Passes the Bechdel test
We Need to Talk About Kevin
2011. Directed by Lynne Ramsay, written by Lynne Ramsay and Rory Stewart Kinnear and Lionel Shriver.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
20 women characters. 11 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 11 scenes out of 223. -
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.
The film
Eva's a mother trying to piece together her life following an incident caused by her odd child, Kevin. Once a successful writer, she's forced to take whatever comes her way, in spite of the increasingly bizarre and dangerous things Kevin says, or does.
- Released
- 21 Oct 2011
- Genres
- Drama, Mystery, Thriller
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.4 / 10
- Metascore
- 68 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 3 BAFTA Awards. 26 wins & 66 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Eva 355 lines, woman
- Franklin 167 lines, man
- Kevin 159 lines, man
- Celia 24 lines, woman
- Mary Woolford 9 lines, woman
- Siobhan 7 lines
- Waitress 7 lines, woman
- Franklin Phone Voice 6 lines, man
- Dr Foulke 4 lines
- Al 3 lines, man
Full cast, 46 people
- Tilda Swinton as Eva Khatchadourian
- John C. Reilly as Franklin
- Ezra Miller as Kevin, Teenager
- Siobhan Fallon Hogan as Wanda
- Alex Manette as Colin
- Jasper Newell as Kevin, 6-8 Years
- Ashley Gerasimovich as Celia
- Rocky Duer as Kevin, Toddler
- Kenneth Franklin as Soweto
- Leslie Lyles as Smash Lady
- Paul Diomede as Corrections Officer, Al
- Michael Campbell as Corrections Officer
- J. Mallory McCree as Prison Boy
- Mark Elliot Wilson as Eva's Lawyer
- James Chen as Dr. Foulkes
- Lauren Fox as Dr. Goldblatt
- Blake DeLong as Young Suited Man #1
- Andy Gershenzon as Young Suited Man #2
- Kelly Wade as Mother of Little Girl
- Ursula Parker as Little Girl
- Jason Shelton as Delivery Guy
- Simon MacLean as Mover
- Erin Darke as Young Assistant, Rose
- Annie O'Sullivan as Waitress
- Georgia X. Lifsher as Checkout Girl
- Aaron Blakely as Concerned Man
- Polly Adams as Mary Woolford
- Suzette Gunn as Young Crying Mother
- Joseph Melendez as Waiter
- Rebecca Dealy as Student #1
- Louie Rinaldi as Student #2
- Johnson Chong as Student #3
- Kimberley Drummond as Student #4
- Leland Alexander Wheeler as Student #5
- Daniel Farcher as Student #6
- Jennifer Kim as Student #7
- Caitlin Kinnunen as Student #8
- J.J. Kandel as Teacher
- Maryann Urbano as School Mother / Teacher
- Jose Joaquin Perez as Mexican Janitor
- Tah von Allmen as Woman with Birthmark
- Francesca Murdoch as Ballet Student (uncredited)
- Paul Marra as High School Bully (uncredited)
- Joseph Basile as Mover (uncredited)
- Susan-Kate Heaney as Nanny (uncredited)
- Jeffrey Mowery as Visitor (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 5 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 6% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 223
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 5 | 22 | 22 |
| 6 to 10 | 5 | 0 |
| 11 to 15 | 7 | 5 |
| 16 to 20 | 1 | 0 |
| 21 to 25 | 8 | 8 |
| 26 to 30 | 6 | 5 |
| 31 to 35 | 2 | 4 |
| 36 to 40 | 3 | 2 |
| 41 to 45 | 15 | 16 |
| 46 to 50 | 11 | 4 |
| 51 to 55 | 6 | 9 |
| 56 to 60 | 4 | 5 |
| 61 to 65 | 5 | 1 |
| 66 to 70 | 12 | 10 |
| 71 to 75 | 6 | 2 |
| 76 to 80 | 13 | 4 |
| 81 to 85 | 4 | 9 |
| 86 to 90 | 22 | 26 |
| 91 to 95 | 7 | 7 |
| 96 to 100 | 13 | 8 |
| 101 to 105 | 2 | 3 |
| 106 to 110 | 13 | 4 |
| 111 to 115 | 15 | 3 |
| 116 to 120 | 15 | 18 |
| 121 to 125 | 13 | 16 |
| 126 to 130 | 14 | 13 |
| 131 to 135 | 14 | 9 |
| 136 to 140 | 14 | 16 |
| 141 to 145 | 18 | 13 |
| 146 to 150 | 10 | 9 |
| 151 to 155 | 8 | 8 |
| 156 to 160 | 14 | 9 |
| 161 to 165 | 8 | 7 |
| 166 to 170 | 4 | 4 |
| 171 to 175 | 13 | 10 |
| 176 to 180 | 12 | 11 |
| 181 to 185 | 10 | 2 |
| 186 to 190 | 17 | 21 |
| 191 to 195 | 3 | 4 |
| 196 to 200 | 0 | 0 |
| 201 to 205 | 2 | 0 |
| 206 to 210 | 7 | 0 |
| 211 to 215 | 1 | 0 |
| 216 to 220 | 5 | 2 |
| 221 to 223 | 18 | 16 |
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.
EVA: OK, time to make a move. CELIA: I’ll miss you... EVA: I’ll miss you too. EVA: You’re a little clammy, do you feel alright?
MARY WOOLFORD: Sorry Eva, but Kindergarten's only a couple of weeks away, we just couldn’t make up the numbers anymore... EVA: Ok... sure, thanks for all your help anyway, it’s been great... OK... bye. EVA: Hungry huh?
EVA: Hey Mary, just thought I’d return this... sorry it’s been so long... MARY WOOLFORD: Oh... thanks Eva, that’s... great. EVA: Well I guess I’ll see you at “Love and Learn” soon. MARY WOOLFORD: Sure, take care... and thanks again.
DR. GOLDBLATT: Well. EVA: Yes? DR. GOLDBLATT: I’ve got to tell you this, Eva... EVA: Oh. Yes.
EVA: Jesus! What the.... CELIA: Me and Kewin where playing kidnapping! EVA: Kevin!
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 55 are women's.
422 lines from women, 345 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
20 women and 22 men in the cast. 11 women and 6 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
A woman speaks the first line.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 13 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 51% of the words (3,476), men 49% (3,351). Women have 55% 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
17
Two men
20
Exhibit F: behind the camera
6 of the 13 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 33% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Lynne Ramsay (woman)
- Written by
- Rory Stewart Kinnear (man), Lynne Ramsay (woman)
- From the novel by
- Lionel Shriver (woman)
- Produced by
- Jennifer Fox (woman), Luc Roeg (man), Robert Salerno (man)
- Shot by
- Seamus McGarvey (man)
- Edited by
- Joe Bini (man)
- Music by
- Jonny Greenwood (man)
- Production design by
- Judy Becker (woman)
- Costumes by
- Catherine George (woman)
- Cast by
- Billy Hopkins (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
9 women, 12 men, 2 not listed
-
Art
2 women, 2 men, 17 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
3 women, 3 men, 8 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 8 men, 3 not listed
-
Camera
1 women, 4 men, 3 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 5 men, 1 not listed
-
Directing
2 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Writing
2 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 36 on average. Men: 32 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Ashley Gerasimovich 7, Tilda Swinton 50, Siobhan Fallon Hogan 50
Men
Jasper Newell 8, Alex Manette 41, John C. Reilly 46
Exhibit H: the money
It made 1.5 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $7 million
- Box office
- $10.8 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 223 scenes and 817 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
