Fails the Bechdel test
The Midnight Sky
2020. Directed by George Clooney, written by Lily Brooks-Dalton and Mark L. Smith.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
8 women characters. 4 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
A scientist is working alone at a remote Arctic research station when he learns of a mysterious global disaster. At the same time, he meets a strange girl in the Arctic, with whom he must stop the return to Earth of the crew of the spaceship "Aether".
- Released
- 23 Dec 2020
- Genres
- Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 5.7 / 10
- Metascore
- 58 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 1 Oscar. 5 wins & 46 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Augustine 262 lines, man
- Harper 139 lines, man
- Sully 132 lines, woman
- Thebes 52 lines
- Ivanov 49 lines, man
- Devi 39 lines
- Jean 18 lines, woman
- Mosely 12 lines
- Soldier 7 lines, man
- Static Voice 4 lines
Full cast, 16 people
- George Clooney as Augustine Lofthouse
- Felicity Jones as Sully
- David Oyelowo as Adewole
- Caoilinn Springall as Iris
- Kyle Chandler as Mitchell
- Demián Bichir as Sanchez
- Tiffany Boone as Maya
- Sophie Rundle as Jean
- Ethan Peck as Young Augustine
- Tim Russ as Mason Mosley
- Miriam Shor as Mitchell's Wife
- Lilja Nótt Þórarinsdóttir as Frantic Woman - Katherine
- Hanna María Karlsdóttir as Older Woman
- Atli Óskar Fjalarsson as Soldier
- Tia Bannon as Jasmine
- Grant Crookes as Scientific Beneficiary (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 15% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 167
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 | 6 | 13 |
| 5 to 8 | 2 | 9 |
| 9 to 12 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 to 16 | 2 | 3 |
| 17 to 20 | 0 | 2 |
| 21 to 24 | 0 | 12 |
| 25 to 28 | 0 | 6 |
| 29 to 32 | 0 | 19 |
| 33 to 36 | 0 | 4 |
| 37 to 40 | 6 | 2 |
| 41 to 44 | 19 | 33 |
| 45 to 48 | 0 | 22 |
| 49 to 52 | 10 | 14 |
| 53 to 56 | 0 | 9 |
| 57 to 60 | 0 | 11 |
| 61 to 64 | 16 | 7 |
| 65 to 68 | 0 | 19 |
| 69 to 72 | 0 | 1 |
| 73 to 76 | 0 | 7 |
| 77 to 80 | 0 | 5 |
| 81 to 84 | 15 | 28 |
| 85 to 88 | 0 | 8 |
| 89 to 92 | 0 | 8 |
| 93 to 96 | 2 | 15 |
| 97 to 100 | 0 | 2 |
| 101 to 104 | 0 | 15 |
| 105 to 108 | 0 | 22 |
| 109 to 112 | 0 | 5 |
| 113 to 116 | 6 | 8 |
| 117 to 120 | 6 | 9 |
| 121 to 124 | 7 | 24 |
| 125 to 128 | 5 | 9 |
| 129 to 132 | 1 | 8 |
| 133 to 136 | 5 | 13 |
| 137 to 140 | 5 | 11 |
| 141 to 144 | 6 | 12 |
| 145 to 148 | 4 | 6 |
| 149 to 152 | 12 | 11 |
| 153 to 156 | 3 | 15 |
| 157 to 160 | 4 | 12 |
| 161 to 164 | 12 | 9 |
| 165 to 167 | 7 | 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, 26 are women's.
161 lines from women, 457 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
8 women and 8 men in the cast. 4 women and 2 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 16 of 728.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 61 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 27% of the words (1,508), men 73% (4,143). Women have 26% 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
21
Exhibit E: behind the camera
3 of the 14 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 31% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- George Clooney (man)
- Written by
- Mark L. Smith (man)
- Produced by
- Bard Dorros (man), Keith Redmon (man), Cliff Roberts (man), George Clooney (man), Grant Heslov (man)
- Shot by
- Martin Ruhe (man)
- Edited by
- Stephen Mirrione (man)
- Music by
- Alexandre Desplat (man)
- Production design by
- James D. Bissell (man)
- Costumes by
- Jenny Eagan (woman)
- Cast by
- Rachel Tenner (woman), Lucy Rands (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
3 women, 6 men, 2 not listed
-
Visual Effects
2 women, 7 men, 2 not listed
-
Art
3 women, 2 men, 2 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 1 men, 5 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 6 men, 1 not listed
-
Other crew
1 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
4 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 27 on average. Men: 52 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Caoilinn Springall 7, Sophie Rundle 32, Tiffany Boone 33, Felicity Jones 37
Men
Ethan Peck 34, David Oyelowo 44, Kyle Chandler 55, Demián Bichir 57, George Clooney 59, Tim Russ 64
Exhibit G: the money
What it cost and made, where TMDB lists it.
- Budget
- Not listed
- Box office
- $70,018
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 167 scenes and 728 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
