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Fails the Bechdel test

Unbreakable

2000. Directed by M. Night Shyamalan, written by M. Night Shyamalan.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

1 / 3

Fails

  1. Yes 1. At least two women
    14 women characters. 4 of them speak.
  2. No 2. Who talk to each other
    Our parser found no scene where two women talk to each other.
  3. No 3. About something besides a man
    Not reached: the film fails an earlier rule.

Second opinion

Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 0 out of 3.

Poster for Unbreakable

The film

David Dunn (Willis) is taking a train from New York City back home to Philadelphia after a job interview that didn't go well when his car jumps the tracks and collides with an oncoming engine, with David the only survivor among the 131 passengers on board. Astoundingly, David is not only alive, he hardly seems to have been touched. As David wonders what has happened to him and why he was able to walk away, he encounters a mysterious stranger, Elijah Prince (Samuel L. Jackson), who explains to David that there are a certain number of people who are "unbreakable" -- they have remarkable endurance and courage, a predisposition toward dangerous behavior, and feel invincible but also have strange premonitions of terrible events. Is David "unbreakable"? And if he is, what are the physical and psychological ramifications of this knowledge?

Released
22 Nov 2000
Genres
Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Rated
PG-13
IMDb
7.3 / 10
Metascore
62 / 100
Awards
2 wins & 16 nominations total
Elsewhere
View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

  • Women
  • Men
  • Not in the cast list
  • Bigger name, more lines
  1. David 208 lines, man
  2. Elijah 106 lines, man
  3. Megan 82 lines, woman
  4. Jeremy 56 lines, man
  5. Elijah'S Mother 16 lines, woman
  6. Woman 14 lines, woman
  7. Man In Scrubs 11 lines, man
  8. Nurse 10 lines
  9. Priest 10 lines, man
  10. Business Man 8 lines, man
Full cast, 43 people
  • Bruce Willis as David Dunn
  • Samuel L. Jackson as Elijah Price
  • Robin Wright as Audrey Dunn
  • Spencer Treat Clark as Joseph Dunn
  • Charlayne Woodard as Elijah's Mother
  • Eamonn Walker as Dr. Mathison
  • Leslie Stefanson as Kelly
  • Johnny Hiram Jamison as Elijah Age 13
  • Michaelia Carroll as Babysitter
  • Bostin Christopher as Comic Book Clerk
  • Elizabeth Lawrence as School Nurse
  • Davis Duffield as David Dunn Age 20
  • Laura Regan as Audrey Inverso Age 20
  • Chance Kelly as Orange Suit Man
  • Michael Kelly as ER Doctor
  • Firdous Bamji as Businessman
  • Johanna Day as Saleswoman
  • James Handy as Priest
  • Sally Parrish as Ancient Personnel Secretary
  • Richard Council as Noel
  • Damian Young as Green Army-Jacketed Man
  • Sherman Roberts as Physician
  • Whitney Sugarman as Physical Therapist
  • Dianne Cotten Murphy as Mother Walking By
  • M. Night Shyamalan as Stadium Drug Dealer
  • Sasha Joseph Neulinger as Thermometer Boy
  • Jose L. Rodriguez as Truck Driver
  • Samantha Savino as Peering Girl on Train
  • Ukee Washington as Radio Announcer (voice)
  • Susan Wilder as Shoplifter
  • Greg Horos as Slick-Haired Man
  • Todd Berry as Frat Party Boy
  • Angela Eckert as Frat Party Girl
  • Anthony Lawton as Hostage Father
  • Julia Yorks as Hostage Girl
  • John Patrick Amedori as Hostage Boy
  • John Rusk as Security Dispatcher
  • Joey Hazinsky as Five-Year-Old Boy
  • Bill Rowe as Bar Patron
  • Marc H. Glick as EastRail Engineer
  • Kim Simms Thomas as Hostage Woman
  • Andrea Havens as Hospital Administrator
  • Joey Perillo as Jenkins (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 2 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 92

Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.

Show the numbers
ScenesWomen's linesMen's lines
1 to 200
3 to 478
5 to 6911
7 to 8218
9 to 1016
11 to 1239
13 to 1443
15 to 16014
17 to 1800
19 to 2066
21 to 2202
23 to 2406
25 to 262319
27 to 28230
29 to 30039
31 to 3252
33 to 34018
35 to 36031
37 to 3802
39 to 40042
41 to 4209
43 to 4458
45 to 46187
47 to 48013
49 to 5021
51 to 5298
53 to 54313
55 to 5608
57 to 581029
59 to 60018
61 to 6232
63 to 641521
65 to 6674
67 to 6800
69 to 7000
71 to 72113
73 to 74013
75 to 7600
77 to 7800
79 to 8002
81 to 8200
83 to 8402
85 to 8600
87 to 8800
89 to 9011
91 to 92716

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, 24 are women's.

143 lines from women, 454 from men.

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

14 women and 23 men in the cast. 4 women and 9 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

A woman speaks the first line. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 109 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

  • First line by a woman
  • Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 23% of the words (1,612), men 77% (5,511). Women have 24% 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

Exhibit E: behind the camera

1 of the 11 people in these jobs is a woman. Across the whole crew, 16% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by
M. Night Shyamalan (man)
Written by
M. Night Shyamalan (man)
Produced by
Barry Mendel (man), M. Night Shyamalan (man), Sam Mercer (man)
Shot by
Eduardo Serra (man)
Edited by
Dylan Tichenor (man)
Music by
James Newton Howard (man)
Production design by
Larry Fulton (man)
Costumes by
Joanna Johnston (woman)
Cast by
Douglas Aibel (man)

The crew, department by department

  • Other crew

    5 women, 16 men, 4 not listed

  • Art

    1 women, 9 men, 8 not listed

  • Sound

    1 women, 15 men, 2 not listed

  • Production

    2 women, 8 men, 1 not listed

  • Costume & Make-Up

    3 women, 2 men, 4 not listed

  • Visual Effects

    0 women, 2 men, 6 not listed

  • Camera

    0 women, 7 men

  • Directing

    1 women, 4 men

  • Women
  • Men
  • Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit F: how old the stars were

Women: 36 on average. Men: 34 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Leslie Stefanson 29, Robin Wright 34, Charlayne Woodard 46

Men

Spencer Treat Clark 13, Bostin Christopher 25, Eamonn Walker 38, Bruce Willis 45, Samuel L. Jackson 51

Exhibit G: the money

It made 3.3 times what it cost.

Budget
$75 million
Box office
$248 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 92 scenes and 624 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

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