Passes the Bechdel test

A Real Pain

Name: A Real Pain
Released: 2024

2024. Directed by Jesse Eisenberg, written by Jesse Eisenberg.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
4 women characters. 3 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 3 scenes out of 130.
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

"A Real Pain" follows mismatched cousins David (Jesse Eisenberg) and Benji (Kieran Culkin) as they reunite for a tour through Poland to honor their beloved grandmother, but their adventure takes a dark turn when the odd couple's old tensions resurface against the backdrop of their family history.

Released: 15 Nov 2024
Genres: Comedy, Drama
Rated: R
IMDb: 7 / 10
Metascore: 85 / 100
Awards: Won 1 Oscar. 69 wins & 96 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

Women
Men
Not in the cast list
Bigger name, more lines

Benji 350 lines, man
David 312 lines, man
James 80 lines, man
Marcia 41 lines, woman
Eloge 32 lines, man
Diane 16 lines, woman
Mark 12 lines, man
Son 7 lines, man
Cue 6 lines
Abe 3 lines, man

Full cast, 15 people

Jesse Eisenberg as David Kaplan
Kieran Culkin as Benji Kaplan
Will Sharpe as James
Jennifer Grey as Marcia
Kurt Egyiawan as Eloge
Liza Sadovy as Diane
Daniel Oreskes as Mark
Ellora Torchia as Priya
Banner Eisenberg as Abe
Olha Bosova as Flight Attendant
Jakub Gąsowski as Receptionist
Piotr Czarniecki as Conductor
Krzysztof Jaszczak as Pianist
Marek Kasprzyk as Older Man
Jakub Pruski as Son

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 2% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 130

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 3	0	1
4 to 6	0	35
7 to 9	0	25
10 to 12	1	32
13 to 15	0	4
16 to 18	0	20
19 to 21	0	28
22 to 24	7	55
25 to 27	0	2
28 to 30	1	17
31 to 33	0	19
34 to 36	4	57
37 to 39	0	14
40 to 42	0	18
43 to 45	0	15
46 to 48	0	11
49 to 51	0	3
52 to 54	2	1
55 to 57	4	52
58 to 60	0	34
61 to 63	0	24
64 to 66	8	34
67 to 69	5	47
70 to 72	21	49
73 to 75	0	0
76 to 78	0	1
79 to 81	0	0
82 to 84	0	9
85 to 87	0	4
88 to 90	0	5
91 to 93	0	3
94 to 96	0	0
97 to 99	5	20
100 to 102	0	0
103 to 105	0	7
106 to 108	0	75
109 to 111	0	3
112 to 114	0	0
115 to 117	0	2
118 to 120	0	41
121 to 123	0	0
124 to 126	0	31
127 to 129	0	0
130 to 130	0	0

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.

MARCIA: Ooh, fancy. DIANE: Love the exchange rate.

MARCIA: What? DIANE: What did you say?

MARCIA: I feel nauseous. DIANE: Yeah, that sounds about right.

MARCIA: Oh, god, no I'm not. Anyway, you have my information. Send me a picture from your grandma's house. I'm genuinely curious. DIANE: Take care of yourself, honey.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 7 are women's.

58 lines from women, 798 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

4 women and 8 men in the cast. 3 women and 7 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 81 of 873. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 175 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 7% of the words (708), men 93% (8,863).

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

Two men

Exhibit F: behind the camera

5 of the 13 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 35% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Jesse Eisenberg (man)
Written by: Jesse Eisenberg (man)
Produced by: Ali Herting (woman), Emma Stone (woman), Dave McCary (man), Jennifer Semler (woman), Jesse Eisenberg (man), Ewa Puszczyńska (woman)
Shot by: Michał Dymek (man)
Edited by: Robert Nassau (gender not listed)
Production design by: Mela Melak (gender not listed)
Costumes by: Małgorzata Fudala (gender not listed)
Cast by: Jessica Kelly (woman)