Passes the Bechdel test

The Unborn

Name: The Unborn
Released: 2009

2009. Directed by David S. Goyer, written by David S. Goyer.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
9 women characters. 8 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 7 scenes out of 130.
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

While babysitting a boy and his infant brother, Casey Beldon has a dreadful nightmare involving a weird dog and an evil child, and she tells her best friend Romy over the phone. Casey is haunted by this boy, and when she goes to the ophthalmologist, he asks if she has a twin brother or sister. She asks her father and discovers that her mother lost a son that died in the womb. Casey suspects that she is haunted by the spirit of her brother. She finds a letter addressed to a woman called Sofi Kozma and a creepy picture at home that belonged to her mother. She goes with Romy to a retirement home to meet Sofi, a survivor of the experiments during the Holocaust. But Sofi tells Casey that she had never met her mother and later calls Casey to tell her she is in great danger.

Released: 09 Jan 2009
Genres: Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Rated: PG-13
IMDb: 4.7 / 10
Metascore: 30 / 100
Awards: 1 nomination total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Casey 217 lines, woman
Sofi 70 lines, woman
Romy 65 lines, woman
Mark 63 lines, man
Sendak 42 lines, man
Gordon 26 lines, man
Dr. Caldwell 13 lines, man
Shields 12 lines, man
Wyndham 8 lines, man
Group 7 lines

Full cast, 24 people

Odette Annable as Casey Beldon
Cam Gigandet as Mark Hardigan
Gary Oldman as Rabbi Joseph Sendak
Idris Elba as Arthur Wyndham
James Remar as Gordon Beldon
Ethan Cutkosky as Barto Kozma
Meagan Good as Romy Marshall
Jane Alexander as Sofi Kozma
Carla Gugino as Janet Beldon
Atticus Shaffer as Matty Newton
C.S. Lee as Dr. Lester Caldwell
Rhys Coiro as Mr. Shields
Michael Sassone as Eli Walker
Rachel Brosnahan as Lisa
Craig J. Harris as Rick Hesse
Kymberly Mellen as Gail Newton
Brian Boland as Roger Newton
Roslyn Alexander as Evelyn
Marssie Mencotti as Mrs. Byrne
Braden Moran as Joseph Mengele
Savannah Walker as Young Casey Beldon
Alexis Wade as Young Sofi Kozma
Tom Lowell as Library Patron
Kenya Drew as Student

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 4% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 130

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	3	0
4 to 6	15	0
7 to 9	13	2
10 to 12	4	1
13 to 15	12	10
16 to 18	15	12
19 to 21	12	18
22 to 24	0	0
25 to 27	6	6
28 to 30	16	16
31 to 33	14	0
34 to 36	35	0
37 to 39	20	7
40 to 42	12	5
43 to 45	7	0
46 to 48	1	0
49 to 51	4	0
52 to 54	4	0
55 to 57	18	0
58 to 60	28	0
61 to 63	1	0
64 to 66	7	0
67 to 69	0	0
70 to 72	22	8
73 to 75	3	0
76 to 78	0	1
79 to 81	0	2
82 to 84	7	0
85 to 87	1	0
88 to 90	4	6
91 to 93	15	12
94 to 96	15	4
97 to 99	1	4
100 to 102	12	2
103 to 105	4	1
106 to 108	5	2
109 to 111	9	17
112 to 114	7	27
115 to 117	5	1
118 to 120	1	0
121 to 123	11	7
124 to 126	0	0
127 to 129	0	0
130 to 130	0	0

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.

ROMY: That your vagina is completely disease-infested. CASEY: Shut up. For real. ROMY: “Babies are symbolic of change and renewal. If the baby is a stranger to you, it may represent something developing within yourself that is …

GAIL: Are you sure you’re alright? CASEY: It’s fine, it’s nothing.

CASEY: Look, clearly my Mom thought this woman was important. Why else would she have kept that article? Why would it be with that creepy photo? ROMY: The kid from your dream. CASEY: Yes. ROMY: I don’t know, Case. If this were me, I’d just take a Xanax and call it a day.

CASEY: But I’m seeing things. ROMY: Hey, kids. Are we drunk yet?

CASEY: Hello? SOFI: I need to speak with you. Can you come to the retirement home? CASEY: Sofi? SOFI: I am sorry for what happened before. The photo gave me such a shock. I wasn’t ready to face this again. But there are things you need to kno…

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 68 are women's.

369 lines from women, 171 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

9 women and 13 men in the cast. 8 women and 9 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 2 of 560. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 19 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 63% of the words (4,241), men 37% (2,470). Women have 68% 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

5 of the 15 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 28% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: David S. Goyer (man)
Written by: David S. Goyer (man)
Produced by: Michael Bay (man), Andrew Form (man), Brad Fuller (man)
Shot by: James Hawkinson (man)
Edited by: Jeff Betancourt (man)
Music by: Ramin Djawadi (man)
Production design by: Craig Jackson (gender not listed)
Costumes by: Christine Wada (woman)
Cast by: Juel Bestrop (woman), Seth Yanklewitz (man), Jane Alderman (woman), Mickie Paskal (woman), Jennifer Rudnicke (woman)