Passes the Bechdel test
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
2019. Directed by Marielle Heller, written by Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster and Tom Junod.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
22 women characters. 9 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 2 scenes out of 82. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 2 out of 3.
The film
Tom Hanks portrays Fred Rogers in a timely story of kindness triumphing over cynicism, based on the true story of a real-life friendship between him and journalist Lloyd Vogel. After a jaded magazine writer (Matthew Rhys) is assigned to do a profile of Fred, he overcomes his skepticism, learning about empathy, kindness, and decency from America's most beloved neighbor.
- Released
- 22 Nov 2019
- Genres
- Biography, Drama, Family
- Rated
- PG
- IMDb
- 7.2 / 10
- Metascore
- 80 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 1 Oscar. 10 wins & 65 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Lloyd 256 lines, man
- Fred 204 lines, man
- Andrea 91 lines, woman
- Jerry 74 lines, man
- Bill 26 lines, man
- First Ad 20 lines, woman
- Ellen 19 lines, woman
- Daniel 16 lines, man
- Dorothy 16 lines, woman
- Margy 15 lines, woman
Full cast, 72 people
- Matthew Rhys as Lloyd Vogel
- Tom Hanks as Fred Rogers
- Chris Cooper as Jerry Vogel
- Susan Kelechi Watson as Andrea Vogel
- Maryann Plunkett as Joanne Rogers
- Enrico Colantoni as Bill Isler
- Wendy Makkena as Dorothy Vogel
- Tammy Blanchard as Lorraine Vogel
- Noah Harpster as Todd
- Carmen Cusack as Margy Whitmer
- Kelley Davis as First AD
- Christine Lahti as Ellen
- Maddie Corman as Betty Aberlin
- Daniel Krell as Mr. McFeely
- Jon L Peacock as Sound Technician
- Gretchen Koerner as Doctor
- Gavin Borders as Young Boy
- Mark August as Young Boy's Dad
- Tressa Glover as Young Boy's Mom
- Jessica Hecht as Lila Vogel
- Di Zhu as Waitress
- Diane Monroe as Uptown String Quartet
- Maxine Roach as Uptown String Quartet
- Lesa Terry as Uptown String Quartet
- Tahirah Whittington as Uptown String Quartet
- Nigel Swinson as Subway Singer
- Kayla Fan as Subway Singer
- Alexander Ment as Subway Singer
- Madeline Ment as Subway Singer
- Olivia Irene Ruiz as Subway Singer
- Kiesse Yengo-Passy as Subway Singer
- Marcel Kottmann as Subway Singer
- John Castagliola as Subway Singer
- Preston Lopez as Subway Singer
- Reginald Bannerman as Subway Singer
- Spencer Lott as Puppeteer
- Haley Jenkins as Puppeteer
- Marc Petrosino as Puppeteer
- Kathleen Kim as Puppeteer
- Kathleen Antonia as Phone Operator (uncredited)
- Saira Awan as Nurse Miscellaneous Crew (uncredited)
- Krizia Bajos as Argentinian Girl (uncredited)
- Tom Bonello as WQED Grip and Electric (uncredited)
- Gregory Bromfield as Awards Banquet Waiter (uncredited)
- Francesca Calo as Train Passenger (uncredited)
- Kitty Crystal as Subway Punk (uncredited)
- Amy Lyn Elliott as WQED Makeup Artist (uncredited)
- Joe Fishel as Journalist (uncredited)
- Nate Heller as Wedding Band Lead Guitarist (uncredited)
- Bill Isler as Restaurant Patron (uncredited)
- Kevin L. Johnson as Darin Scharf (uncredited)
- Rosie Koster as Esquire Employee (uncredited)
- Michael Masini as Richie (uncredited)
- Kirsten McCain as Gala Attendee (uncredited)
- Patrick McDade as Rick (uncredited)
- David Newell as Restaurant Patron (uncredited)
- Trevor Stevie Ray Ontiveros as New Yorker (uncredited)
- Keith Otto as Gala Attendee (uncredited)
- Khary Payton as Arthur Mendez - Telegraph Clerk (uncredited)
- Alex Pérez as Parent (uncredited)
- Katrina E. Perkins as Mr. Rogers Superfan (uncredited)
- Jivan Xander Ramesh as Mr. Rogers' Fan (uncredited)
- Scott Rapp as Bartender (uncredited)
