Passes the Bechdel test
Blue Moon
2025. Directed by Richard Linklater, written by Robert Kaplow and Lorenz Hart and Elizabeth Weiland.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
3 women characters. 3 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 1 scene out of 25. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In that scene, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.
The film
One evening in the life of Lorenz Hart, best known as the lyricist half of the successful songwriting team of Rodgers and Hart (as in Richard Rodgers), is dramatized. That evening is March 31, 1943, arguably the worst night of his life in it being opening night of the new Broadway musical Oklahoma (exclamation point) written by Rodgers and his new lyricist partner Oscar Hammerstein II, all indications being that it will be the biggest hit in Rodgers' already illustrious career. Rodgers was the one who took a pause in working with Hart due to his alcoholism and thus his unreliability as a working partner. As such, Larry, as his friends refer to him, is very bitter about the situation, taking sly jabs at the show and especially Hammerstein's lyrics while still trying to appear supportive. Having left the theater before the closing curtain, Larry heads to Sardi's, which will later that evening be the site of the opening night post-show gathering in wait of the critic reviews. As he awaits the onslaught of adoring fans of Rodgers' and now Hammerstein's, forty-seven year old Larry may see the one bright spot of the evening being his planned "date" with twenty year old Elizabeth Weiland, a student at Yale with who he has had a thus far platonic friendship which he hopes will veer into the romantic in his need to be adored, including sexually by someone seen as desirable.
- Released
- 24 Oct 2025
- Genres
- Biography, Comedy, Drama
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 6.8 / 10
- Metascore
- 78 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 2 Oscars. 17 wins & 74 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Hart 389 lines, man
- Rodgers 128 lines, man
- Elizabeth 104 lines, woman
- Eddie 72 lines, man
- Andy White 40 lines, man
- Morty Rifkin 25 lines, man
- Oscar Hammerstein Ii 18 lines, man
- Langner 16 lines, man
- Sven 15 lines, man
- Renee 7 lines, woman
Full cast, 22 people
- Ethan Hawke as Lorenz Hart
- Bobby Cannavale as Eddie
- Andrew Scott as Richard Rodgers
- Margaret Qualley as Elizabeth Weiland
- Patrick Kennedy as E.B. 'Andy' White
- Jonah Lees as Morty Rifkin
- Simon Delaney as Oscar Hammerstein
- Giles Surridge as Sven
- Cillian Sullivan as Stephen Sondheim
- Michael James Ford as Lawrence Langner
- John Doran as Weegee
- Anne Brogan as Frieda Hart
- David Rawle as George Roy Hill
- Aisling O'Mara as Renee Carroll
- Caitríona Ennis as Cigarette Girl
- Robert Kaplow as Radio Announcer
- Andrew Bennett as Oklahoma City Mayor
- John Cronin as Investor
- Elaine O'Dwyer as Gladys
- Ian Dillon as Elizabeth’s Mothers Friend (uncredited)
- Brian Briggs as Waiter (uncredited)
- John Hayes as Party Guest (Uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 1 scene, 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 25
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 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 to 2 | 0 | 4 |
| 3 to 3 | 0 | 6 |
| 4 to 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 to 5 | 0 | 28 |
| 6 to 6 | 0 | 35 |
| 7 to 7 | 0 | 47 |
| 8 to 8 | 1 | 12 |
| 9 to 9 | 16 | 17 |
| 10 to 10 | 0 | 37 |
| 11 to 11 | 0 | 23 |
| 12 to 12 | 0 | 50 |
| 13 to 13 | 0 | 11 |
| 14 to 14 | 0 | 21 |
| 15 to 15 | 0 | 124 |
| 16 to 16 | 2 | 35 |
| 17 to 17 | 0 | 10 |
| 18 to 18 | 0 | 13 |
| 19 to 19 | 1 | 72 |
| 20 to 20 | 2 | 9 |
| 21 to 21 | 16 | 23 |
| 22 to 22 | 3 | 30 |
| 23 to 23 | 53 | 54 |
| 24 to 24 | 19 | 34 |
| 25 to 25 | 1 | 24 |
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: the passing scene
The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.
ELIZABETH: Stop. We hear a knock on the door. RENEE: Larry! There’s people out here.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 14 are women's.
114 lines from women, 719 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
3 women and 15 men in the cast. 3 women and 14 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 132 of 869.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 319 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 15% of the words (1,855), men 85% (10,896). Women have 14% 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
Two women
1
Two men
55
Exhibit F: behind the camera
3 of the 12 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 29% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Richard Linklater (man)
- Written by
- Robert Kaplow (man)
- Produced by
- John Sloss (man), Richard Linklater (man), Mike Blizzard (man)
- Shot by
- Shane F. Kelly (man)
- Edited by
- Sandra Adair (woman)
- Music by
- Graham Reynolds (man)
- Production design by
- Susie Cullen (gender not listed)
- Costumes by
- Consolata Boyle (woman)
- Cast by
- Aine O'Sullivan (gender not listed), Olivia Scott-Webb (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
3 women, 6 men, 19 not listed
-
Sound
2 women, 6 men, 12 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 1 men, 15 not listed
-
Camera
1 women, 1 men, 10 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
2 women, 0 men, 9 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 2 men, 7 not listed
-
Editing
1 women, 1 men, 4 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 30 on average. Men: 45 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Margaret Qualley 30
Men
Giles Surridge 28, Jonah Lees 29, Andrew Scott 48, Patrick Kennedy 48, Ethan Hawke 54, Bobby Cannavale 55, Simon Delaney 55
Exhibit H: the money
What it cost and made, where TMDB lists it.
- Budget
- Not listed
- Box office
- $3.6 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 25 scenes and 869 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
