Passes the Bechdel test

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Name: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Released: 2017

2017. Directed by Martin McDonagh, written by Martin McDonagh.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
9 women characters. 9 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 8 scenes out of 126.
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 Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

The film

THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI is a dark comedy/crime drama from Academy Award nominee, Martin McDonagh (In Bruges). After months have passed without a culprit in her daughter's murder case, Mildred Hayes (Academy Award winner, Frances McDormand) makes a bold move; she rents three billboards leading into her town, each with a controversial message directed at Bill Willoughby (Academy Award nominee, Woody Harrelson), the town's revered chief of police. And when Jason Dixon (Academy Award winner, Sam Rockwell), one of Willoughby's officers--an immature mama's boy with a penchant for alcohol and violence--gets involved, the battle between Mildred and Ebbing's law enforcement is only exacerbated.

Released: 01 Dec 2017
Genres: Comedy, Crime, Drama
Rated: R
IMDb: 8.1 / 10
Metascore: 88 / 100
Awards: Won 2 Oscars. 132 wins & 234 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Mildred 181 lines, woman
Dixon 135 lines, man
Willoughby 89 lines, man
Red 49 lines, man
Charlie 30 lines, man
Robbie 30 lines, man
Abercrombie 27 lines, man
Desk Sergeant 27 lines, man
Crop-Haired Guy 25 lines, man
James 21 lines, man

Full cast, 30 people

Frances McDormand as Mildred
Woody Harrelson as Willoughby
Sam Rockwell as Dixon
Abbie Cornish as Anne
Lucas Hedges as Robbie
Željko Ivanek as Desk Sergeant
Caleb Landry Jones as Red Welby
Clarke Peters as Abercrombie
Samara Weaving as Penelope
John Hawkes as Charlie
Peter Dinklage as James
Kerry Condon as Pamela
Darrell Britt-Gibson as Jerome
Kathryn Newton as Angela
Brendan Sexton III as Crop-Haired Guy
Alejandro Barrios as Latino
Jason Ledford as Latino #2
Riya May Atwood as Polly
Selah Atwood as Jane
Amanda Warren as Denise
Malaya Rivera Drew as Gabriella
Sandy Martin as Momma Dixon
Christopher Berry as Tony
Gregory Nassif St. John as Doctor
Jerry Winsett as Geoffrey
Allyssa Barley as Girl
William J. Harrison as Boy
Eleanor Threatt as Nurse
Michael Aaron Milligan as Pal
Nick Searcy as Father Montgomery (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

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

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 126

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	5	3
4 to 6	6	11
7 to 9	1	17
10 to 12	0	0
13 to 15	4	32
16 to 18	6	9
19 to 21	6	2
22 to 24	12	36
25 to 27	0	18
28 to 30	27	30
31 to 33	4	10
34 to 36	16	6
37 to 39	2	4
40 to 42	25	30
43 to 45	13	20
46 to 48	24	26
49 to 51	2	1
52 to 54	0	0
55 to 57	0	2
58 to 60	0	6
61 to 63	1	3
64 to 66	5	28
67 to 69	30	19
70 to 72	9	11
73 to 75	5	0
76 to 78	2	9
79 to 81	0	5
82 to 84	0	3
85 to 87	0	3
88 to 90	1	4
91 to 93	0	2
94 to 96	0	3
97 to 99	0	2
100 to 102	9	27
103 to 105	8	3
106 to 108	2	13
109 to 111	16	38
112 to 114	5	5
115 to 117	4	19
118 to 120	5	5
121 to 123	0	0
124 to 126	6	4

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.

MILDRED: Sorry I’m late, Denise. DENISE: Did you put up those billboards to fuck with the cops yet? MILDRED: They’re up. DENISE: You go, girl! You go fuck those cops up!

GABRIELLA: This your first time on tv? MILDRED: Uh-huh. GABRIELLA: Well, don’t be nervous, is the main thing, and it’ll be fine. Just don’t look into the camera, obviously. GABRIELLA: In three, two, one. So, Mildred Hayes, why did you put up these billboards?

MILDRED: I said “Of course not.” DENISE: You drilled a hole in the dentist? MILDRED: No, Denise, I didn’t. DENISE: Huh?

ANGELA: Mom? MILDRED: Yeah?

ANGELA: You ain’t going out again tonight, are ya? MILDRED: Denise said we might get us a coupla drinks later, yeah. ANGELA: Denise gonna be driving ya? MILDRED: Angela, why don’t you just ask me if you can borrow the car?

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 36 are women's.

261 lines from women, 469 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

9 women and 16 men in the cast. 9 women and 15 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 2 of 743. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 39 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 35% of the words (3,234), men 65% (5,886). Women have 36% 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

3 of the 11 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 29% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Martin McDonagh (man)
Written by: Martin McDonagh (man)
Produced by: Peter Czernin (man), Martin McDonagh (man), Graham Broadbent (man)
Shot by: Ben Davis (man)
Edited by: Jon Gregory (man)
Music by: Carter Burwell (man)
Production design by: Inbal Weinberg (woman)
Costumes by: Melissa Toth (woman)
Cast by: Sarah Halley Finn (woman)