Fails the Bechdel test
Zero Dark Thirty
2013. Directed by Kathryn Bigelow, written by Mark Boal.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
7 women characters. 4 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
Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3.
The film
Maya is a CIA operative whose first experience is in the interrogation of prisoners following the Al Qaeda attacks against the U.S. on the 11th September 2001. She is a reluctant participant in extreme duress applied to the detainees, but believes that the truth may only be obtained through such tactics. For several years, she is single-minded in her pursuit of leads to uncover the whereabouts of Al Qaeda's leader, Osama Bin Laden. Finally, in 2011, it appears that her work will pay off, and a U.S. Navy SEAL team is sent to kill or capture Bin Laden. But only Maya is confident Bin Laden is where she says he is.
- Released
- 11 Jan 2013
- Genres
- Drama, History, Thriller
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.4 / 10
- Metascore
- 95 / 100
- Awards
- Won 1 Oscar. 85 wins & 174 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Maya 153 lines, woman
- Daniel 113 lines, man
- Jessica 47 lines, woman
- George 31 lines, man
- Bradley 28 lines, man
- Ammar 25 lines, man
- Larry 21 lines, man
- Justin 20 lines, man
- Superimpose 17 lines
- Cia Director 16 lines, man
Full cast, 77 people
- Jessica Chastain as Maya
- Jason Clarke as Dan
- Joel Edgerton as Patrick - Squadron Team Leader
- Jennifer Ehle as Jessica
- Mark Strong as George
- Kyle Chandler as Joseph Bradley
- Edgar Ramírez as Larry from Ground Branch
- James Gandolfini as C.I.A. Director
- Chris Pratt as Justin - DEVGRU
- Callan Mulvey as Saber - DEVGRU
- Fares Fares as Hakim
- Reda Kateb as Ammar
- Harold Perrineau as Jack
- Stephen Dillane as National Security Advisor
- Mark Duplass as Steve
- Scott Adkins as John
- Jeremy Strong as Thomas
- John Barrowman as Jeremy
- J.J. Kandel as J.J.
- Ricky Sekhon as Osama Bin Laden
- John Schwab as Deputy National Security Advisor
- Martin Delaney as Assistant to National Security Advisor
- Jeff Mash as Deputy Director of C.I.A.
- Taylor Kinney as Jared - DEVGRU
- Phil Somerville as Phil - DEVGRU
- Nash Edgerton as Nate - DEVGRU EOD
- Mike Colter as Mike - DEVGRU
- Jessica Ann Collins as Debbie
- Frank Grillo as Squadron Commanding Officer
- Siaosi Fonua as Henry - DEVGRU
- Daniel Lapaine as Tim - Station Chief
- Homayoun Ershadi as Hassan Ghul
- Fredric Lehne as The Wolf
- Alexander Karim as Detainee on Monitor
- Wahab Sheikh as Detainee on Monitor
- Nabil Elouahabi as Detainee on Monitor
- Aymen Hamdouchi as Detainee on Monitor
- Simon Abkarian as Detainee on Monitor
- Ali Marhyar as Interrogator on Monitor
- Parker Sawyers as Interrogator on Monitor
- Akin Gazi as Interrogator on Monitor
- Derek Siow as Interrogator on Monitor
- Henry Garrett as Bagram Guard
- Darshan Aulakh as Pakistani Detention Center Guard
- Navdeep Singh as Faraj Courier
- Yoav Levi as Abu Faraj al-Libbi
- David Menkin as Case Officer
- Eyad Zoubi as Zied
- Julian Lewis Jones as Blackwater Guard
- Christian Contreras as C.I.A. Security
- Lauren Shaw as Lauren
- John Antonini as Analyst at Embassy
- Ashraf Telfah as Kuwaiti Businessman
- Jonathan Olley as Tech from Ground Branch
- Ben Lambert as N.S.A. Tech
- Udayan Baijal as Guard at Maya's Apartment
- Nabil Koni as Pakistani Doctor
- Anthony Edridge as General in Hangar
- Brett Praed as DEVGRU Operator
- Aron Eastwood as DEVGRU Operator
- Barrie Rice as DEVGRU Operator
- Robert Young as DEVGRU Operator
- Alex Corbet Burcher as DEVGRU Operator
- Mitchell Hall as DEVGRU Operator
