Passes the Bechdel test

Tower Block

Name: Tower Block
Released: 2012

2012. Directed by David Beton and James Nunn, written by James Moran.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
5 women characters. 5 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 6 scenes out of 141.
Yes 3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.

Second opinion

Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.

The film

Several months after witnessing a murder, residents of Tower Block 31 find themselves being picked off by a sniper, pitting those lucky enough to be alive into a battle for survival.

Released: 21 Sep 2012
Genres: Thriller
Rated: Not Rated
IMDb: 5.9 / 10
Awards: 1 win total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Becky 213 lines, woman
Kurtis 137 lines, man
Carol 64 lines, woman
Neville 61 lines, man
Paul 56 lines, man
Daniel 43 lines, man
Gary 23 lines, man
Violet 23 lines, woman
Kevin 18 lines, man
Jenny 17 lines, woman

Full cast, 19 people

Sheridan Smith as Becky
Ralph Brown as Neville
Russell Tovey as Paul
Jack O'Connell as Kurtis
Jill Baker as Violet
Julie Graham as Carol
Christopher Fulford as Kevin
Steven Cree as DC Devlin
Nabil Elouahabi as Gary
Tony Jayawardena as Eddie
Jamie Thomas King as Ryan
Ralph Laurila as Jimmy
Michael Legge as Jeff
Montserrat Lombard as Jenny
Jordan Long as Ormond
Harry McEntire as Daniel
Kane Robinson as Mark
James Weber Brown as Brian
Loui Batley as Amy

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 141

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	0	0
4 to 6	0	0
7 to 9	0	2
10 to 12	0	3
13 to 15	0	0
16 to 18	5	12
19 to 21	0	9
22 to 24	0	0
25 to 27	6	12
28 to 30	3	4
31 to 33	10	23
34 to 36	9	0
37 to 39	10	5
40 to 42	3	3
43 to 45	12	16
46 to 48	1	1
49 to 51	5	7
52 to 54	0	0
55 to 57	3	2
58 to 60	41	36
61 to 63	4	1
64 to 66	21	35
67 to 69	8	16
70 to 72	9	16
73 to 75	6	3
76 to 78	5	12
79 to 81	29	18
82 to 84	1	2
85 to 87	12	41
88 to 90	33	24
91 to 93	1	4
94 to 96	10	12
97 to 99	6	10
100 to 102	13	11
103 to 105	33	32
106 to 108	0	0
109 to 111	7	7
112 to 114	1	0
115 to 117	0	0
118 to 120	0	0
121 to 123	1	2
124 to 126	1	1
127 to 129	5	3
130 to 132	1	13
133 to 135	3	8
136 to 138	0	0
139 to 141	9	11

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.

JENNY: What? BECKY: I didn't say anything. JENNY: I can't afford a fucking babysitter all the time, can I? BECKY: You could if you didn't go out drinking every night.

BECKY: Landlines and internet, too. CAROL: Is it some sort of terrorist thing? BECKY: I doubt it - why us? Why here?

BECKY: The other block is empty. There's at least quarter of a mile between us and any other buildings. CAROL: So nobody's coming. Oh God. Oh God. We've got to get out of here.

VIOLET: They'll do. And if anyone has any painkillers, bring them to me. BECKY: Jenny? Are you okay? Where are your kids? JENNY: They wanted to get up and watch cartoons. I said, fine, go. And I stayed in bed. I heard them screaming. Then they went quiet, they're never…

CAROL: Yeah, but still. BECKY: Maybe if we all run out the main entrance, at the same time, we can make a run for it?

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

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

327 lines from women, 417 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

5 women and 13 men in the cast. 5 women and 13 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 7 of 757. 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 45% of the words (3,081), men 55% (3,805). Women have 44% 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

1 of the 17 people in these jobs is a woman. Across the whole crew, 14% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Ronnie Thompson (man), James Nunn (man)
Written by: James Moran (man)
Produced by: David Beton (gender not listed), Suki Dulai (gender not listed), Patrick Fischer (man), James Harris (man), Matthias Hoene (man), Mark Lane (man) and 1 more
Shot by: Ben Moulden (gender not listed)
Edited by: Kate Coggins (gender not listed)
Music by: Owen Morris (gender not listed)
Production design by: Kajsa Soderlund (gender not listed)
Costumes by: Matthew Price (man)
Cast by: Colin Jones (man), Gail Stevens (woman)