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Passes the Bechdel test

Autumn in New York

2000. Directed by Joan Chen, written by Allison Burnett.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

  1. Yes 1. At least two women
    32 women characters. 7 of them speak.
  2. Yes 2. Who talk to each other
    In 5 scenes out of 152.
  3. 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 1 out of 3.

Poster for Autumn in New York

The film

Forty-eight year old Will Keane is a successful restaurateur and serial womanizer, his reputation generally preceding him. When he is introduced to twenty-two year old Charlotte Fielding by Charlotte's grandmother, Will's old friend Dolly who he has not seen in years, there is a mutual but slow to acknowledge attraction. After their first date, Will and Charlotte agree that their relationship will never progress to one of a long term standing, but for different reasons: while this is Will's somewhat standard modus operandi, Charlotte announces that she has a terminal heart condition. Charlotte's admission makes Will look at this relationship differently, he being told by his best friend John that if he is going to continue to date Charlotte that he better treat her well. Their relationship does end up being different than both expect, for Charlotte which could mean a change from her current "let me die in peace" attitude to want to fight for her life. And Will's time with Charlotte is further influenced by his encounter with a young woman named Lisa Tyler.

Released
11 Aug 2000
Genres
Drama, Romance
Rated
PG-13
IMDb
5.6 / 10
Metascore
24 / 100
Awards
3 nominations total
Elsewhere
View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

  • Women
  • Men
  • Not in the cast list
  • Bigger name, more lines
  1. Wills 320 lines, man
  2. Charlotte 282 lines, woman
  3. John 51 lines, man
  4. Dolly 37 lines, woman
  5. Lisa 37 lines, woman
  6. Simon 23 lines, man
  7. Shannon 22 lines, woman
  8. Celia 14 lines, man
  9. Woman 12 lines, woman
  10. Michael 10 lines, man
Full cast, 62 people
  • Richard Gere as Will Keane
  • Winona Ryder as Charlotte Fielding
  • Anthony LaPaglia as John Volpe
  • Elaine Stritch as Dolores "Dolly" Talbot
  • Vera Farmiga as Lisa Tyler
  • Sherry Stringfield as Sarah
  • Jill Hennessy as Lynn
  • J.K. Simmons as Dr. Tom Grandy
  • Sam Trammell as Simon
  • Mary Beth Hurt as Dr. Sibley
  • Kali Rocha as Shannon
  • Bill Raymond as Michael (Doorman)
  • Tawny Cypress as Melissa
  • Steven Randazzo as Alberto
  • George Spielvogel III as Netto
  • Ranjit Chowdhry as Fakir
  • Toby Poser as Autumn Woman #1
  • Audrey Quock as Eriko
  • Gabriel Portuondo as 458 Waiter
  • Laurent Schwaar as 458 Waiter
  • Patrick Price as 458 Waiter
  • Ted Koch as 458 Bartender
  • Alvin H. Einbender as 458 Bartender
  • Daniella van Graas as Model at Bar
  • Rachel Nichols as Model at Bar
  • Steven Ravid as 458 Customer
  • Ron Emanuel as 458 Customer
  • Dan Camins as 458 Customer
  • John Guidera as 458 Customer
  • Russell Hunston as 458 Customer
  • Nik Pjeternikaj as 458 Customer
  • Paige Handler as Charlotte's Birthday Friend
  • Liza Lapira as Charlotte's Birthday Friend
  • Sarah Teresa Burns as Little Girl at Playground
  • Earl Carroll as Will's Driver
  • David Filippi as Taxi Driver
  • Becca Lee as Michelle
  • Estelle Robinson as Old Frail Lady
  • Brittney Bunkis as Little Girl at Museum
  • Delores Mitchell as Librarian
  • Hatsumi Yoshida as Clown at Halloween Party
  • Kristi Lee Guinness as 50's Girl at Halloween Party
  • Luca Waldman as Vampire at Halloween Party
  • Daniella Canterman as Twin
  • Deanna Canterman as Twin
  • Harry Burney as Choirmaster
  • Cheyne M. Hansen as Boy at Rockerfeller
  • Iris Flick as Nurse at New Haven Hospital
  • Pamela Twyble as Nurse at Cleveland Heart Institute
  • Kathleen Goldpaugh as St. Vincent's Nurse
  • Robert Plunket as Grubby Man
  • Shawna Bermender as Ballroom Dancer (uncredited)
  • Lindsay Canton as Young Teacher at Museum (uncredited)
  • Jamie Harrold as (uncredited)
  • Kathryn Hayzer as Ballroom Dancer (uncredited)
  • Timothy Huang as 458 Waiter (uncredited)
  • Christopher Lucas as Dance Partner (uncredited)
  • Nami Paix as Charlotte's Birthday Friend (uncredited)
  • Rohan Quine as The Moroccan (uncredited)
  • Adriana Souza as Ballroom Dancer (uncredited)
  • Randy Troy as Package Boy (uncredited)
  • Jade Viggiano as Good Fairy Witch (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 152

Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.

Show the numbers
ScenesWomen's linesMen's lines
1 to 486
5 to 820
9 to 1225
13 to 163439
17 to 201620
21 to 241614
25 to 281714
29 to 323114
33 to 36239
37 to 40422
41 to 4474
45 to 482720
49 to 521210
53 to 56117
57 to 601330
61 to 6479
65 to 681310
69 to 72128
73 to 76200
77 to 801422
81 to 84013
85 to 881822
89 to 921616
93 to 9664
97 to 100917
101 to 1041617
105 to 108213
109 to 112910
113 to 1161114
117 to 12056
121 to 12440
125 to 128515
129 to 1321314
133 to 136810
137 to 14000
141 to 14400
145 to 14824
149 to 15234

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.
SHANNON: And so, after all that, we pay our cover, we get in, and it's totally heinous! Nothing but losers and -- CHARLOTTE: Oh, shit. SHANNON: What?
CHARLOTTE: Thanks. SHANNON: Twenty years old and never been... CHARLOTTE: Shut up!
CHARLOTTE: Why don't you mark what isn't important? That way you'll save ink. SHANNON: Why don't you sew your mouth to my butt? That way you'll stop annoying me.
SHANNON: God, I hate school. CHARLOTTE: Oh, come on, just last week, you said you were on a roll. You loved it! SHANNON: Well, now I'm on the rag and I hate it. CHARLOTTE: I think you're incredibly lucky. I'd love to be going to college.
CHARLOTTE: Really? Better put some ice on that. SHANNON: Girlfriend, you are so incredibly cool!

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 48 are women's.

416 lines from women, 442 from men.

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

32 women and 28 men in the cast. 7 women and 7 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 2 of 904. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 27 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

  • First line by a woman
  • Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 49% of the words (4,882), men 51% (5,013). Women have 48% 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

Exhibit F: behind the camera

6 of the 12 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 37% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by
Joan Chen (woman)
Written by
Allison Burnett (man)
Produced by
Gary Lucchesi (man), Tom Rosenberg (man), Amy Robinson (woman)
Shot by
Gu Changwei (man)
Edited by
Ruby Yang (woman)
Music by
Gabriel Yared (man)
Production design by
Mark Friedberg (man)
Costumes by
Carol Oditz (woman)
Cast by
Georgianne Walken (woman), Sheila Jaffe (woman)

The crew, department by department

  • Sound

    5 women, 10 men, 4 not listed

  • Production

    5 women, 8 men, 1 not listed

  • Camera

    0 women, 6 men, 5 not listed

  • Art

    4 women, 4 men, 2 not listed

  • Other crew

    2 women, 6 men, 1 not listed

  • Directing

    2 women, 0 men, 2 not listed

  • Editing

    2 women, 0 men, 2 not listed

  • Lighting

    0 women, 1 men, 2 not listed

  • Women
  • Men
  • Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit G: how old the stars were

Women: 41 on average. Men: 42 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Vera Farmiga 27, Winona Ryder 28, Jill Hennessy 31, Sherry Stringfield 33, Mary Beth Hurt 53, Elaine Stritch 75

Men

Sam Trammell 31, Anthony LaPaglia 41, J.K. Simmons 45, Richard Gere 50

Exhibit H: the money

It made 1.4 times what it cost.

Budget
$65 million
Box office
$90.7 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 152 scenes and 904 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

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