Fails the Bechdel test
Trainspotting
1996. Directed by Danny Boyle, written by Irvine Welsh and John Hodge.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
8 women characters. 6 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
Women do talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Every conversation between women that our parser found mentions a man.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 2 out of 3.
The film
A wild, freeform, Rabelaisian trip through the darkest recesses of Edinburgh low-life, focusing on Mark Renton and his attempt to give up his heroin habit, and how the latter affects his relationship with family and friends: Sean Connery wannabe Sick Boy, dimbulb Spud, psycho Begbie, 14-year-old girlfriend Diane, and clean-cut athlete Tommy, who's never touched drugs but can't help being curious about them...
- Released
- 09 Aug 1996
- Genres
- Crime, Drama
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 8.1 / 10
- Metascore
- 83 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 1 Oscar. 23 wins & 35 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Renton 143 lines, man
- Sick Boy 67 lines, man
- Spud 44 lines, man
- Begbie 41 lines, man
- Diane 36 lines, woman
- Tommy 33 lines, man
- Swanney 18 lines, man
- Mother 13 lines, woman
- Man 12 lines, man
- Gail 9 lines, woman
Full cast, 26 people
- Ewan McGregor as Renton
- Ewen Bremner as Spud
- Jonny Lee Miller as Sick Boy
- Kevin McKidd as Tommy
- Robert Carlyle as Begbie
- Kelly Macdonald as Diane
- Peter Mullan as Swanney
- James Cosmo as Renton's Father
- Eileen Nicholas as Renton's Mother
- Susan Vidler as Allison
- Pauline Lynch as Lizzy
- Shirley Henderson as Gail
- Stuart McQuarrie as Gavin
- Irvine Welsh as Mikey Forrester
- Dale Winton as Game Show Host
- Keith Allen as Dealer
- Kevin Allen as Andreas
- Annie Louise Ross as Gail's Mother
- Billy Riddoch as Gail's Father
- Fiona Bell as Diane's Mother
- Vincent Friell as Diane's Father
- Hugh Ross as Man
- Victor Eadie as Man
- Kate Donnelly as Woman
- Finlay Welsh as Sheriff
- Eddie Nestor as Estate Agent
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 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 189
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 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 to 8 | 0 | 5 |
| 9 to 12 | 0 | 13 |
| 13 to 16 | 0 | 5 |
| 17 to 20 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 to 24 | 0 | 21 |
| 25 to 28 | 0 | 34 |
| 29 to 32 | 3 | 29 |
| 33 to 36 | 0 | 1 |
| 37 to 40 | 0 | 3 |
| 41 to 44 | 14 | 26 |
| 45 to 48 | 1 | 0 |
| 49 to 52 | 3 | 2 |
| 53 to 56 | 7 | 6 |
| 57 to 60 | 2 | 1 |
| 61 to 64 | 12 | 12 |
| 65 to 68 | 5 | 10 |
| 69 to 72 | 0 | 15 |
| 73 to 76 | 0 | 1 |
| 77 to 80 | 0 | 2 |
| 81 to 84 | 0 | 1 |
| 85 to 88 | 0 | 0 |
| 89 to 92 | 0 | 0 |
| 93 to 96 | 1 | 3 |
| 97 to 100 | 1 | 4 |
| 101 to 104 | 2 | 18 |
| 105 to 108 | 0 | 0 |
| 109 to 112 | 0 | 0 |
| 113 to 116 | 0 | 0 |
| 117 to 120 | 6 | 9 |
| 121 to 124 | 0 | 0 |
| 125 to 128 | 0 | 33 |
| 129 to 132 | 9 | 10 |
| 133 to 136 | 0 | 0 |
| 137 to 140 | 0 | 1 |
| 141 to 144 | 0 | 6 |
| 145 to 148 | 0 | 3 |
| 149 to 152 | 0 | 0 |
| 153 to 156 | 0 | 4 |
| 157 to 160 | 0 | 9 |
| 161 to 164 | 0 | 1 |
| 165 to 168 | 0 | 2 |
| 169 to 172 | 7 | 32 |
| 173 to 176 | 0 | 0 |
| 177 to 180 | 0 | 17 |
| 181 to 184 | 0 | 42 |
| 185 to 188 | 0 | 0 |
| 189 to 189 | 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, 16 are women's.
73 lines from women, 381 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
8 women and 18 men in the cast. 6 women and 11 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 101 of 465.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 100 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 14% of the words (654), men 86% (4,141). Women have 16% of the lines, so their lines run shorter 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
1
Two men
30
Exhibit E: behind the camera
3 of the 10 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 13% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Danny Boyle (man)
- Written by
- John Hodge (man)
- From the novel by
- Irvine Welsh (man)
- Produced by
- Andrew Macdonald (man)
- Shot by
- Brian Tufano (man)
- Edited by
- Masahiro Hirakubo (man)
- Production design by
- Kave Quinn (woman)
- Costumes by
- Rachael Fleming (woman)
- Cast by
- Andy Pryor (man), Gail Stevens (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
0 women, 10 men, 8 not listed
-
Art
2 women, 2 men, 12 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 5 men, 7 not listed
-
Production
2 women, 3 men, 5 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 2 men, 6 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 4 men
-
Directing
0 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
-
Lighting
0 women, 1 men, 2 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 20 on average. Men: 30 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Kelly Macdonald 20
Men
Kevin McKidd 22, Jonny Lee Miller 23, Ewan McGregor 24, Ewen Bremner 24, Robert Carlyle 34, Peter Mullan 36, James Cosmo 47
Exhibit G: the money
It made 18.0 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $4 million
- Box office
- $72 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 189 scenes and 465 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
