Passes the Bechdel test

After the Wedding

Name: After the Wedding
Released: 2019

2019. Directed by Bart Freundlich, written by Bart Freundlich and Susanne Bier and Anders Thomas Jensen.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
9 women characters. 8 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 14 scenes out of 165.
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

American Isabel (Michelle Williams) has been working in an orphanage in Calcutta for many years. One day she receives an offer of a potential donation worth millions, but only on condition that Isabel meets the donor in person. Reluctantly, Isabel flies home. She is reluctant to leave her project behind, especially Jai (Vir Pachisia), a boy she found on the street when he was one year old and to whom she has become a kind of surrogate mother. In New York, Isabelle meets up with Theresa (Julianne Moore), who immediately invites her to her daughter Grace's (Abby Quinn) wedding. Out of politeness, Isabelle goes, even though she actually wants to fly back to India as quickly as possible. But she is in for a big surprise at the party: Theresa's husband Oscar (Billy Crudup) is none other than her childhood sweetheart. And suddenly Isabel realizes who Grace is: Her own daughter. As teenagers, Isabel and Oscar had a child that they gave up for adoption. Oscar has taken Grace back without ever telling Isabel. Isabel is shocked, as is Grace when she learns the truth. But Theresa has more secrets to keep from her family.

Released: 01 Nov 2019
Genres: Drama
Rated: PG-13
IMDb: 6.3 / 10
Metascore: 50 / 100
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Theresa 241 lines, woman
Isabel 226 lines, woman
Grace 153 lines, woman
Oscar 141 lines, man
Jonathan 58 lines, man
Jai 22 lines
Preena 19 lines, woman
Gwen 15 lines, woman
Manager 10 lines
Frank 9 lines, man

Full cast, 30 people

Julianne Moore as Theresa
Michelle Williams as Isabel
Billy Crudup as Oscar
Abby Quinn as Grace
Alex Esola as Jonathan
Susan Blackwell as Gwen
Will Chase as Frank
Eisa Davis as Tanya
Greta Quispe as Cibele
Alex Cranmer as Eddie
Jeff Kim as Simon
Doris McCarthy as Jonathan's Grandmother
Mackenzie Owens as Young Grace
Azhy Robertson as Otto
Tre Ryder as Theo
Vir Pachisia as Jai
Anjula Bedi as Preena
Kaizad Gandhi as Jacques
Ron Simons as Richard
Jill Lord as Melinda
Amelia Workman as Hotel Manager
Teéa Loreál as Wedding Staff
Nikhil Kamkolkar as Indian Cab Driver
Hank H. Kim as Monk
Carlos Valle as Estate Worker
Rufus Collins as Bill the Lawyer
Vivienne Leheny as Snarky Wedding Guest
Kristina Loggia as Wedding Photographer
Eric D. Hill Jr. as Jonathan's Friend
Thennappan as Tailor

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 4 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 165

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	3	0
5 to 8	10	0
9 to 12	3	0
13 to 16	5	0
17 to 20	6	3
21 to 24	12	14
25 to 28	10	0
29 to 32	5	0
33 to 36	3	0
37 to 40	0	0
41 to 44	10	12
45 to 48	9	12
49 to 52	50	1
53 to 56	10	2
57 to 60	11	0
61 to 64	12	0
65 to 68	4	1
69 to 72	2	4
73 to 76	45	32
77 to 80	4	3
81 to 84	4	1
85 to 88	5	4
89 to 92	28	12
93 to 96	0	0
97 to 100	8	10
101 to 104	29	0
105 to 108	37	0
109 to 112	19	0
113 to 116	55	15
117 to 120	24	7
121 to 124	25	20
125 to 128	14	16
129 to 132	16	14
133 to 136	6	6
137 to 140	44	7
141 to 144	36	0
145 to 148	33	13
149 to 152	23	3
153 to 156	21	0
157 to 160	13	9
161 to 164	14	0
165 to 165	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.

ISABEL: Where’s the money we were promised? How long are we supposed to wait? PREENA: They want you to go meet with them. ISABEL: What? PREENA: In New York. To tell them why we are a worthy cause.

PREENA: Yes. I understand. Of course. PREENA: It has to be you. ISABEL: Why? That’s ridiculous. PREENA: Are we really in a position to ask why?

THERESA: I’m not sure why we hired someone to guide us through the process, who we now need to guide through the process. TANYA: She’s just not a great communicator. But she’s been through this before with other companies, which is valuable. THERESA: Okay. But can we think about renegotiating her fee because we’re doing most of the work here.

PREENA: So, what do you think? ISABEL: I think we could get 100 new beds for what they are paying for this hotel suite. PREENA: I hope this wasn’t too good to be true. ISABEL: I’m not coming back without...

GRACE: You’ve told me that... A lot. THERESA: Well, it’s true. GRACE: Thank you... Again.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 75 are women's.

668 lines from women, 221 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

9 women and 10 men in the cast. 8 women and 10 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 74% of the words (5,876), men 26% (2,089). Women have 75% 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

Two men

Exhibit F: behind the camera

2 of the 14 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 26% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Bart Freundlich (man)
Written by: Bart Freundlich (man)
Produced by: Joel B. Michaels (man), Silvio Muraglia (man), Julianne Moore (woman), Bart Freundlich (man), Harry Finkel (man)
Shot by: Julio Macat (man)
Edited by: Joseph Krings (man)
Music by: Mychael Danna (man)
Production design by: Grace Yun (woman)
Costumes by: Arjun Bhasin (man)
Cast by: Henry Russell Bergstein (man), Douglas Aibel (man)