Passes the Bechdel test

The Next Three Days

Name: The Next Three Days
Released: 2010

2010. Directed by Paul Haggis, written by Paul Haggis and Fred Cavayé and Guillaume Lemans.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
20 women characters. 14 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 2 scenes out of 355.
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.

The film

Lara Brennan is arrested for murdering her boss with whom she had an argument. It seems she was seen leaving the scene of the crime and her fingerprints were on the murder weapon. Her husband, John would spend the next few years trying to get her released, but there's no evidence that negates the evidence against her. And when the strain of being separated from her family, especially her son, gets to her, John decides to break her out. So he does a lot of research to find a way.

Released: 19 Nov 2010
Genres: Action, Crime, Drama
Rated: PG-13
IMDb: 7.3 / 10
Metascore: 52 / 100
Awards: 4 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

John 296 lines, man
Lara 114 lines, woman
Lt. Nabulsi 42 lines, man
Luke 39 lines, man
Damon 29 lines, man
Sgt. Harris 28 lines, man
Nicole 25 lines, woman
Alex 20 lines, man
Detective Collero 16 lines, woman
Meyer 15 lines, man

Full cast, 48 people

Russell Crowe as John Brennan
Elizabeth Banks as Lara Brennan
Ty Simpkins as Luke Brennan
Brian Dennehy as George Brennan
Helen Carey as Grace Brennan
Olivia Wilde as Nicole
Daniel Stern as Meyer Fisk
Jason Beghe as Detective Quinn
Aisha Hinds as Detective Collero
Michael Buie as Mick Brennan
Remy Nozik as Jenna
Liam Neeson as Damon
Tyrone Giordano as Mike
RZA as Mouss
Moran Atias as Erit
Nazanin Boniadi as Elaine
Jonathan Tucker as David
Lennie James as Lieutenant Nabulsi
Allan Steele as Sergeant Harris
Leslie Merrill as Elizabeth Gesas
Rachel Deacon as Duty Nurse
Derek Cecil as Dr. Becsey
Kaitlyn Wylde as Julie
Kevin Corrigan as Alex
Jeff Hochendoner as Alex's Thug Buddy
Lauren Haggis as Lyla
James Ransone as Harv
Denise Dal Vera as Eugenie
Glenn Taranto as Hospital Security Guard
Veronica Brown as Female Guard 1
Lisa Ann Goldsmith as Female Guard 2
Alissa Haggis as Junkie
Zachary Sondrini as Photoshop Kid
Etta Cox as Notary
Barry Bradford as Jail Guard (Entry Hall)
Rick Warner as County Jail Captain
Quantia Mali as Phone Operator
Trudie Styler as Dr. Byrdie Lifson
Fabio Polanco as Phone Repairman
David Flick as Male Nurse
Sean Huze as Prison Guard
Tamara Gorski as Hospital Nurse
Patrick Brennan as Hospital Guard
Brenna McDonough as Brenda
Patrick McDade as Airport Security Chief
James Francis Kelly III as Lab Van Driver
Jackson Nunn as Prison Visitor (uncredited)
Melissa Jackson as Airline Clerk

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 8 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 5% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 355

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 8	29	11
9 to 16	12	20
17 to 24	4	23
25 to 32	20	47
33 to 40	1	3
41 to 48	4	10
49 to 56	4	13
57 to 64	0	25
65 to 72	0	9
73 to 80	0	9
81 to 88	0	0
89 to 96	20	17
97 to 104	1	5
105 to 112	1	18
113 to 120	8	12
121 to 128	1	18
129 to 136	8	5
137 to 144	0	11
145 to 152	2	9
153 to 160	16	24
161 to 168	0	11
169 to 176	0	0
177 to 184	3	8
185 to 192	13	15
193 to 200	2	7
201 to 208	0	56
209 to 216	0	10
217 to 224	1	14
225 to 232	0	6
233 to 240	7	15
241 to 248	3	9
249 to 256	2	7
257 to 264	13	18
265 to 272	1	15
273 to 280	0	2
281 to 288	0	1
289 to 296	0	0
297 to 304	11	14
305 to 312	5	5
313 to 320	14	19
321 to 328	4	13
329 to 336	4	4
337 to 344	1	10
345 to 352	3	2
353 to 355	0	1

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.

LARA: You know what? If you were smart you would stop talking right now. ERIT: Sue me. I just know that women should never work for women. LARA: How can you say that?? ERIT: They're always threatened. Especially if you're beautiful and they're not.

DETECTIVE COLLERO: Lara Brennan? LARA: WHAT?! DETECTIVE COLLERO: Lara Brennan, you are under arrest for the murder of Elizabeth Gesas. LARA: She's dead?? Elizabeth is dead??

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 28 are women's.

218 lines from women, 551 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

20 women and 27 men in the cast. 14 women and 20 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 2 of 806. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 77 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 31% of the words (1,822), men 69% (4,019). Women have 28% of the lines, so their lines run longer than men's.

Exhibit E: 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

Two men

Exhibit F: behind the camera

3 of the 12 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 32% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Paul Haggis (man)
Written by: Paul Haggis (man)
Produced by: Olivier Delbosc (man), Marc Missonnier (man), Michael Nozik (man), Paul Haggis (man)
Shot by: Stéphane Fontaine (man)
Edited by: Jo Francis (woman)
Music by: Danny Elfman (man)
Production design by: Laurence Bennett (man)
Costumes by: Abigail Murray (woman)
Cast by: Randi Hiller (woman)