulf Friberg as Hans-Erik Wennerström
Bengt C.W. Carlsson as Holger Palmgren
Tony Way as Plague
Per Myrberg as Harald
Josefin Asplund as Pernilla
Eva Fritjofson as Anna
Moa Garpendal as Harriet Vanger
Maia Hansson Bergqvist as Young Anna
Sarah Appelberg as Young Cecilia
Julian Sands as Young Henrik Vanger
Anna Björk as Young Isabella
Gustaf Hammarsten as Young Harald Vanger
Simon Reithner as Young Martin
David Dencik as Young Gustaf Morell
Marcus Johansson as Young Nilsson
Mathilda von Essen as Young Anita
Mathias Palmér as Young Birger
Martin Jarvis as Birger
Inga Landgré as Isabella Vanger
Reza Dehban as Hussein
Anders Berg as Young Frode
Mats Andersson as Nilsson
Anders Jansson as Doctor
Jürgen Klein as Gottfried
Kalle Josephson as Tech at MacJesus
Sandra Andreis as Photo Editor
Arly Jover as Liv
Pierre Sjö Östergren as Tattoo Artist
Tess Panzer as TV Newscaster
Alastair Duncan as Greger
Alan Dale as Detective Isaksson
Julia Rose as Nurse
Peter Carlberg as Hardware Clerk
Jan Abramson as Forsman
Lena Strömdahl as Mildred
Matthew Wolf as Tech Clerk
Anne-Li Norberg as Lindgren
Leo Bill as Trinity
Marco Albrecht as Junkie
Martina Lotun as Reporter at Vanger
Anna Carlson as FSA Official
Yvonne Åstrand as FSA Reporter
Fredrik Dolk as Wennerström's Lawyer
Christian Heller as Banker
Werner Biermeier as Banker
Christine Adams as Barbados TV Reporter
Peter Hottinger as Zurich TV Reporter
Joyce Giraud as Spain TV Reporter
Bengt Wallgren as Tailor
Élodie Yung as Miriam Wu
Anna Charlotta Gunnarson as Reporter
Andreas Björklund as Reporter
Embeth Davidtz as Annika Blomkvist Giannini
Joel Kinnaman as Christer Malm
Karen E. Wright as Magda Lovison
Leah Shaw as Book of Death Victim
George Gerdes as Udevalla Detective
Jenifer Brougham as Murder Victim (uncredited)
Laurence Fuller as Hospital Visitor (uncredited)
Henry Hereford as Lars (uncredited)
Darri Ingolfsson as Karlstad Police Officer (uncredited)
Christopher Maleki as Hanzel (uncredited)
Sahlima as Flight Attendant (uncredited)
Malin Toverud as Abused woman (uncredited)
Lennart B. Sandelin as Lawyer (uncredited)
Mitcho Batalov as Wennerströms Lawyer (uncredited)
Melissa Ciesla as Mari Holmberg (uncredited)
Amanda Dyar as Bar Patron (uncredited)
Patrick Leo Holland as CNN Newscaster (uncredited)
Maja Kin as Young Mrs Brunnlund (uncredited)
Shaun R.L. King as Henning Manderstierna (uncredited)
Ian Kitzmiller as Swedish Police (uncredited)
Annica Bejhed as TV Reporter (uncredited)
Britt Soderberg as Millennium Employee (uncredited)
Yasmine Vine as Assyrian Immigrant (uncredited)
Mike Zehr as The Locksmith (uncredited)
Peter Haber as Wennerström Spokesperson (Uncredited)
Denise Wessman as Harem Girl

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 7 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 306

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	2	10
8 to 14	9	21
15 to 21	28	30
22 to 28	4	30
29 to 35	0	26
36 to 42	0	0
43 to 49	0	11
50 to 56	6	21
57 to 63	0	2
64 to 70	1	28
71 to 77	0	11
78 to 84	8	36
85 to 91	29	37
92 to 98	7	16
99 to 105	12	15
106 to 112	3	4
113 to 119	23	35
120 to 126	5	12
127 to 133	22	5
134 to 140	8	47
141 to 147	9	30
148 to 154	16	26
155 to 161	19	25
162 to 168	18	26
169 to 175	4	13
176 to 182	5	2
183 to 189	10	15
190 to 196	3	25
197 to 203	12	10
204 to 210	7	19
211 to 217	0	0
218 to 224	0	6
225 to 231	1	40
232 to 238	3	48
239 to 245	14	27
246 to 252	16	19
253 to 259	19	11
260 to 266	4	15
267 to 273	21	21
274 to 280	7	3
281 to 287	10	0
288 to 294	0	0
295 to 301	9	5
302 to 306	2	1

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.

ANITA: Stay absolutely still. HARRIET V/O: She saved me.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 32 are women's.

376 lines from women, 784 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

28 women and 41 men in the cast. 24 women and 28 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 17 of 1,238. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 90 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 31% of the words (3,821), men 69% (8,393). Women have 32% 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

Two men

Exhibit F: behind the camera

4 of the 17 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 27% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: David Fincher (man)
Written by: Steven Zaillian (man)
From the novel by: Stieg Larsson (man)
Produced by: Ceán Chaffin (woman), Ole Søndberg (man), Søren Stærmose (man), Scott Rudin (man)
Shot by: Jeff Cronenweth (man)
Edited by: Kirk Baxter (man), Angus Wall (man)
Music by: Atticus Ross (man), Trent Reznor (man)
Production design by: Donald Graham Burt (man)
Costumes by: Trish Summerville (woman)
Cast by: Laray Mayfield (woman), Jeanette Klintberg (woman), Sasha Robertson (gender not listed)