Fails the Bechdel test
The Island
2005. Directed by Michael Bay, written by Caspian Tredwell-Owen and Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
17 women characters. 3 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
Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3.
The film
Set in a dystopian future, a group of people work in a facility, essentially as slaves. They do have an incentive though - a regular lottery is held and one of them gets to leave the facility and its restrictions and move to The Island, a paradise. Lincoln Six Echo is one of the workers in the facility and he is infatuated with Jordan Two Delta. His life is fairly uneventful and mundane until Jordan Two Delta gets selected to go to The Island. Then Lincoln starts to discover the truth about the facility and The Island.
- Released
- 22 Jul 2005
- Genres
- Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 6.8 / 10
- Metascore
- 50 / 100
- Awards
- 1 win & 6 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Lincoln 218 lines, man
- Merrick 89 lines, man
- Ester 62 lines, woman
- Scheer 61 lines, man
- Dr. Sanger 54 lines
- Diggs 45 lines, man
- Crowne 36 lines, woman
- Katherine 32 lines
- Tom 29 lines, man
- Jones 26 lines, man
Full cast, 67 people
- Ewan McGregor as Lincoln Six Echo / Tom Lincoln
- Scarlett Johansson as Jordan Two Delta / Sarah Jordan
- Djimon Hounsou as Albert Laurent
- Sean Bean as Dr. Bernard Merrick
- Steve Buscemi as James 'Mac' McCord
- Michael Clarke Duncan as Starkweather Two Delta / Jamal Starkweather
- Ethan Phillips as Jones Three Echo
- Brian Stepanek as Gandu Three Echo
- Noa Tishby as Community Announcer
- Siobhan Flynn as Lima One Alpha
- Troy Blendell as Laurent Team Member
- Jamie McBride as Laurent Team Member
- Kevin McCorkle as Laurent Team Member
- Gary Nickens as Laurent Team Member
- Kathleen Rose Perkins as Laurent Team Member
- Katy Boyer as Harvest Surgeon
- Wendy Haines as Harvest Nurse
- Glenn Morshower as Medical Courier
- Shawnee Smith as Suzie
- Max Baker as Chief of Incubation
- Phil Abrams as Obgyn
- Svetlana Efremova as Midwife
- Randy Oglesby as Harvest Surgeon
- Yvette Nicole Brown as Harvest Nurse
- Taylor Gilbert as Harvest Nurse
- Tim Halligan as Institute Coroner
- Michael Canavan as Extraction Room Doctor
- Jimmy Smagula as Extraction Room Technician
- Ben Tolpin as Extraction Room Technician
- Rich Hutchman as Dept. of Operations Supervisor
- Gonzalo Menendez as Dept. of Operations Technician
- Olivia Tracey as Dept. of Operations Agnate
- Ray Xifo as Elevator Agnate
- Mary Pat Gleason as Nutrition Clerk
- Whitney Dylan as Client Services Operator
- Mitzi Martin as Atrium Tour Guide
- Shelby Leverington as Tour Group Woman
- Don Creech as God-Like Man
- Richard V. Licata as Board Member
- Chris Ellis as Aces & Spades Barman
- Eric Stonestreet as Ed the Trucker
- Kenneth Hughes as Censor
- Richard Whiten as Laurent Team Member
- Robert Sherman as Agnate in Pod
- Ashley Yegan as Stim Bar Bartender
- Lewis Dauber as Tour Group Man
- Eamon Behrens as Censor
- Alex Carter as Censor
- Kevin Daniels as Censor
- Grant Garrison as Censor
- Brian Leckner as Censor
- Dakota Mitchell as Censor
- Martin Papazian as Censor
- Phil Somerville as Censor
- Ryan Tasz as Censor
- Kirk Ward as Censor
- Kelvin Han Yee as Censor
- Don Michael Paul as Bar Guy
- James Granoff as Sarah's Son
- James Hart as LAPD Officer
- Trent Ford as Calvin Klein Model
- Thomas Ely Sage as Girl at Beach
- Jake Soldera as Little Boy in Line
- Mark Christopher Lawrence as Construction Worker
