Fails the Bechdel test

Transcendence

Name: Transcendence
Released: 2014

2014. Directed by Wally Pfister, written by Jack Paglen.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

2 / 3

Fails

Yes 1. At least two women
10 women characters. 2 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

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

The film

Dr. Will Caster (Johnny Depp) is the foremost researcher in the field of Artificial Intelligence, working to create a sentient machine that combines the collective intelligence of everything ever known with the full range of human emotions. His highly controversial experiments have made him famous, but they have also made him the prime target of anti-technology extremists who will do whatever it takes to stop him. However, in their attempt to destroy Will, they inadvertently become the catalyst for him to succeed-to be a participant in his own transcendence. For his wife Evelyn (Rebecca Hall) and best friend Max Waters (Paul Bettany), both fellow researchers, the question is not if they can...but if they should. Their worst fears are realized as Will's thirst for knowledge evolves into a seemingly omnipresent quest for power, to what end is unknown. The only thing that is becoming terrifyingly clear is there may be no way to stop him.

Released: 18 Apr 2014
Genres: Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Rated: PG-13
IMDb: 6.2 / 10
Metascore: 42 / 100
Awards: 3 wins & 5 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Evelyn 219 lines, woman
Max 167 lines, man
Will 73 lines, man
Joseph 72 lines, man
Bree 36 lines, woman
Will In The Machine 23 lines, man
Will In The Walls 22 lines, man
Will’S Hologram 19 lines
Anderson 13 lines
Bob 12 lines, man

Full cast, 47 people

Johnny Depp as Dr. Will Caster
Rebecca Hall as Evelyn Caster
Morgan Freeman as Joseph Tagger
Paul Bettany as Max Waters
Cillian Murphy as Agent Donald Buchanan
Kate Mara as Bree
Cole Hauser as Colonel Stevens
Clifton Collins Jr. as Martin
Cory Hardrict as Joel Edmund
Falk Hentschel as Bob
Josh Stewart as Paul
Luce Rains as Roger
Fernando Chien as Heng
Steven Liu as Chiu
Xander Berkeley as Dr. Thomas Casey
Lukas Haas as James Thomas
Wallace Langham as Dr. Strauss
James Burnett as Meth Head #1
Sam Quinn as Meth Head #2
Sam Webb as Red Hooded Teenager
Chris Gartin as Tech Conference Coordinator
Olivia Taylor Dudley as Groupie
Abe Bueno-Jallad as RIFT Hacker
Lauren Sivan as Reporter
Laramie Cooley as BDC Greeter
Nancy Jeris as BDC Servant
Colin Jones as FBI Agent
Dylan Kenin as FBI Agent
Chad Brummett as Solar Field Worker
Antonio Del Prete as Will In Hybrid
Jon Kristian Moore as Will In Hybrid
John Trejo as Special Forces on Roof
Darren P. Leis as Medical Lab Tech
Donna Brown as RIFT Surgeon
Richard Daniel Williams as RIFT Surgeon
Zack Carpenter as RIFT Medical Tech
Christina Lancellotti as RIFT Medical Tech
Kristen DeVore Rakes as MIT Programmer
Seth Adkins as Miserable Student
Jaime Powers as Hybrid Townsman (uncredited)
Lyn Quinn as Tech Conference Attendee (uncredited)
Kendra Tuthill as Townswoman (uncredited)
Darrick Hurst as Berkeley Student (uncredited)
Dennis Keiffer as Hybrid Soldier (uncredited)
Elon Musk as Elon Musk (uncredited)
Fergaledgar as John Mccarthy (uncredited)
Tureygua Inaru as RIFT Member

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 6 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 9% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 275

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 6	0	7
7 to 12	0	0
13 to 18	7	9
19 to 24	2	27
25 to 30	5	21
31 to 36	3	3
37 to 42	13	11
43 to 48	4	6
49 to 54	4	12
55 to 60	11	6
61 to 66	0	2
67 to 72	0	11
73 to 78	25	17
79 to 84	13	26
85 to 90	17	10
91 to 96	6	22
97 to 102	4	4
103 to 108	4	12
109 to 114	8	4
115 to 120	8	3
121 to 126	4	15
127 to 132	1	1
133 to 138	3	0
139 to 144	3	4
145 to 150	5	7
151 to 156	7	9
157 to 162	2	23
163 to 168	20	16
169 to 174	1	1
175 to 180	2	2
181 to 186	7	4
187 to 192	5	11
193 to 198	5	15
199 to 204	1	9
205 to 210	6	7
211 to 216	11	9
217 to 222	0	2
223 to 228	4	2
229 to 234	11	11
235 to 240	2	6
241 to 246	0	3
247 to 252	8	12
253 to 258	11	16
259 to 264	0	3
265 to 270	2	4
271 to 275	0	7

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, 38 are women's.

255 lines from women, 412 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

10 women and 34 men in the cast. 2 women and 22 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 11 of 737. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 23 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 34% of the words (3,654), men 66% (7,058). Women have 38% 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

Two men

Exhibit E: behind the camera

4 of the 16 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 23% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Wally Pfister (man)
Written by: Jack Paglen (man)
Produced by: Andrew A. Kosove (man), Annie Marter (woman), Kate Cohen (woman), Marisa Polvino (woman), Broderick Johnson (man), David Valdes (man) and 1 more
Shot by: Jess Hall (man)
Edited by: David Rosenbloom (man)
Music by: Mychael Danna (man)
Production design by: Chris Seagers (man)
Costumes by: George L. Little (man)
Cast by: John Papsidera (man), Jo Edna Boldin (woman)