Passes the Bechdel test
Can You Ever Forgive Me?
2018. Directed by Marielle Heller, written by Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
22 women characters. 12 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 11 scenes out of 154. -
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
In the early 1990s, Lee Israel, a biographer with a modicum of writing success, has fallen on hard times largely of her own doing. Her choice of subjects is in general not of interest to today's book buying public, and she, in her only true friends being her aged cat Jersey and a scotch and soda in not really liking people and people in turn not really liking her, has burned bridges with everyone her agent Marjorie has built for her. She will have to start from the ground up again if she wants a writing career, as, hiding behind her subjects, the book buying public will not buy a "Lee Israel" on the strength of her name in not knowing who she is as a writer or person. This situation has led to her being months behind in rent as she spends whatever little money she has on alcohol and Jersey's medical needs. In doing research for her latest book on Fanny Brice - with no advance from Marjorie - and selling a cherished personal memento of a handwritten letter from Katharine Hepburn in needing the money, Lee discovers there is a market for such celebrity memorabilia, and in the process decides, with her writing talent, to go into the fraudulent business of creating and selling fake personal documents purportedly by dead celebrities, especially of writers with strong public personas, such as Dorothy Parker and Noël Coward. She ends up befriending a gay past acquaintance from her literary circles, Jack Hock, also having fallen on hard times, Jack, not only becoming her drinking buddy, but her partner in crime. As they are able to get out of their financial holes in this business, Lee may begin to have second thoughts in also befriending Anna, one of the rare bookstore owners who likes Lee for Lee, an unusual position for her. But as the fraud looks like it may catch up specifically to Lee, she, feeling like these fakes are at least stretching her writing muscles, only becomes more resolute in at least the creative pursuit of what she's doing.
- Released
- 02 Nov 2018
- Genres
- Biography, Comedy, Crime
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.1 / 10
- Metascore
- 87 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 3 Oscars. 54 wins & 101 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Lee 488 lines, woman
- Jack 237 lines, man
- Anna 83 lines, woman
- Marjorie 31 lines, woman
- Elaine 30 lines, woman
- Paul 29 lines, man
- Alan 22 lines, man
- Ms. Whitman 16 lines, woman
- Andrei 15 lines, man
- Agent Solanas 14 lines, man
Full cast, 60 people
- Melissa McCarthy as Lee Israel
- Richard E. Grant as Jack Hock
- Dolly Wells as Anna
- Ben Falcone as Alan Schmidt
- Gregory Korostishevsky as Andrei
- Jane Curtin as Marjorie
- Stephen Spinella as Paul
- Christian Navarro as Kurt
- Pun Bandhu as Agent Doyle
- Erik LaRay Harvey as Agent Solanas
- Brandon Scott Jones as Glen
- Shae D'Lyn as Nell
- Rosal Colon as Rachel
- Anna Deavere Smith as Elaine
- Marc Evan Jackson as Lloyd
- Marcella Lowery as Guest at Party
- Roberta Wallach as Tom Clancy Groupie
- Tina Benko as Karen
- Sandy Rosenberg as Yale Librarian
- Kevin Carolan as Tom Clancy
- Ben Rauch as Coat Check Guy
- Ethel Fisher as Mrs. Unger
- Chris Lamberth as Exterminator
- Joanna Adler as Arlene
- Mary B. McCann as Judge
- Michael Laurence as Fenwick
- Michael Cyril Creighton as Harry
- Alice Kremelberg as Server
- Moisés Acevedo as Stationery Clerk
- Lucy DeVito as Gossipy Office Worker
- Josh Evans as Boss in Office
- Ricky Garcia as Security Guard
- Charlotte Mary Wen as Cubicle Worker
- Marcus Choi as Another Cubicle Worker
- Justin Vivian Bond as Lounge Singer
- Tim Cummings as Craig
- Havilah Brewster as Toni
- Dann Fink as Male (voice)
- Zabryna Guevara as Female (voice)
- Bonita Hamilton as Female (voice)
- Dan McCabe as Male (voice)
- Sean Oliver as Male (voice)
- Lori Prince as Female (voice)
- Armando Riesco as Male (voice)
- Sandy Rustin as Female (voice)
- George Aloi as Literary Agent (uncredited)
- Tiffany Blair as Lady with Bird (uncredited)
- Linwood Brown as Prosecutor (uncredited)
- Kevin Cristaldi as Other Dealer (uncredited)
