Passes the Bechdel test

The Purge

Name: The Purge
Released: 2013

2013. Directed by James DeMonaco, written by James DeMonaco.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
8 women characters. 7 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 1 scene out of 78.
Yes 3. About something besides a man
In that scene, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.

Second opinion

Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3, though someone marked that rating as dubious.

The film

In an America wracked by crime and overcrowded prisons, the government has sanctioned an annual 12-hour period in which any and all criminal activity-including murder-becomes legal. The police can't be called. Hospitals suspend help. It's one night when the citizenry regulates itself without thought of punishment. On this night plagued by violence and an epidemic of crime, one family wrestles with the decision of who they will become when a stranger comes knocking. When an intruder breaks into James Sandin's (Ethan Hawke) gated community during the yearly lockdown, he begins a sequence of events that threatens to tear a family apart. Now, it is up to James, his wife, Mary (Lena Headey), and their kids to make it through the night without turning into the monsters from whom they hide.

Released: 07 Jun 2013
Genres: Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Rated: R
IMDb: 5.8 / 10
Metascore: 41 / 100
Awards: 2 wins & 6 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

James 142 lines, man
Mary 136 lines, woman
Charlie 54 lines, man
Zoey 31 lines, woman
Mrs. Ferrin 15 lines, woman
Bloody Stranger 14 lines, man
Henry 12 lines, man
Polite Leader 11 lines, man
Female Voice 6 lines, woman
Mr. Kane 5 lines, man

Full cast, 25 people

Ethan Hawke as James Sandin
Lena Headey as Mary Sandin
Max Burkholder as Charlie Sandin
Adelaide Kane as Zoey Sandin
Edwin Hodge as Bloody Stranger
Rhys Wakefield as Polite Leader
Tony Oller as Henry
Arija Bareikis as Mrs. Grace Ferrin
Tom Yi as Mr. Cali
Chris Mulkey as Mr. Halverson
Tisha French as Mrs. Halverson
Dana Bunch as Mr. Ferrin
Peter Gvozdas as Dr. Peter Buynak
John Weselcouch as Freak Interrupting
Alicia Vela-Bailey as Female Freak
David Basila as George (uncredited)
Nathan Clarkson as Freak (uncredited)
Jesse Jacobs as Freak #2 (uncredited)
Mickey Facchinello as Brunette Female Freak (uncredited)
Crystal Lockhart as Freak (uncredited)
Tyler Osterkamp as Freak (uncredited)
RJ Wolfe as Freak (uncredited)
Aaron Kuban as Freak (uncredited)
Karen Strassman as Newscaster (uncredited)
Cindy Robinson as Purge Screen Announcer (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 3% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 78

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 2	7	0
3 to 4	12	8
5 to 6	8	4
7 to 8	14	4
9 to 10	0	1
11 to 12	3	23
13 to 14	1	7
15 to 16	6	9
17 to 18	0	3
19 to 20	3	3
21 to 22	0	5
23 to 24	2	1
25 to 26	2	1
27 to 28	2	2
29 to 30	0	0
31 to 32	0	0
33 to 34	0	1
35 to 36	0	2
37 to 38	8	31
39 to 40	3	1
41 to 42	4	9
43 to 44	4	4
45 to 46	34	30
47 to 48	0	1
49 to 50	0	0
51 to 52	0	0
53 to 54	0	0
55 to 56	0	3
57 to 58	0	0
59 to 60	2	0
61 to 62	0	5
63 to 64	0	5
65 to 66	2	4
67 to 68	12	16
69 to 70	7	13
71 to 72	12	26
73 to 74	9	11
75 to 76	25	8
77 to 78	14	7

The evidence

Straight from the script
Counted from the script and the credits

Tap an exhibit to open it.

Exhibit A: the passing scene

The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.

THE PURGE: by FEMALE VOICE: Some say the American dream died after the Fourth World War. FEMALE VOICE: The 10 year global conflict left America with a failing economy that could no longer sustain its growing population. FEMALE VOICE: An unparalleled economic Depression ravaged the country. Unemployment grew exponentially. Crime rates skyrocketed. America was infected by a…

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 44 are women's.

196 lines from women, 248 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

8 women and 14 men in the cast. 7 women and 9 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 12 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 42% of the words (2,215), men 58% (3,040). Women have 44% of the lines, so their lines run shorter 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

2 of the 13 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 25% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: James DeMonaco (man)
Written by: James DeMonaco (man)
Produced by: Sébastien K. Lemercier (man), Jason Blum (man), Andrew Form (man), Brad Fuller (man), Michael Bay (man)
Shot by: Jacques Jouffret (man)
Edited by: Peter Gvozdas (man)
Music by: Nathan Whitehead (man)
Production design by: Melanie Jones (woman)
Costumes by: Lisa Norcia (woman)
Cast by: Lisa Fields (gender not listed)