- Alan Pietruszewski as Pilot
- Kevin LaRosa Jr. as Pilot
- M.D. Selig as Pilot
- Benjamin John Parrillo as Pilot
- Christopher Stanley as Admiral Bill McRaven
- Noureddine Hajoujou as Abrar
- Nour Alkawaja as Abrar's Wife
- Siham Rida as UBL Wife
- Monia Moula as UBL Wife
- Zalfa Seurat as UBL Wife
- Tarick Hadouch as Khalid
- Mark Valley as C-130 Pilot
- Michael G. Gabel as C.I.A. Security (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 5 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 11% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 230
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 | 4 | 34 |
| 6 to 10 | 14 | 38 |
| 11 to 15 | 9 | 36 |
| 16 to 20 | 7 | 27 |
| 21 to 25 | 6 | 6 |
| 26 to 30 | 8 | 10 |
| 31 to 35 | 10 | 9 |
| 36 to 40 | 4 | 7 |
| 41 to 45 | 17 | 15 |
| 46 to 50 | 19 | 2 |
| 51 to 55 | 16 | 3 |
| 56 to 60 | 12 | 3 |
| 61 to 65 | 4 | 3 |
| 66 to 70 | 0 | 5 |
| 71 to 75 | 7 | 12 |
| 76 to 80 | 5 | 23 |
| 81 to 85 | 14 | 10 |
| 86 to 90 | 7 | 5 |
| 91 to 95 | 1 | 3 |
| 96 to 100 | 0 | 2 |
| 101 to 105 | 1 | 2 |
| 106 to 110 | 0 | 0 |
| 111 to 115 | 5 | 19 |
| 116 to 120 | 1 | 1 |
| 121 to 125 | 1 | 0 |
| 126 to 130 | 6 | 14 |
| 131 to 135 | 7 | 11 |
| 136 to 140 | 7 | 18 |
| 141 to 145 | 6 | 24 |
| 146 to 150 | 6 | 11 |
| 151 to 155 | 0 | 8 |
| 156 to 160 | 0 | 1 |
| 161 to 165 | 0 | 3 |
| 166 to 170 | 0 | 2 |
| 171 to 175 | 0 | 0 |
| 176 to 180 | 0 | 1 |
| 181 to 185 | 0 | 2 |
| 186 to 190 | 0 | 9 |
| 191 to 195 | 0 | 6 |
| 196 to 200 | 1 | 3 |
| 201 to 205 | 0 | 1 |
| 206 to 210 | 0 | 2 |
| 211 to 215 | 0 | 1 |
| 216 to 220 | 0 | 0 |
| 221 to 225 | 0 | 0 |
| 226 to 230 | 1 | 4 |
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, 34 are women's.
206 lines from women, 396 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
7 women and 60 men in the cast. 4 women and 30 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 7 of 674.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 45 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 35% of the words (3,288), men 65% (6,114). Women have 34% of the lines, so their lines run longer 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
7
Two men
35
Exhibit E: behind the camera
4 of the 14 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 25% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Kathryn Bigelow (woman)
- Written by
- Mark Boal (man)
- Produced by
- Mark Boal (man), Kathryn Bigelow (woman), Megan Ellison (woman)
- Shot by
- Greig Fraser (man)
- Edited by
- Dylan Tichenor (man), William Goldenberg (man)
- Music by
- Alexandre Desplat (man)
- Production design by
- Jeremy Hindle (man)
- Costumes by
- George L. Little (man)
- Cast by
- Mark Bennett (man), Gail Stevens (woman), Richard Hicks (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
6 women, 7 men, 3 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 11 men
-
Production
3 women, 7 men
-
Costume & Make-Up
2 women, 3 men, 3 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
-
Directing
2 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 3 men
-
Editing
0 women, 2 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 39 on average. Men: 42 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Jessica Chastain 35, Jennifer Ehle 42
Men
Chris Pratt 33, Edgar Ramírez 35, Callan Mulvey 37, Joel Edgerton 38, Jason Clarke 43, Kyle Chandler 47, Mark Strong 49, James Gandolfini 51
Exhibit G: the money
It made 3.3 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $40 million
- Box office
- $133 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 230 scenes and 674 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
