Passes the Bechdel test

Being John Malkovich

Name: Being John Malkovich
Released: 1999

1999. Directed by Spike Jonze, written by Charlie Kaufman.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
14 women characters. 5 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 4 scenes out of 172.
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

Puppeteer Craig Schwartz and animal lover and pet store clerk Lotte Schwartz are just going through the motions of their marriage. Despite not being able to earn a living solely through puppeteering, Craig loves his profession as it allows him to inhabit the skin of others. He begins to take the ability to inhabit the skin of others to the next level when he is forced to take a job as a file clerk for the off-kilter LesterCorp, located on the five-foot tall 7½ floor of a Manhattan office building. Behind one of the filing cabinets in his work area, Craig finds a hidden door which he learns is a portal into the mind of John Malkovich, the visit through the portal which lasts fifteen minutes after which the person is spit into a ditch next to the New Jersey Turnpike. Craig is fascinated by the meaning of life associated with this finding. Lotte's trips through the portal make her evaluate her own self. And the confident Maxine Lund, one of Craig's co-workers who he tells about the portal if only because he is attracted to her, thinks that it is a money making opportunity in selling trips into Malkovich's mind after office hours for $200 a visit. Craig, Lotte and Maxine begin to understand that anyone entering the portal has the ability to control Malkovich's mind, which also alters his entire being. This experience makes Maxine fall in love with a composite. This ability to control Malkovich's mind begs the question of the ultimate psychedelic trip for Malkovich himself, who begins to feel that something is not right in the world as he knows it.

Released: 03 Dec 1999
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
Rated: R
IMDb: 7.7 / 10
Metascore: 90 / 100
Awards: Nominated for 3 Oscars. 49 wins & 79 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Craig 219 lines, man
Lotte 143 lines, woman
Maxine 124 lines, woman
Lester 98 lines, man
Malkovich 98 lines, man
Flemmer 24 lines, man
Floris 19 lines, woman
Mantini 14 lines, man
Erroll 9 lines, man
Agent 8 lines

Full cast, 63 people

John Cusack as Craig Schwartz
Cameron Diaz as Lotte Schwartz
John Malkovich as John Horatio Malkovich
Catherine Keener as Maxine Lund
Orson Bean as Dr. Lester
Mary Kay Place as Floris
W. Earl Brown as First J.M. Inc. Customer
Carlos Jacott as Larry the Agent
Willie Garson as Guy in Restaurant
Byrne Piven as Captain Mertin
Gregory Sporleder as Drunk at Bar
Charlie Sheen as Charlie
Reggie Hayes as Don
K.K. Dodds as Wendy
Judith Wetzell as Tiny Woman
Octavia Spencer as Woman in Elevator
Ned Bellamy as Derek Mantini
Eric Weinstein as Father at Puppet Show
Madison Lanc as Daughter at Puppet Show
Kevin Carroll as Cab Driver
Gerald Emerick as Sad Man in Line
Richard Fancy as Johnson Heyward
Patti Tippo as Malkovich's Mother
Daniel Hansen as Boy Malkovich
Mariah O'Brien as Girl Creeped Out by Malkovich
Kelly Teacher as Emily
Bill M. Ryusaki as Mr. Hiroshi
Jacqueline Benoît as Lester's Friend
William Buck as Lester's Friend
Christine D. Coleman as Lester's Friend
Jeanne Diehl as Lester's Friend
Audrey Gelfund as Lester's Friend
Yetta Ginsburg as Lester's Friend
Sylvester Jenkins as Lester's Friend
Roy C. Johnson as Lester's Friend
Eddie J. Low as Lester's Friend
Ralph W. Spaulding as Lester's Friend
David Wyler as Lester's Friend
Flori Wyler as Lester's Friend
Kevin Lee as Ballet Dancer
Marlowe Bassett as Ballet Dancer
Jennifer Canzoneri as Ballet Dancer
Kristie Cordle as Ballet Dancer
Denise Dabrowski as Ballet Dancer
Kristin Condon as Ballet Dancer
Charlene Grimsley as Ballet Dancer
Christine Krejer as Ballet Dancer
Erica Long as Ballet Dancer
Yvonne Montelius as Ballet Dancer
Jessica Neuberger as Ballet Dancer
Sara Rifkin as Ballet Dancer
Elizabeth Rivera as Ballet Dancer
Chelsa Sjostrom as Ballet Dancer
Pamela Hayden as Featured Character Voice (voice)
Jayne Hess as Featured Character Voice (voice)
Michelle Madden as Featured Character Voice (voice)
Greg O'Neill as Featured Character Voice (voice)
Neil Ross as Featured Character Voice (voice)
Bill Wittman as Featured Character Voice (voice)
David Fincher as Christopher Bing (uncredited)
Sean Penn as Sean Penn (uncredited)
Brad Pitt as Brad Pitt (uncredited)
James Murray as Student Puppeteer (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 9% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 172

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	7	8
5 to 8	0	1
9 to 12	0	0
13 to 16	0	0
17 to 20	2	2
21 to 24	1	1
25 to 28	1	0
29 to 32	14	31
33 to 36	6	9
37 to 40	13	11
41 to 44	6	5
45 to 48	4	15
49 to 52	27	35
53 to 56	3	14
57 to 60	2	3
61 to 64	0	3
65 to 68	13	21
69 to 72	9	8
73 to 76	4	13
77 to 80	20	15
81 to 84	18	15
85 to 88	6	19
89 to 92	10	15
93 to 96	5	1
97 to 100	13	10
101 to 104	7	6
105 to 108	12	10
109 to 112	6	11
113 to 116	1	10
117 to 120	5	23
121 to 124	15	20
125 to 128	19	23
129 to 132	8	17
133 to 136	7	25
137 to 140	4	5
141 to 144	3	7
145 to 148	9	45
149 to 152	2	22
153 to 156	2	0
157 to 160	0	3
161 to 164	1	3
165 to 168	1	5
169 to 172	17	14

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.

LOTTE: Hi. Have you done Malkovich yet? MAXINE: Hi, uh. Hi. I wanted to place an ad. Yes. "Ever want to be someone else?" No, that's the ad, but let's talk about you in a minute. "Ever wan…

MAXINE: It's just that I fantasize about you and, well, speaking to you now has gotten me sort of excited and... LOTTE: Oh, I like this.

LOTTE: Maxine! MAXINE: Hi. I'm so glad you decided to come. I'm Maxine.

LOTTE: Oh my darling. Oh my sweetheart. MAXINE: I love you, Lotte. LOTTE: Maxine...

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 38 are women's.

303 lines from women, 504 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

14 women and 24 men in the cast. 5 women and 6 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 2 of 883. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 34 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 35% of the words (3,146), men 65% (5,795). Women have 38% 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 13 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 15% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Spike Jonze (man)
Written by: Charlie Kaufman (man)
Produced by: Sandy Stern (man), Michael Stipe (man), Vincent Landay (man), Steve Golin (man)
Shot by: Lance Acord (man)
Edited by: Eric Zumbrunnen (man)
Music by: Carter Burwell (man)
Production design by: K.K. Barrett (man)
Costumes by: Casey Storm (man)
Cast by: Justine Arteta (woman), Kim Davis-Wagner (woman)