Passes the Bechdel test
20th Century Women
2017. Directed by Mike Mills, written by Mike Mills.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
14 women characters. 14 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 13 scenes out of 192. -
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, though someone marked that rating as dubious.
The film
Love, life, and the struggles of a mother bringing up a son in the late 70's. The ignorance of a free spirit against the needs of a young man trying to find his true character and beliefs. Living in a bohemian household shared with three like minded spirited people to help pay the rent, his mother tries to establish bonds that he cannot deal with. She cannot deal with his inability to talk, and enlists the help of other females in his life to share the burden of his upbringing. Slowly life unravels for them all without understanding how. In spite of their perceived struggles, they all go on to live defined lives without any serious consequences.
- Released
- 20 Jan 2017
- Genres
- Comedy, Drama
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.3 / 10
- Metascore
- 83 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 1 Oscar. 15 wins & 82 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Dorothea 207 lines, woman
- Jamie 137 lines, man
- Abbie 94 lines, woman
- Julie 91 lines, woman
- William 58 lines, man
- Doctor 6 lines
- Dorothea V.O 6 lines, woman
- Charlie 5 lines, man
- Jamie V.O 4 lines, man
- Cop 3 lines
Full cast, 71 people
- Annette Bening as Dorothea
- Elle Fanning as Julie
- Greta Gerwig as Abbie
- Billy Crudup as William
- Lucas Jade Zumann as Jamie
- Alison Elliott as Julie's Mother
- Thea Gill as Abbie's Mother
- Vitaly Andrew LeBeau as Young Jamie
- Olivia Hone as Julie's Sister
- Waleed Zuaiter as Charlie
- Curran Walters as Matt
- Darrell Britt-Gibson as Julian
- Alia Shawkat as Trish
- Nathalie Love as Cindy
- Cameron Protzman as Teen in Therapy
- Victoria Bruno as Teen in Therapy
- John Billingsley as Abbie's ObGyn
- Cameron Gellman as Mark
- Finnegan Seeker Bell as Brian
- Zoë Nanos as Tanya
- Lauren Foley as Michelle
- Gareth Williams as Fire Chief
- J. Francisco Rodriguez as Fireman
- Zoë Worth as Planned Parenthood Worker
- Finn Roberts as Tim Drammer
- Laura Slade Wiggins as Lynette Winters
- Rick Gifford as Police Officer
- Paul Tigue as Jamie's School Principal
- Matthew Foster as Dorothea's Bank Manager
- Kirk Bovill as Dorothea's Dinner Guest
- Victoria Hoffman as Dorothea's Dinner Guest
- Christina Offley as Dorothea's Dinner Guest
- Randy Ryan as Dorothea's Dinner Guest
- Diana Bostan as William's Woman
- Toni Gaal as William's Woman
- Tanya Young as William's Woman
- Hans-Peter Thomas as Abbie's NYC Boyfriend
- Kai Lennox as Reporter / Abbie's Future Husband
- Paul Messinger as Santa Barbara City Official
- Eric Wentz as Emergency Room Doctor
- Samantha Gros as Emergency Room Nurse
- Britt Sanborn as Emergency Room Nurse
- Alexis Milan Turner as Girls Choir
- Catherine Zelinsky as Girls Choir
- Boyce Buchanan as Girls Choir
- Kyle Olivia Green as Girls Choir
- Sam Marsh as Girls Choir
- Antonia Marie Vivino as Girls Choir
- Sara Pelayo as Girls Choir
- Annabelle Lee as Girls Choir
- Avi Boyko as "Phlask" (Club Band)
- Tyler Leyva as "Phlask" (Club Band)
- Cameron Simon as "Phlask" (Club Band)
- Jesse Sanes as "Snake Fang" (House Party Band)
- Sam Bosson as "Snake Fang" (House Party Band)
- Ian Logan as "Snake Fang" (House Party Band)
- Patrick Pastor as "Snake Fang" (House Party Band)
- Trent Bowman as Ramp Skater
- Justin Rivera as Ramp Skater
- Desmond Shepherd as Ramp Skater
- Joshua Burge as Abbie's Friend
- Daniel Dorr as Abbie's Friend
- Christopher Carroll as Pharmacist
- Hayden Gold as Julie's Hesher Friend
- Alex Wexo as Julie's Stepdad
- Pete Mason as Bi Plane Pilot
- Padraic Cassidy as Drafting Office Manager
- Matty Cardarople as Bartender
- Toni Christopher as Woman at Bar
