Does it pass? bechdel.io

Passes the Bechdel test

The Neon Demon

2016. Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, written by Nicolas Winding Refn and Mary Laws and Polly Stenham.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

  1. Yes 1. At least two women
    19 women characters. 9 of them speak.
  2. Yes 2. Who talk to each other
    In 13 scenes out of 162.
  3. Yes 3. About something besides a man
    In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.

Second opinion

Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3.

Poster for The Neon Demon

The film

The sixteen year-old aspiring model Jesse arrives in Los Angeles expecting to be a successful model. The aspirant photographer Dean takes photos for her portfolio and dates her. Jesse befriends the lesbian makeup artist Ruby and then the envious models Gigi and Sarah in a party. Meanwhile, the agency considers Jesse beautiful with a "thing" that makes her different and she is sent to the professional photographer Jack. Jesse attracts the attention of the industry and experiences a successful beginning of her career. Ruby, Gigi and Sarah, however, will do whatever is necessary to get this "thing" for themselves.

Released
24 Jun 2016
Genres
Horror, Thriller
Rated
R
IMDb
6.1 / 10
Metascore
51 / 100
Awards
18 wins & 39 nominations total
Elsewhere
View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

  • Women
  • Men
  • Not in the cast list
  • Bigger name, more lines
  1. Jesse 187 lines, woman
  2. Ruby 103 lines, woman
  3. Sarah 84 lines, woman
  4. Gigi 73 lines, woman
  5. Dean 70 lines, man
  6. Jack 34 lines, man
  7. Jan 28 lines, woman
  8. Hank 27 lines, man
  9. Dr. Andrew 17 lines
  10. Jenny 9 lines
Full cast, 47 people
  • Elle Fanning as Jesse
  • Karl Glusman as Dean
  • Jena Malone as Ruby
  • Bella Heathcote as Gigi
  • Abbey Lee as Sarah
  • Desmond Harrington as Jack
  • Keanu Reeves as Hank
  • Christina Hendricks as Roberta Hoffmann
  • Alessandro Nivola as Robert Sarno
  • Charles Baker as Mikey
  • Jamie Clayton as Casting Director
  • Stacey Danger as Casting Assistant
  • Rebecca Dayan as Dresser
  • Helen Wilson as Seamstress
  • Houda Shretah as Robert Sarno's Assistant
  • Taylor Hill as Flirty Model #1
  • Vanessa Martinez as Waitress
  • Jason Schneidman as Pool Photo Shoot Hairstylist
  • Rachel Dik as Carrie
  • Jodie Turner-Smith as Roberta Hoffmann's Assistant
  • Lily Moffett as Hopeful Model #1
  • Charlize Cotton as Hopeful Model #2
  • Allie Lewis as Hopeful Model #3
  • Cody Renee Cameron as Embalmed Female Corpse
  • Georgia Fowler as Model Joy
  • Dani Seitz as Young Model
  • Steve Murillo as Mortician
  • Alysse Reynolds as Model #1
  • Autumn Alderson as Model #2
  • Lucy Cronkite as Model #3
  • Tea Jovanovic Raza as Model #4
  • Jennifer Wade as Model #5
  • Olga Chaplinskaya as Model #6
  • Elle Drane as Model #7
  • Frances Parsons as Model #8
  • Aminata Mboup as Model #9
  • Claire Eberle as Model #10
  • Anna Gonzalez as Model #11
  • Lauren Adams as Model #12
  • Bridgham Leigh as Model #13
  • Nicole Robinson as Model #14
  • Jaydn Meier as Model #15
  • Lunden Lisherness as Model #16
  • Keira Smith as Model #17
  • Lavinia Postolache as Model #18
  • Madeleine Woolner as Costume Supervisor
  • Liv Corfixen as Uncomfortable Restaurant Guest

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 8% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 162

Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.

Show the numbers
ScenesWomen's linesMen's lines
1 to 4290
5 to 800
9 to 1240
13 to 166417
17 to 2031
21 to 2425
25 to 28612
29 to 3220
33 to 36490
37 to 4010
41 to 4410
45 to 482050
49 to 5234
53 to 56489
57 to 60372
61 to 64400
65 to 68325
69 to 7243
73 to 7622
77 to 8000
81 to 8401
85 to 8810
89 to 9260
93 to 9620
97 to 10010
101 to 104140
105 to 108130
109 to 11220
113 to 11600
117 to 12020
121 to 12400
125 to 128490
129 to 132110
133 to 13600
137 to 14070
141 to 14450
145 to 14893
149 to 152104
153 to 15610
157 to 16040
161 to 1622115

The evidence

  • Straight from the script
  • Counted from the script and the credits

Tap an exhibit to open it.

Exhibit A: the passing scenes

The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.
RUBY: Am I staring? JESSE: I don’t mind. RUBY: Sorry. Occupational hazard. JESSE: You did my make-up.
RUBY: Be right back! JESSE: What? RUBY: Don’t go anywhere. Promise? JESSE: I can’t hear you.
JESSE: Nineteen. JESSE: I just had my birthday. ASSISTANT: Raise your arms. ASSISTANT: How much do you weigh?
SARAH: I SAID GET THE FUCK OUT! Are you deaf? JESSE: Sarah? SARAH: Fuck, it’s you. Perfect. SARAH: I cut myself when the mirror broke.
RUBY: The Midas Touch. RUBY: At least it’s not blood. JESSE: Have you been here the whole time? RUBY: That’s what they pay me for.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 79 are women's.

505 lines from women, 133 from men.

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

19 women and 5 men in the cast. 9 women and 4 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

A woman speaks the first line. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 30 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

  • First line by a woman
  • Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 83% of the words (3,091), men 17% (644). Women have 79% of the lines, so their lines run longer than men's.

Exhibit E: the test the other way

Run the other way, for men, the film scores 2 out of 3.

Conversations between two named characters

Exhibit F: behind the camera

8 of the 16 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 35% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by
Nicolas Winding Refn (man)
Written by
Nicolas Winding Refn (man), Mary Laws (woman), Polly Stenham (woman)
Story by
Nicolas Winding Refn (man)
Produced by
Lene Børglum (woman), Sidonie Dumas (woman), Vincent Maraval (man), Nicolas Winding Refn (man)
Shot by
Natasha Braier (woman)
Edited by
Matthew Newman (man)
Music by
Cliff Martinez (man)
Production design by
Elliott Hostetter (man)
Costumes by
Erin Benach (woman)
Cast by
Nicole Daniels (woman), Courtney Bright (woman)

The crew, department by department

  • Production

    5 women, 15 men, 5 not listed

  • Other crew

    3 women, 5 men, 1 not listed

  • Art

    1 women, 2 men, 4 not listed

  • Sound

    1 women, 4 men, 2 not listed

  • Visual Effects

    0 women, 2 men, 5 not listed

  • Costume & Make-Up

    4 women, 0 men, 2 not listed

  • Camera

    2 women, 1 men, 1 not listed

  • Directing

    1 women, 3 men

  • Women
  • Men
  • Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit G: how old the stars were

Women: 29 on average. Men: 41 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Elle Fanning 18, Abbey Lee 28, Bella Heathcote 29, Jena Malone 31, Christina Hendricks 41

Men

Karl Glusman 28, Desmond Harrington 39, Alessandro Nivola 43, Charles Baker 45, Keanu Reeves 51

Exhibit H: the money

It made 49% of what it cost.

Budget
$7 million
Box office
$3.4 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 162 scenes and 691 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

Related films

Back to the whole shelf