- Matt McColm as Cop (uncredited)
- Kim Coates as Charles Whitman (uncredited)
- Richard John Walters as Agnate (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 5 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 18% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 224
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 5 | 13 | 16 |
| 6 to 10 | 4 | 37 |
| 11 to 15 | 1 | 39 |
| 16 to 20 | 0 | 17 |
| 21 to 25 | 0 | 54 |
| 26 to 30 | 5 | 4 |
| 31 to 35 | 0 | 26 |
| 36 to 40 | 0 | 9 |
| 41 to 45 | 0 | 9 |
| 46 to 50 | 2 | 27 |
| 51 to 55 | 0 | 2 |
| 56 to 60 | 0 | 3 |
| 61 to 65 | 12 | 20 |
| 66 to 70 | 0 | 9 |
| 71 to 75 | 0 | 4 |
| 76 to 80 | 0 | 0 |
| 81 to 85 | 0 | 5 |
| 86 to 90 | 1 | 5 |
| 91 to 95 | 13 | 20 |
| 96 to 100 | 0 | 17 |
| 101 to 105 | 1 | 33 |
| 106 to 110 | 1 | 5 |
| 111 to 115 | 1 | 16 |
| 116 to 120 | 0 | 12 |
| 121 to 125 | 0 | 6 |
| 126 to 130 | 2 | 7 |
| 131 to 135 | 7 | 8 |
| 136 to 140 | 0 | 5 |
| 141 to 145 | 3 | 50 |
| 146 to 150 | 1 | 2 |
| 151 to 155 | 1 | 1 |
| 156 to 160 | 2 | 10 |
| 161 to 165 | 2 | 5 |
| 166 to 170 | 2 | 7 |
| 171 to 175 | 16 | 2 |
| 176 to 180 | 0 | 28 |
| 181 to 185 | 0 | 8 |
| 186 to 190 | 6 | 10 |
| 191 to 195 | 0 | 7 |
| 196 to 200 | 0 | 2 |
| 201 to 205 | 7 | 3 |
| 206 to 210 | 0 | 2 |
| 211 to 215 | 0 | 0 |
| 216 to 220 | 0 | 7 |
| 221 to 224 | 2 | 8 |
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, 16 are women's.
105 lines from women, 567 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
17 women and 46 men in the cast. 3 women and 11 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 2 of 824.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 141 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 19% of the words (1,581), men 81% (6,783). Women have 16% of the lines, so their lines run longer 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
32
Exhibit E: behind the camera
3 of the 17 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 18% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Michael Bay (man)
- Written by
- Roberto Orci (man), Caspian Tredwell-Owen (man), Alex Kurtzman (man)
- Story by
- Caspian Tredwell-Owen (man)
- Produced by
- Michael Bay (man), Ian Bryce (man), Walter F. Parkes (man)
- Shot by
- Mauro Fiore (man)
- Edited by
- Christian Wagner (man), Paul Rubell (man)
- Music by
- Steve Jablonsky (man)
- Production design by
- Nigel Phelps (man), David E. Scott (man)
- Costumes by
- Deborah L. Scott (woman)
- Cast by
- Denise Chamian (woman), Christine Globke Saric (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
15 women, 100 men, 66 not listed
-
Sound
8 women, 43 men, 19 not listed
-
Production
12 women, 14 men, 43 not listed
-
Visual Effects
0 women, 15 men, 45 not listed
-
Art
6 women, 32 men, 21 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 14 men, 22 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
10 women, 8 men, 13 not listed
-
Lighting
0 women, 9 men, 19 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 28 on average. Men: 43 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Scarlett Johansson 20, Noa Tishby 30, Siobhan Flynn 34
Men
Ewan McGregor 34, Brian Stepanek 34, Djimon Hounsou 41, Sean Bean 46, Steve Buscemi 47, Michael Clarke Duncan 47, Ethan Phillips 50
Exhibit G: the money
It made 1.3 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $126 million
- Box office
- $163 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 224 scenes and 824 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
