Fails the Bechdel test

The Squid and the Whale

Name: The Squid and the Whale
Released: 2005

2005. Directed by Noah Baumbach, written by Noah Baumbach.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

1 / 3

Fails

Yes 1. At least two women
10 women characters. 6 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

Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 2 out of 3.

The film

In 1986, In Brooklyn, New York, the dysfunctional family of pseudo-intellectuals composed by the university professor Bernard and the prominent writer Joan split. Bernard is a selfish, cheap and jealous decadent writer that rationalizes every attitude in his family and life and does not accept "philistines" - people that do not read books or watch movies, while the unfaithful Joan is growing as a writer and has no problems with "philistines". Their sons, the teenager Walt and the boy Frank, feel the separation and take sides: Walt stays with Bernard and Frank with Joan, and both are affected with abnormal behaviors. Frank drinks booze and smears with sperm the books in the library and a locker in the dressing room of his school. The messed-up and insecure Walt uses Roger Water's song "Hey You" in a festival as if it were his own and breaks up with his girlfriend Sophie. Meanwhile Joan has an affair with Frank's tennis teacher Ivan, as Bernard does with his student Lili.

Released: 16 Dec 2005
Genres: Comedy, Drama
Rated: R
IMDb: 7.3 / 10
Metascore: 82 / 100
Awards: Nominated for 1 Oscar. 23 wins & 49 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Walt 240 lines, man
Bernard 234 lines, man
Joan 118 lines, woman
Frank 117 lines, man
Sophie 38 lines, woman
Lili 34 lines, woman
Prank 24 lines
Ivan 22 lines, man
Mr. Waddles 18 lines, man
Lance 12 lines, man

Full cast, 45 people

Jeff Daniels as Bernard Berkman
Laura Linney as Joan Berkman
Jesse Eisenberg as Walt Berkman
Owen Kline as Frank Berkman
William Baldwin as Ivan
Halley Feiffer as Sophie Greenberg
Anna Paquin as Lili
David Benger as Carl
Molly Barton as Graduate Student
Bo Berkman as Graduate Student
Matthew Kaplan as Graduate Student
Simon Kaplan as Graduate Student
Matthew Kirsch as Graduate Student
Daniella Markowicz as Graduate Student
Elizabeth Meriwether as Graduate Student
Ben Schrank as Graduate Student
Amy Srebnick as Graduate Student
Josh Srebnick as Graduate Student
Emma Straub as Graduate Student
Alan Wilkis as Graduate Student
James Hamilton as Man with Joan
Adam Rose as Otto
Henry Glovinsky as Lance
Eli Gelb as Jeffrey
Wayne Lawson as Talent Show Judge
Michael Santiago as Talent Show Judge
Juan Torriente as Talent Show Judge
Patricia Towers as Talent Show Judge
Peggy Gormley as Mrs. Greenberg
Peter Newman as Mr. Greenberg
Greta Kline as Greta Greenberg
Melissa Meyer as Professor
Benjamin Smolen as Student with Puppets
Michael Countryman as Mr. Simic
Alexandra Daddario as Pretty Girl
Nico Baumbach as Jeb Gelber
Maryann Plunkett as Ms. Lemon
Hector Otero as Hector
Ken Leung as School Therapist
Jo Yang as Nurse
Jonathan Baumbach as Man Outside Ms. Lemon's Office (uncredited)
Andrew Kaempfer as Valet (uncredited)
Britta Phillips as Talent Show Audience Member (uncredited)
Bobby Shue as Student (uncredited)
Dean Wareham as Talent Show Audience Member (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 13% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 116

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	7	12
4 to 6	0	29
7 to 9	2	29
10 to 12	1	18
13 to 15	2	4
16 to 18	0	9
19 to 21	9	20
22 to 24	6	8
25 to 27	0	21
28 to 30	2	17
31 to 33	0	22
34 to 36	7	21
37 to 39	4	32
40 to 42	6	11
43 to 45	0	4
46 to 48	5	22
49 to 51	17	18
52 to 54	5	14
55 to 57	0	11
58 to 60	3	7
61 to 63	5	17
64 to 66	3	13
67 to 69	7	9
70 to 72	2	26
73 to 75	14	19
76 to 78	4	5
79 to 81	7	13
82 to 84	13	30
85 to 87	18	19
88 to 90	0	1
91 to 93	0	1
94 to 96	11	8
97 to 99	1	48
100 to 102	4	7
103 to 105	7	21
106 to 108	16	30
109 to 111	8	22
112 to 114	1	46
115 to 116	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, 23 are women's.

197 lines from women, 664 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

10 women and 13 men in the cast. 6 women and 7 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 4 of 994. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 74 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 24% of the words (2,365), men 76% (7,570). Women have 23% 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

Two men

Exhibit E: behind the camera

3 of the 13 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 28% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Noah Baumbach (man)
Written by: Noah Baumbach (man)
Produced by: Charlie Corwin (man), Clara Markowicz (gender not listed), Peter Newman (man), Wes Anderson (man)
Shot by: Robert D. Yeoman (man)
Edited by: Tim Streeto (man)
Music by: Britta Phillips (woman), Dean Wareham (man)
Production design by: Anne Ross (woman)
Costumes by: Amy Westcott (woman)
Cast by: Douglas Aibel (man)