Fails the Bechdel test
The Informant!
2009. Directed by Steven Soderbergh, written by Scott Z. Burns and Kurt Eichenwald.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
7 women characters. 5 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
Mark Whitacre has worked for lysine developing company ADM for many years and has even found his way into upper management. But nothing has prepared him for the job he is about to undertake - being a spy for the FBI. Unwillingly pressured into working as an informant against the illegal price-fixing activities of his company, Whitacre gradually adopts the idea that he's a true secret agent. But as his incessant lies keep piling up, his world begins crashing down around him.
- Released
- 18 Sep 2009
- Genres
- Biography, Comedy, Crime
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 6.5 / 10
- Metascore
- 66 / 100
- Awards
- 1 win & 21 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Whitacre 353 lines, man
- Shepard 126 lines, man
- Herndon 74 lines, man
- Ginger 52 lines, woman
- Andreas 36 lines, man
- Terry Wilson 27 lines, man
- Epstein 18 lines, man
- Cheviron 17 lines, man
- Miller 11 lines, man
- Robin Mann 10 lines, woman
Full cast, 61 people
- Matt Damon as Mark Whitacre
- Scott Bakula as Brian Shepard
- Joel McHale as Robert Herndon
- Melanie Lynskey as Ginger Whitacre
- Tom Papa as Mick Andreas
- Rick Overton as Terry Wilson
- Thomas F. Wilson as Mark Cheviron
- Clancy Brown as Aubrey Daniel
- Tony Hale as James Epstein
- Richard Steven Horvitz as Bob Zaiderman
- Ann Cusack as Robin Mann
- Allan Havey as FBI Supervisor Dean Paisley
- Rusty Schwimmer as Liz Taylor
- Lucas McHugh Carroll as Alexander Whitacre
- Eddie Jemison as Kirk Schmidt
- Craig Ricci Shaynak as Discouraged Foreman
- Scott Adsit as Sid Hulse
- Ann Dowd as Kate Medford
- Howie Johnson as Rusty Williams
- Nick Craig as Kid at Pool #1
- Cody Puckett as Kid at Pool #2
- Andy Daly as Marty Allison
- David Campbell as Budweiser Client Representative
- Carolyn R. Feltner as Budweiser Receptionist
- J.P. Gillain as Zurich Bank Security Officer
- Elena Eustache as Zurich Bank Receptionist
- John Hans Tester as Peter Dreyer
- Ludger Pistor as Reinhard Richter
- Rome Kanda as Hirokazu Ikeda
- Yoshio Be as Kazutoshi Yamada
- Raymond Ma as Kanji Mimoto
- Hervé Deschamps as Philippe Rollier
- Pascal Ifri as Alain Crouy
- Dann Seki as Joon Mo Suh
- Jayden Lund as James Mutchnik
- Chic Daniel as FBI Agent at Raid
- Joe Chrest as Visiting Client
- J.D. Mathein as Phone Agent
- William Marsh as FBI Special Agent Ken Temples
- Tom Smothers as Dwayne Andreas
- Bob Zany as John Dowd
- Tara Barrett as Reporter #1
- Tim Cain as Reporter #2
- Ken Frye as Reporter #3
- Huey Freeman as Reporter #4
- Brian Gallivan as Ron Henkoff
- Daniel Hagen as Scott Roberts
- Patton Oswalt as Ed Herbst
- Samantha Albert as Mary Spearing
- Jimmy Brogan as Dr. Derek Miller
- Paul F. Tompkins as FBI Special Agent Anthony D'Angelo
- Adam Paul as FBI Special Agent Michael Bassett
- Wayne Péré as Sheldon Zenner
- Scott England as Local News Anchor
- Joshua Funk as FBI Special Agent Robert Grant
- Candy Clark as Mark Whitacre's Mother
- Frank Welker as Mark Whitacre's Father
- Larry Clarke as Whitacre's Second Attorney
- Dick Smothers as Judge Harold Baker
- Steve Seagren as Correctional Officer
