Passes the Bechdel test

Blue Valentine

Name: Blue Valentine
Released: 2011

2011. Directed by Derek Cianfrance, written by Derek Cianfrance and Joey Curtis and Cami Delavigne.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
9 women characters. 9 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 7 scenes out of 147.
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 2 out of 3.

The film

Dean Pereira and Cindy Heller Pereira are a young working-class married couple with a young daughter, Frankie. Dean currently works as a painter and Cindy is a nurse at a medical clinic. Despite their relatively tender ages, they are both ravaged by the life they've eked out together and by the experiences they've had leading into their marriage. High-school dropout Dean comes from a broken home and never really had a mother figure; he never imagined getting married or having a family despite falling in love with Cindy at first sight. He has no professional ambition beyond his current work--which he enjoys since he feels he can down a beer at 8AM and it won't affect his work--although Cindy believes he has so much more potential in life. Cindy also comes from a dysfunctional family; her parents didn't set an example of a harmonious married or family life. One of her previous serious partners, Bobby Ontario, has had a profound effect on many aspects of her marriage to Dean. Dean and Cindy head off on an overnight getaway together without Frankie, seeking a clearer picture of whether their marriage can survive its many issues.

Released: 28 Jan 2011
Genres: Drama, Romance
Rated: R
IMDb: 7.3 / 10
Metascore: 81 / 100
Awards: Nominated for 1 Oscar. 9 wins & 56 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Dean 248 lines, man
Cindy 240 lines, woman
Bobby 33 lines, man
Frankie 16 lines, woman
Jerry 14 lines, man
Doctor 13 lines
Curtis 9 lines, man
Glenda 9 lines, woman
Maria 7 lines, woman
Feinberg 6 lines, man

Full cast, 33 people

Ryan Gosling as Dean
Michelle Williams as Cindy
John Doman as Jerry
Mike Vogel as Bobby
Ben Shenkman as Dr. Feinberg
Jen Jones as Gramma
Maryann Plunkett as Glenda
Faith Wladyka as Frankie
Marshall Johnson as Marshall
James Benatti as Jamie
Barbara Troy as Jo
Carey Westbrook as Charley
Eileen Rosen as Mimi
Enid Graham as Professor
Ashley Gurnari as Checker
Jack Parshutich as Billy
Samii Ryan as Amanda
Mark Benginia as Concierge
Timothy Liveright as Doctor
Tamara Torres as Maria
Robert Russell as Justice of the Peace
Michelle Nagy as Music Teacher
Felicia Reid as Nurse
Melvin Jurdem as Old Man
Alan Malkin as Cab Driver
Derik Belanger as Tony
Isabella Frigoletto as Child #1
Madison Ledergerber as Child #2
Jaimie Jensen as Pregnant Woman
Joseph Basile as Warehouse Mover (uncredited)
Ian Bonner as Room Service Guy (uncredited)
Robert Eckard as Father (uncredited)
Corey Sullivan as Jake (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 147

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	3	4
5 to 8	11	14
9 to 12	5	6
13 to 16	7	15
17 to 20	8	7
21 to 24	0	1
25 to 28	0	4
29 to 32	0	4
33 to 36	2	9
37 to 40	3	9
41 to 44	28	31
45 to 48	7	6
49 to 52	11	6
53 to 56	4	6
57 to 60	9	4
61 to 64	1	6
65 to 68	16	15
69 to 72	2	2
73 to 76	0	0
77 to 80	0	4
81 to 84	0	0
85 to 88	2	2
89 to 92	67	90
93 to 96	6	5
97 to 100	7	7
101 to 104	11	1
105 to 108	1	4
109 to 112	0	0
113 to 116	0	0
117 to 120	2	9
121 to 124	31	0
125 to 128	24	24
129 to 132	0	0
133 to 136	14	17
137 to 140	3	4
141 to 144	2	2
145 to 147	2	1

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.

CINDY: C'mon, eat, you can't be late today. FRANKIE: I don't like it...

CINDY: Come on Frankie, use a spoon. You know how to use a spoon. FRANKIE: Lepers don't use spoons.

FRANKIE: I love you. CINDY: ...Love you.

CINDY: Come on silly. Let's go in and get dry. FRANKIE: I don't wanna take off my costume! CINDY: You don't have to. Let's just go in.

CINDY: Frankie. CHECKER: That's $58.42. CHECKER: $58.42. CINDY: Oh...I'm sorry.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

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

289 lines from women, 319 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

9 women and 9 men in the cast. 9 women and 6 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

A woman speaks the first line. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 20 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 39% of the words (1,736), men 61% (2,699). Women have 48% 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

5 of the 14 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 21% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Derek Cianfrance (man)
Written by: Joey Curtis (man), Derek Cianfrance (man), Cami Delavigne (woman)
Produced by: Lynette Howell Taylor (woman), Alex Orlovsky (man), Jamie Patricof (man)
Shot by: Andrij Parekh (man)
Edited by: Jim Helton (man), Ron Patane (man)
Music by: Grizzly Bear (gender not listed)
Production design by: Inbal Weinberg (woman)
Costumes by: Erin Benach (woman)
Cast by: Cindy Tolan (woman)