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Fails the Bechdel test

Beautiful Boy

2018. Directed by Felix van Groeningen, written by Luke Davies and Felix van Groeningen and David Sheff.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

2 / 3

Fails

  1. Yes 1. At least two women
    16 women characters. 9 of them speak.
  2. Yes 2. Who talk to each other
    Women do talk to each other.
  3. No 3. About something besides a man
    Every conversation between women that our parser found mentions a man.

Second opinion

Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.

Poster for Beautiful Boy

The film

After he and his first wife separate, journalist David Sheff (Carrell) struggles to help their teenage son (Chalamet), who goes from experimenting with drugs to becoming devastatingly addicted to methamphetamine. Directed by Felix Van Groeningen (The Broken Circle Breakdown), and based on Sheff's bestselling memoir "Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction".

Released
25 Oct 2018
Genres
Biography, Drama
Rated
R
IMDb
7.4 / 10
Metascore
62 / 100
Awards
Nominated for 1 BAFTA Award. 10 wins & 31 nominations total
Elsewhere
View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

  • Women
  • Men
  • Not in the cast list
  • Bigger name, more lines
  1. David 246 lines, man
  2. Nic 195 lines, man
  3. Karen 37 lines, woman
  4. Vicki 28 lines, woman
  5. Jasper 27 lines, man
  6. Director 13 lines
  7. Dr Brown 13 lines, man
  8. Lauren 13 lines, woman
  9. Spencer 11 lines, man
  10. Diane 9 lines, woman
Full cast, 34 people
  • Steve Carell as David Sheff
  • Timothée Chalamet as Nic Sheff
  • Maura Tierney as Karen Barbour
  • Amy Ryan as Vicki Sheff
  • Christian Convery as Jasper Sheff
  • Oakley Bull as Daisy Sheff
  • Kaitlyn Dever as Lauren
  • Stefanie Scott as Julia
  • Julian Works as Gack
  • Jack Dylan Grazer as 12-Year-Old Nic Sheff
  • Zachary Rifkin as 8-Year-Old Nic Sheff
  • Kue Lawrence as 5-Year-Old Nic Sheff
  • Timothy Hutton as Dr. Brown
  • Amy Forsyth as Diane
  • Andre Royo as Spencer
  • Ricky Low as Destiny
  • LisaGay Hamilton as Rose
  • Carlton Wilborn as Vince
  • Amy Aquino as Annie Goldblum
  • Marypat Farrell as Julia's Mother
  • Brandon James Cienfuegos as Kid
  • Cheska Corona as Kid
  • Mandeiya Flory as Kid
  • Martha T. Newman as Flight Attendant
  • Minerva García as Nurse @ Bellevue
  • Nikki Snipper as Airline Attendant
  • Anastasia Leddick as Speaker @ 12 Step Meeting
  • Edward Fletcher as Minister
  • Justin Townes Earle as Wedding Guest
  • Seann Gallagher as Father @ Graduation
  • Brooklin Thacher as Principal @ Graduation
  • Sasha Kelly Jackson as EMT
  • Tom Beyer as Meeting Leader
  • David Mendenhall as Rocker (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 4 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 179

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 408
5 to 806
9 to 12814
13 to 1606
17 to 2007
21 to 24130
25 to 28313
29 to 3206
33 to 36026
37 to 40333
41 to 44018
45 to 4804
49 to 5202
53 to 5611
57 to 6003
61 to 64013
65 to 68316
69 to 72226
73 to 7600
77 to 80214
81 to 84810
85 to 8800
89 to 92053
93 to 9623
97 to 10055
101 to 104411
105 to 108514
109 to 112110
113 to 11629
117 to 120320
121 to 124525
125 to 12801
129 to 132621
133 to 136710
137 to 14078
141 to 14400
145 to 14817
149 to 15212
153 to 15622
157 to 16048
161 to 164718
165 to 16806
169 to 17286
173 to 17610
177 to 17932

The evidence

  • Straight from the script
  • Counted from the script and the credits

Tap an exhibit to open it.

Exhibit A: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 17 are women's.

105 lines from women, 497 from men.

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

16 women and 16 men in the cast. 9 women and 8 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 22 of 630. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 55 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

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

Words spoken

Women speak 17% of the words (971), men 83% (4,589).

Exhibit D: 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 E: behind the camera

3 of the 11 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 36% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by
Felix van Groeningen (man)
Written by
Luke Davies (man), Felix van Groeningen (man)
Produced by
Dede Gardner (woman), Brad Pitt (man), Jeremy Kleiner (man)
Shot by
Ruben Impens (man)
Edited by
Nico Leunen (man)
Production design by
Ethan Tobman (man)
Costumes by
Emma Potter (woman)
Cast by
Francine Maisler (woman)

The crew, department by department

  • Production

    10 women, 7 men, 13 not listed

  • Art

    4 women, 7 men, 12 not listed

  • Sound

    4 women, 13 men, 6 not listed

  • Other crew

    2 women, 10 men, 9 not listed

  • Camera

    1 women, 4 men, 11 not listed

  • Costume & Make-Up

    8 women, 1 men, 6 not listed

  • Lighting

    0 women, 3 men, 8 not listed

  • Editing

    0 women, 2 men, 5 not listed

  • Women
  • Men
  • Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit F: how old the stars were

Women: 30 on average. Men: 25 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Oakley Bull 6, Kaitlyn Dever 21, Stefanie Scott 21, Amy Ryan 50, Maura Tierney 53

Men

Christian Convery 8, Jack Dylan Grazer 15, Timothée Chalamet 22, Steve Carell 56

Exhibit G: the money

It made 1.3 times what it cost.

Budget
$25 million
Box office
$31.7 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 179 scenes and 630 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

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