Fails the Bechdel test
The Ides of March
2011. Directed by George Clooney, written by George Clooney and Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
11 women characters. 6 of them speak. -
No
2. Who talk to each other
Our parser found no scene where two women talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Not reached: the film fails an earlier rule.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.
The film
Stephen Meyers is a young idealist who's brilliant at communications, is second in command of Governor Mike Morris's presidential campaign, and is a true believer. In the middle of the Ohio primary, the campaign manager of Morris's opponent asks Meyers to meet; he offers him a job. At the same time, Morris's negotiations for the endorsement of the man in third place, a North Carolina Senator, hit a snag. A young campaign intern, Molly Stearns, gets Stephen's romantic attention. Republicans have a trick up their sleeve; Stephen may be too trusting, and Molly has a secret. What's most important, career, victory, or virtue?
- Released
- 07 Oct 2011
- Genres
- Drama, Thriller
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.1 / 10
- Metascore
- 67 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 1 Oscar. 9 wins & 37 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Stephen 330 lines, man
- Molly 106 lines, woman
- Paul 80 lines, man
- Duffy 76 lines, man
- Ida 54 lines, woman
- Ben 28 lines, man
- Cindy 12 lines, woman
- Student 1 9 lines
- Charlie Rose 8 lines, man
- Janitor 5 lines
Full cast, 54 people
- Ryan Gosling as Stephen Meyers
- George Clooney as Mike Morris
- Philip Seymour Hoffman as Paul Zara
- Paul Giamatti as Tom Duffy
- Evan Rachel Wood as Molly Stearns
- Marisa Tomei as Ida Horowicz
- Jeffrey Wright as Senator Thompson
- Max Minghella as Ben Harpen
- Jennifer Ehle as Cindy Morris
- Gregory Itzin as Jack Stearns
- Michael Mantell as Senator Ted Pullman
- Yuriy Sardarov as Mike
- Bella Ivory as Jenny
- Maya Sayre as Sue
- Danny Mooney as Campaign Editor
- John Manfredi as Advance Guy
- Robert Mervak as Piano Player
- Fabio Polanco as Security Guard
- Frank Jones Jr. as Janitor
- Peter Harpen as Head First Bartender
- Rohn Thomas as Stage Manager
- David McConnell as Director
- Mark Stacey White as Sound Man
- Lauren Wainwright as Student #1
- Kris Reilly as Student #2
- Michael Ellison as Pullman Staffer
- Hayley Meyers as Jill
- Leslie McCurdy as Clinic Nurse
- Robert Braun as Robert Braun
- Rachel Maddow as Rachel Maddow
- Chris Matthews as Chris Matthews
- Charlie Rose as Charlie Rose
- Deb Dixon as Local Achor
- Neal Anthony Rubin as Reporter #1
- Loretta Higgins as Reporter #2
- Joe Dinda as Joe the Staffer
- John Repulski as Organist
- Cherie Bowman as Air Tran Ticket Agent
- Chyla Anderson as Choir
- Maxi Anderson as Choir
- Nelson Beato as Choir
- Johnny Britt as Choir
- Alvin Chea as Choir
- Carmen Carter as Choir
- Christopher Carter as Choir
- Carmel Echols as Choir
- Clydene Jackson as Choir
- Amy Keys as Choir
- Lori Perry as Choir
- Josef Powell as Choir
- Lamont Van Hook as Choir
- John J West as Choir
- Will Wheaton as Choir
- Nita Whitaker as Choir
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 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 88
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 | 15 |
| 3 to 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 to 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 to 8 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 to 10 | 0 | 4 |
| 11 to 12 | 27 | 41 |
| 13 to 14 | 8 | 9 |
| 15 to 16 | 24 | 42 |
| 17 to 18 | 2 | 31 |
| 19 to 20 | 0 | 27 |
| 21 to 22 | 0 | 15 |
| 23 to 24 | 18 | 26 |
| 25 to 26 | 23 | 27 |
| 27 to 28 | 0 | 18 |
| 29 to 30 | 0 | 11 |
| 31 to 32 | 0 | 5 |
| 33 to 34 | 0 | 8 |
| 35 to 36 | 0 | 7 |
| 37 to 38 | 2 | 8 |
| 39 to 40 | 12 | 3 |
| 41 to 42 | 0 | 4 |
| 43 to 44 | 0 | 1 |
| 45 to 46 | 22 | 23 |
| 47 to 48 | 1 | 14 |
| 49 to 50 | 5 | 5 |
| 51 to 52 | 8 | 56 |
| 53 to 54 | 7 | 10 |
| 55 to 56 | 0 | 0 |
| 57 to 58 | 2 | 2 |
| 59 to 60 | 1 | 32 |
| 61 to 62 | 0 | 0 |
| 63 to 64 | 0 | 0 |
| 65 to 66 | 4 | 5 |
| 67 to 68 | 0 | 46 |
| 69 to 70 | 0 | 0 |
| 71 to 72 | 4 | 3 |
| 73 to 74 | 0 | 0 |
| 75 to 76 | 0 | 20 |
| 77 to 78 | 0 | 2 |
| 79 to 80 | 0 | 1 |
| 81 to 82 | 0 | 17 |
| 83 to 84 | 0 | 0 |
| 85 to 86 | 2 | 5 |
| 87 to 88 | 4 | 9 |
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 24 are women's.
176 lines from women, 552 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
11 women and 23 men in the cast. 6 women and 13 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 31 of 757.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 71 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 (1,319), men 84% (6,898). Women have 24% of the lines, so their lines run shorter than men's.
Exhibit D: 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
0
Two men
28
Exhibit E: behind the camera
3 of the 13 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 32% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- George Clooney (man)
- Written by
- Beau Willimon (man), Grant Heslov (man), George Clooney (man)
- Produced by
- George Clooney (man), Brian Oliver (man), Grant Heslov (man)
- Shot by
- Phedon Papamichael (man)
- Edited by
- Stephen Mirrione (man)
- Music by
- Alexandre Desplat (man)
- Production design by
- Sharon Seymour (woman)
- Costumes by
- Louise Frogley (woman)
- Cast by
- Ellen Chenoweth (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
7 women, 9 men, 6 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
4 women, 1 men, 7 not listed
-
Sound
1 women, 9 men, 2 not listed
-
Art
3 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
-
Other crew
1 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Writing
0 women, 4 men
-
Camera
0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 2 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 37 on average. Men: 43 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Evan Rachel Wood 24, Jennifer Ehle 41, Marisa Tomei 46
Men
Max Minghella 26, Ryan Gosling 30, Philip Seymour Hoffman 44, Paul Giamatti 44, Jeffrey Wright 45, George Clooney 50, Gregory Itzin 63
Exhibit G: the money
It made 6.1 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $12.5 million
- Box office
- $76.3 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 88 scenes and 757 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
