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Passes the Bechdel test

Beloved

1998. Directed by Jonathan Demme, written by Toni Morrison and Akosua Busia and Richard LaGravenese.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

  1. Yes 1. At least two women
    15 women characters. 11 of them speak.
  2. Yes 2. Who talk to each other
    In 20 scenes out of 202.
  3. 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.

Poster for Beloved

The film

Haunted by so many painful and well-hidden secrets, former slave Sethe is bent on finding freedom for the sake of her children. Out of the blue, as Sethe struggles to grapple with her troubled past in her humble home somewhere in post-Civil-War Cincinnati, Paul D, an old familiar from the Kentucky farm euphemistically called Sweet Home, re-enters Sethe's life, eager to lend her a hand. Then a stranger arrives in the shape of a mysterious young woman, giving rise to a series of repressed memories. But who is she? Can Paul D help Sethe reinvent herself?

Released
16 Oct 1998
Genres
Drama, History, Horror
Rated
R
IMDb
6 / 10
Metascore
57 / 100
Awards
Nominated for 1 Oscar. 3 wins & 24 nominations total
Elsewhere
View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

  • Women
  • Men
  • Not in the cast list
  • Bigger name, more lines
  1. Sethe 333 lines, woman
  2. Paul 211 lines, man
  3. Denver 153 lines, woman
  4. Stamp Paid 91 lines, man
  5. Beloved 73 lines, woman
  6. Baby Suggs 60 lines, woman
  7. Ella 36 lines, woman
  8. Amy 35 lines, woman
  9. Halle 17 lines, man
  10. Janey 17 lines, woman
Full cast, 60 people
  • Oprah Winfrey as Sethe
  • Danny Glover as Paul D
  • Kimberly Elise as Denver
  • Thandiwe Newton as Beloved
  • LisaGay Hamilton as Younger Sethe
  • Beah Richards as Baby Suggs
  • Albert Hall as Stamp Paid
  • Irma P. Hall as Ella
  • Carol Jean Lewis as Janey Wagon
  • Kessia Embry as Amy Denver
  • Jude Ciccolella as Schoolteacher
  • Anthony Chisholm as Langhorne
  • Dorothy Love Coates as M. Lucille Williams
  • Jane White as Lady Jones
  • Yada Beener as Denver aged 9
  • Emil Pinnock as Howard aged 14
  • Calen Johnson as Buglar aged 13
  • George E. Ray as Reverend Pike
  • Wes Bentley as Schoolteacher's Nephew
  • Dashiell Eaves as Schoolteacher's Nephew
  • Tyler Hinson as Baby Beloved
  • Brian Hooks as Young Paul D
  • Angie Utt as Mrs. Garner
  • Hill Harper as Halle
  • Jim Roche as String Show Barker
  • Vertamae Grosvenor as Grace
  • Ramona Castle as Carnival Kid
  • Brooklyn James as Carnival Kid
  • Nora Marlowe as Carnival Kid
  • Frederick Strother as African Savage
  • Lillian Smith as Lemonade Server
  • Aliya Robinson as Denver's Carnival Friend
  • Joe Toutebon as Frenchie
  • Brittany Hawkins as Young Girl Sethe
  • Alerte Belance as Nan
  • Ayoka Dorsey as Sethe's Mother
  • Ashleigh Watson as Baby Denver
  • Dajon Matthews as Howard aged 5
  • Norris Wiggins Jr. as Buglar aged 4
  • Harry Northup as Sheriff
  • Tracey Walter as Slave Catcher
  • Terel Gibson as Buglar aged 21
  • Damani Baker as Howard aged 22
  • Robert W. Castle as Mr. Sawyer
  • Paul Lazar as General Store Proprietor
  • Leigh Smiley as General Store Helper
  • Lewis 'Jiggs' Walker as Good Samaritan
  • Dan Olmstead as Policeman
  • Charles Glenn as Helpful Gentleman
  • Jason Robards as Mr. Bodwin
  • Anthony S. Calypso as Denver's Boyfriend
  • Karen Vicks as The Thirty Women
  • Thelma Houston as The Thirty Women
  • Willa Ward as The Thirty Women
  • Louise Johnson as The Thirty Women
  • Pauletta Washington as The Thirty Women
  • Jacqueline Celestin Fils-Aimé as The Thirty Women
  • Harold Gould as Barber Shop Man #4 (uncredited)
  • Charles Napier as Angry Carny (uncredited)
  • Joey Perillo as Carnival Barker (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 5 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 202

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 554
6 to 10130
11 to 15330
16 to 202930
21 to 254428
26 to 3056
31 to 3547
36 to 402415
41 to 45126
46 to 5040
51 to 55227
56 to 60230
61 to 654826
66 to 70297
71 to 7532
76 to 80500
81 to 8598
86 to 90172
91 to 95168
96 to 10034
101 to 10532
106 to 110718
111 to 11586
116 to 120173
121 to 1252315
126 to 130102
131 to 135722
136 to 14050
141 to 145211
146 to 15030
151 to 1552217
156 to 1603221
161 to 1653733
166 to 1701648
171 to 175390
176 to 18041
181 to 185170
186 to 190180
191 to 195250
196 to 2001813
201 to 2021010

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.
DENVER: Lonely. SETHE: I don't see how it could be lonely spending every minute with us like it does. DENVER: It's my sister. She was just a baby when she died in this house.
DENVER: Mama doesn't like talk about Sweet Home. Says it was never sweet and it sure wasn't home. SETHE: Girl, mind yourself!
SETHE: That's just it. She got no cause to act up with a stranger. SETHE: Baby, what is it? Did something happen? DENVER: I can't no more! I can't no more! SETHE: Can't what? What can't you?
SETHE: It's the house. People don't... DENVER: It's not! It's not the house! It's us! It's you! SETHE: Denver!
SETHE: What might your name be? BELOVED: Beloved.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 66 are women's.

735 lines from women, 372 from men.

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

15 women and 24 men in the cast. 11 women and 11 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 3 of 1,128. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 48 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

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

Words spoken

Women speak 70% of the words (9,710), men 30% (4,254). Women have 66% 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

8 of the 17 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 35% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by
Jonathan Demme (man)
Written by
Akosua Busia (woman), Adam Brooks (man), Richard LaGravenese (man)
From the novel by
Toni Morrison (woman)
Produced by
Oprah Winfrey (woman), Kate Forte (woman), Edward Saxon (man), Gary Goetzman (man), Jonathan Demme (man)
Shot by
Tak Fujimoto (man)
Edited by
Andy Keir (man), Carol Littleton (woman)
Music by
Rachel Portman (woman)
Production design by
Kristi Zea (woman)
Costumes by
Colleen Atwood (woman)
Cast by
Howard Feuer (man)

The crew, department by department

  • Production

    2 women, 7 men

  • Art

    2 women, 2 men

  • Other crew

    1 women, 3 men

  • Sound

    2 women, 2 men

  • Writing

    2 women, 2 men

  • Editing

    1 women, 2 men

  • Camera

    0 women, 1 men

  • Costume & Make-Up

    1 women, 0 men

  • Women
  • Men
  • Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit G: how old the stars were

Women: 42 on average. Men: 56 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Kessia Embry 16, Thandiwe Newton 25, Kimberly Elise 31, LisaGay Hamilton 34, Oprah Winfrey 44, Irma P. Hall 63, Beah Richards 78

Men

Danny Glover 52, Albert Hall 60

Exhibit H: the money

It made 29% of what it cost.

Budget
$80 million
Box office
$22.9 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 202 scenes and 1,128 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

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