- Barbara Ann Davison as Bookstore Employee (uncredited)
- Peter Donovan as Greg (uncredited)
- Antoine Drye as Musician in Bar Scene (uncredited)
- Liz Eng as Lisa (uncredited)
- George R. Golden as Bookshop Browser (uncredited)
- Anne Hollister as Young Girl at Vet (uncredited)
- Katie Kocik as Bookstore Customer (uncredited)
- Ron Maestri as Book Store Customer (uncredited)
- Doris McCarthy as Dinner Guest (uncredited)
- Wayne J. Miller as Pancake Man at Counter (uncredited)
- Bill Walters as Homeless Man (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 5% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 154
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 | 13 | 4 |
| 5 to 8 | 1 | 0 |
| 9 to 12 | 12 | 4 |
| 13 to 16 | 25 | 1 |
| 17 to 20 | 11 | 11 |
| 21 to 24 | 36 | 26 |
| 25 to 28 | 9 | 10 |
| 29 to 32 | 19 | 2 |
| 33 to 36 | 38 | 3 |
| 37 to 40 | 6 | 7 |
| 41 to 44 | 69 | 0 |
| 45 to 48 | 46 | 37 |
| 49 to 52 | 4 | 8 |
| 53 to 56 | 13 | 4 |
| 57 to 60 | 3 | 0 |
| 61 to 64 | 9 | 10 |
| 65 to 68 | 43 | 29 |
| 69 to 72 | 71 | 7 |
| 73 to 76 | 4 | 5 |
| 77 to 80 | 11 | 12 |
| 81 to 84 | 1 | 2 |
| 85 to 88 | 23 | 19 |
| 89 to 92 | 7 | 5 |
| 93 to 96 | 10 | 13 |
| 97 to 100 | 0 | 0 |
| 101 to 104 | 12 | 10 |
| 105 to 108 | 16 | 30 |
| 109 to 112 | 20 | 20 |
| 113 to 116 | 6 | 3 |
| 117 to 120 | 5 | 11 |
| 121 to 124 | 2 | 14 |
| 125 to 128 | 14 | 17 |
| 129 to 132 | 19 | 10 |
| 133 to 136 | 10 | 18 |
| 137 to 140 | 10 | 8 |
| 141 to 144 | 13 | 5 |
| 145 to 148 | 79 | 21 |
| 149 to 152 | 4 | 0 |
| 153 to 154 | 2 | 0 |
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.
MARJORIE: Well, this is a surprise. LEE: You invited me, did you not? MARJORIE: You didn’t reply. LEE: A coat check? At my party we threw coats on a bed.
MARJORIE: That was quick. Did you get properly fed? LEE: This week. Will you take my call? MARJORIE: Sure. We’ll see. LEE: I have fascinating projects! I’m working on a lot of ideas - I just need my agent to call me back.
RACHEL: You still have a balance, Ms. Israel. LEE: But there’s something wrong with her. She’s very old. RACHEL: I’m sorry. The doctor told me to get at least half the balance before we do any tests. LEE: Don’t you take a Hippocratic oath or something? Don’t you have to do something?
LEE: I would, except it’s an object. RACHEL: Jersey Israel? RACHEL: Hi, Ms. Israel. Are you’re able to pay for the tests? LEE: That’s why I’m here. You shouldn’t de-claw.
LEE: We’re not buying today. Just looking. NELL: No problem. I’m asking six hundred.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 64 are women's.
696 lines from women, 386 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
22 women and 28 men in the cast. 12 women and 19 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 14 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 64% of the words (6,859), men 36% (3,823).
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
20
Two men
14
Exhibit F: behind the camera
6 of the 12 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 40% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Marielle Heller (woman)
- Written by
- Nicole Holofcener (woman), Jeff Whitty (man)
- Produced by
- David Yarnell (man), Anne Carey (woman), Amy Nauiokas (woman)
- Shot by
- Brandon Trost (man)
- Edited by
- Anne McCabe (woman)
- Music by
- Nate Heller (man)
- Production design by
- Stephen H. Carter (man)
- Costumes by
- Arjun Bhasin (man)
- Cast by
- Jennifer Euston (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
11 women, 8 men, 11 not listed
-
Sound
1 women, 17 men
-
Costume & Make-Up
7 women, 2 men, 7 not listed
-
Art
5 women, 5 men, 4 not listed
-
Camera
1 women, 9 men, 3 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 3 men, 5 not listed
-
Directing
4 women, 0 men
-
Visual Effects
1 women, 1 men, 2 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 55 on average. Men: 47 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Dolly Wells 46, Melissa McCarthy 48, Jane Curtin 71
Men
Christian Navarro 27, Erik LaRay Harvey 41, Ben Falcone 45, Richard E. Grant 61, Stephen Spinella 62
Exhibit H: the money
What it cost and made, where TMDB lists it.
- Budget
- Not listed
- Box office
- $8.6 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 154 scenes and 1,141 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