- Fred Rogers as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
- Joanne Rogers as Restaurant Patron (uncredited)
- Edlyn Sabrina as Gala Guest (uncredited)
- Erika Shrout as Mother (uncredited)
- Laura Faye Smith as Julia Henderson - Fred's Secretary (uncredited)
- Rebecca Watson as Diana (uncredited)
- Stephen West-Rogers as Peter (uncredited)
- Ted Williams as WQED Electrician (uncredited)
- Jackson Nunn as Grip (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 82
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 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 to 4 | 0 | 14 |
| 5 to 6 | 0 | 2 |
| 7 to 8 | 18 | 15 |
| 9 to 10 | 10 | 15 |
| 11 to 12 | 8 | 28 |
| 13 to 14 | 0 | 24 |
| 15 to 16 | 11 | 16 |
| 17 to 18 | 0 | 5 |
| 19 to 20 | 2 | 3 |
| 21 to 22 | 0 | 17 |
| 23 to 24 | 11 | 9 |
| 25 to 26 | 0 | 13 |
| 27 to 28 | 23 | 77 |
| 29 to 30 | 16 | 24 |
| 31 to 32 | 4 | 18 |
| 33 to 34 | 4 | 7 |
| 35 to 36 | 2 | 16 |
| 37 to 38 | 10 | 19 |
| 39 to 40 | 0 | 55 |
| 41 to 42 | 10 | 24 |
| 43 to 44 | 11 | 12 |
| 45 to 46 | 0 | 0 |
| 47 to 48 | 0 | 0 |
| 49 to 50 | 10 | 29 |
| 51 to 52 | 3 | 4 |
| 53 to 54 | 0 | 0 |
| 55 to 56 | 4 | 23 |
| 57 to 58 | 5 | 8 |
| 59 to 60 | 1 | 3 |
| 61 to 62 | 6 | 4 |
| 63 to 64 | 0 | 15 |
| 65 to 66 | 2 | 3 |
| 67 to 68 | 0 | 29 |
| 69 to 70 | 8 | 6 |
| 71 to 72 | 3 | 2 |
| 73 to 74 | 1 | 1 |
| 75 to 76 | 12 | 29 |
| 77 to 78 | 1 | 15 |
| 79 to 80 | 0 | 5 |
| 81 to 82 | 4 | 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.
LORRAINE: Stop! Stop it! DOROTHY: What the hell!!
MARGY: Half-hour already, which puts us... seventy three minutes behind. FIRST AD: Yikes.
MARGY: Every day. FIRST AD: Okay here we go! Everyone settle. Quiet please. FIRST AD: Roll sound.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 25 are women's.
200 lines from women, 605 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
22 women and 21 men in the cast. 9 women and 6 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 19 of 836.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 70 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 21% of the words (1,590), men 79% (5,852). Women have 25% 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
9
Two men
46
Exhibit F: behind the camera
5 of the 13 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 24% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Marielle Heller (woman)
- Written by
- Micah Fitzerman-Blue (man), Noah Harpster (man)
- Produced by
- Marc Turtletaub (man), Peter Saraf (man), Youree Henley (man), Leah Holzer (woman)
- Shot by
- Jody Lee Lipes (man)
- Edited by
- Anne McCabe (woman)
- Music by
- Nate Heller (man)
- Production design by
- Jade Healy (woman)
- Costumes by
- Arjun Bhasin (man)
- Cast by
- Avy Kaufman (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
4 women, 11 men, 13 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 21 men
-
Costume & Make-Up
4 women, 3 men, 13 not listed
-
Art
3 women, 3 men, 9 not listed
-
Other crew
1 women, 5 men, 6 not listed
-
Camera
1 women, 4 men, 6 not listed
-
Visual Effects
2 women, 2 men, 2 not listed
-
Directing
2 women, 1 men, 2 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 51 on average. Men: 55 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Susan Kelechi Watson 37, Tammy Blanchard 42, Carmen Cusack 48, Wendy Makkena 60, Maryann Plunkett 66
Men
Noah Harpster 43, Matthew Rhys 44, Enrico Colantoni 56, Tom Hanks 63, Chris Cooper 68
Exhibit H: the money
It made 2.7 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $25 million
- Box office
- $67.9 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 82 scenes and 836 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
