Fails the Bechdel test

The Lighthouse

Name: The Lighthouse
Released: 2019

2019. Directed by Robert Eggers, written by Robert Eggers and Max Eggers.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

0 / 3

Fails

No 1. At least two women
Fewer than two women characters.
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 0 out of 3.

The film

As the wavering cry of the foghorn fills the air, the taciturn former lumberjack, Ephraim Winslow, and the grizzled lighthouse keeper, Thomas Wake, set foot in a secluded and perpetually grey islet off the coast of late-19th-century New England. For the following four weeks of back-breaking work and unfavourable conditions, the tight-lipped men will have no one else for company except for each other, forced to endure irritating idiosyncrasies, bottled-up resentment, and burgeoning hatred. Then, amid bad omens, a furious and unending squall maroons the pale beacon's keepers in the already inhospitable volcanic rock, paving the way for a prolonged period of feral hunger, excruciating agony, manic isolation, and horrible booze-addled visions. Now, the eerie stranglehold of insanity tightens. Is there an escape from the wall-less prison of the mind?

Released: 01 Nov 2019
Genres: Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Rated: R
IMDb: 7.3 / 10
Metascore: 83 / 100
Awards: Nominated for 1 Oscar. 33 wins & 139 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Old 271 lines, man
Young 242 lines, man
Image 13 lines
Young Old 10 lines
Music Cue 3 lines
Old And Young 3 lines, man
Camera Reveals 2 lines
Old Young 2 lines
Audio 1 lines
Back In The Shed 1 lines

Full cast, 9 people

Robert Pattinson as Thomas Howard
Willem Dafoe as Thomas Wake
Valeriia Karaman as Mermaid
Logan Hawkes as Ephraim Winslow
Kyla Nicolle as Woman on the Rocks
Shaun Clarke as Departing Wickie
Pierre Richard as Departing Assistant Wickie
Preston Hudson as Tender Mate
Jeff Cruts as Tender Mate

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 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 115

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 3	0	0
4 to 6	0	0
7 to 9	0	0
10 to 12	0	1
13 to 15	0	32
16 to 18	0	1
19 to 21	0	3
22 to 24	0	0
25 to 27	0	0
28 to 30	0	0
31 to 33	0	39
34 to 36	0	2
37 to 39	0	23
40 to 42	0	16
43 to 45	0	45
46 to 48	0	9
49 to 51	0	2
52 to 54	0	11
55 to 57	0	31
58 to 60	0	2
61 to 63	0	0
64 to 66	0	6
67 to 69	0	1
70 to 72	0	8
73 to 75	0	33
76 to 78	0	78
79 to 81	0	0
82 to 84	0	9
85 to 87	0	0
88 to 90	1	59
91 to 93	0	1
94 to 96	0	1
97 to 99	0	26
100 to 102	0	2
103 to 105	0	4
106 to 108	0	72
109 to 111	0	3
112 to 114	0	0
115 to 115	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, 0 are women's.

1 lines from women, 520 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

2 women and 7 men in the cast. 1 women and 0 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 388 of 560. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 387 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 0% of the words (14), men 100% (4,379).

Exhibit D: the test the other way

Run the other way, for men, the film scores 0 out of 3.

Conversations between two named characters

Two women

Two men

Exhibit E: behind the camera

3 of the 14 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 27% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Robert Eggers (man)
Written by: Robert Eggers (man), Max Eggers (man)
Produced by: Jay Van Hoy (man), Youree Henley (man), Lourenço Sant'Anna (man), Rodrigo Teixeira (man), Robert Eggers (man)
Shot by: Jarin Blaschke (man)
Edited by: Louise Ford (woman)
Music by: Mark Korven (man)
Production design by: Craig Lathrop (man)
Costumes by: Linda Muir (woman)
Cast by: Kharmel Cochrane (woman)