- Arden Myrin as Sarah Scott (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 7% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 190
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 | 1 | 4 |
| 5 to 8 | 4 | 16 |
| 9 to 12 | 1 | 20 |
| 13 to 16 | 3 | 11 |
| 17 to 20 | 3 | 23 |
| 21 to 24 | 8 | 14 |
| 25 to 28 | 3 | 28 |
| 29 to 32 | 2 | 9 |
| 33 to 36 | 0 | 12 |
| 37 to 40 | 0 | 47 |
| 41 to 44 | 0 | 5 |
| 45 to 48 | 0 | 41 |
| 49 to 52 | 0 | 34 |
| 53 to 56 | 0 | 16 |
| 57 to 60 | 0 | 14 |
| 61 to 64 | 0 | 4 |
| 65 to 68 | 0 | 7 |
| 69 to 72 | 5 | 28 |
| 73 to 76 | 0 | 5 |
| 77 to 80 | 7 | 27 |
| 81 to 84 | 3 | 19 |
| 85 to 88 | 0 | 21 |
| 89 to 92 | 0 | 28 |
| 93 to 96 | 1 | 15 |
| 97 to 100 | 5 | 25 |
| 101 to 104 | 0 | 6 |
| 105 to 108 | 0 | 11 |
| 109 to 112 | 0 | 13 |
| 113 to 116 | 0 | 30 |
| 117 to 120 | 0 | 20 |
| 121 to 124 | 3 | 13 |
| 125 to 128 | 4 | 6 |
| 129 to 132 | 2 | 4 |
| 133 to 136 | 2 | 3 |
| 137 to 140 | 0 | 6 |
| 141 to 144 | 0 | 40 |
| 145 to 148 | 4 | 15 |
| 149 to 152 | 8 | 26 |
| 153 to 156 | 2 | 23 |
| 157 to 160 | 6 | 9 |
| 161 to 164 | 0 | 13 |
| 165 to 168 | 0 | 14 |
| 169 to 172 | 0 | 3 |
| 173 to 176 | 3 | 5 |
| 177 to 180 | 1 | 9 |
| 181 to 184 | 2 | 16 |
| 185 to 188 | 0 | 14 |
| 189 to 190 | 0 | 0 |
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, 10 are women's.
83 lines from women, 772 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
7 women and 41 men in the cast. 5 women and 39 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 5 of 916.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 193 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 9% of the words (1,356), men 91% (13,247). Women have 10% 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
88
Exhibit E: behind the camera
3 of the 13 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 28% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Steven Soderbergh (man)
- Written by
- Scott Z. Burns (man)
- Produced by
- Gregory Jacobs (man), Jennifer Fox (woman), Howard Braunstein (man), Michael Jaffe (man), Kurt Eichenwald (man)
- Shot by
- Steven Soderbergh (man)
- Edited by
- Stephen Mirrione (man)
- Music by
- Marvin Hamlisch (man)
- Production design by
- Doug J. Meerdink (man)
- Costumes by
- Shoshana Rubin (woman)
- Cast by
- Carmen Cuba (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Art
3 women, 12 men, 25 not listed
-
Other crew
1 women, 11 men, 19 not listed
-
Production
6 women, 13 men, 12 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
9 women, 3 men, 11 not listed
-
Sound
3 women, 10 men, 10 not listed
-
Camera
2 women, 4 men, 5 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 5 men, 6 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 3 men, 4 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 32 on average. Men: 45 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Melanie Lynskey 32
Men
Joel McHale 37, Matt Damon 38, Tony Hale 38, Tom Papa 40, Richard Steven Horvitz 43, Thomas F. Wilson 50, Clancy Brown 50, Scott Bakula 54, Rick Overton 55
Exhibit G: the money
It made 1.9 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $22 million
- Box office
- $41.8 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 190 scenes and 916 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