- Jacob Peacock as Carpenter #3 (uncredited)
- Casey Burke as Teen in Therapy (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 5% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 192
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 | 4 | 1 |
| 5 to 8 | 3 | 2 |
| 9 to 12 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 to 16 | 15 | 5 |
| 17 to 20 | 15 | 10 |
| 21 to 24 | 4 | 2 |
| 25 to 28 | 5 | 7 |
| 29 to 32 | 13 | 6 |
| 33 to 36 | 5 | 0 |
| 37 to 40 | 1 | 1 |
| 41 to 44 | 9 | 6 |
| 45 to 48 | 26 | 6 |
| 49 to 52 | 4 | 2 |
| 53 to 56 | 3 | 1 |
| 57 to 60 | 8 | 6 |
| 61 to 64 | 7 | 3 |
| 65 to 68 | 18 | 15 |
| 69 to 72 | 2 | 1 |
| 73 to 76 | 0 | 1 |
| 77 to 80 | 4 | 3 |
| 81 to 84 | 2 | 0 |
| 85 to 88 | 4 | 0 |
| 89 to 92 | 19 | 6 |
| 93 to 96 | 12 | 4 |
| 97 to 100 | 12 | 8 |
| 101 to 104 | 5 | 2 |
| 105 to 108 | 2 | 3 |
| 109 to 112 | 6 | 6 |
| 113 to 116 | 42 | 10 |
| 117 to 120 | 6 | 3 |
| 121 to 124 | 25 | 11 |
| 125 to 128 | 9 | 11 |
| 129 to 132 | 14 | 10 |
| 133 to 136 | 4 | 1 |
| 137 to 140 | 7 | 4 |
| 141 to 144 | 12 | 7 |
| 145 to 148 | 14 | 12 |
| 149 to 152 | 13 | 1 |
| 153 to 156 | 24 | 12 |
| 157 to 160 | 2 | 0 |
| 161 to 164 | 10 | 6 |
| 165 to 168 | 4 | 0 |
| 169 to 172 | 4 | 0 |
| 173 to 176 | 8 | 9 |
| 177 to 180 | 6 | 7 |
| 181 to 184 | 1 | 0 |
| 185 to 188 | 3 | 1 |
| 189 to 192 | 1 | 4 |
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.
ABBIE: They're not home. JULIE: Don't. ABBIE: I'm taking pictures of everything that happens to me in a day. JULIE: I don't like having my picture taken. I didn't happen to you.
ABBIE: How did it happen? DOROTHEA: I don't know, they said probably just something electrical. We walked out and it was just sitting there, on fire.
DOROTHEA: So, what happened? ABBIE: They never tell you anything, I won't know for like a week. ABBIE: I'm gonna be late on rent. DOROTHEA: That's okay, Don't worry about that.
JULIE: Exactly. JULIE: Happy birthday. DOROTHEA: Bye Julie.
DOROTHEA: What is that? ABBIE: It's The Raincoats. DOROTHEA: Can't things just be pretty?
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 66 are women's.
417 lines from women, 216 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
14 women and 23 men in the cast. 14 women and 12 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 10 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 71% of the words (4,333), men 29% (1,729). Women have 66% of the lines, so their lines run longer 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
35
Two men
3
Exhibit F: behind the camera
5 of the 12 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 43% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Mike Mills (man)
- Written by
- Mike Mills (man)
- Produced by
- Anne Carey (woman), Youree Henley (man), Megan Ellison (woman)
- Shot by
- Sean Porter (man)
- Edited by
- Leslie Jones (woman)
- Music by
- Roger Neill (man)
- Production design by
- Chris Jones (man)
- Costumes by
- Jennifer Johnson (woman)
- Cast by
- Laura Rosenthal (woman), Mark Bennett (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
6 women, 5 men, 4 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
7 women, 0 men, 4 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 5 men, 4 not listed
-
Sound
1 women, 8 men
-
Other crew
3 women, 2 men, 2 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 2 men, 2 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 3 men
-
Editing
2 women, 0 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 40 on average. Men: 36 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Elle Fanning 18, Greta Gerwig 33, Alison Elliott 46, Thea Gill 46, Annette Bening 58
Men
Lucas Jade Zumann 16, Waleed Zuaiter 45, Billy Crudup 48
Exhibit H: the money
It made 81% of what it cost.
- Budget
- $7 million
- Box office
- $5.7 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 192 scenes and 664 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
