Passes the Bechdel test

Corpse Bride

Name: Corpse Bride
Released: 2005

2005. Directed by Tim Burton and Mike Johnson, written by John August and Caroline Thompson and Pamela Pettler.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
6 women characters. 8 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 2 scenes out of 58.
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, though someone marked that rating as dubious.

The film

Set back in the late 1800s in a Victorian village, a man and woman by the names of Victor Van Dort and Victoria Everglot are betrothed because the Everglots need the money or else they'll be living on the streets and the Van Dorts want to be high in society. But when things go wrong at the wedding rehearsal, Victor goes into the woods to practice his vows. Just as soon as he gets them right, he finds himself married to Emily, the corpse bride. While Victoria waits on the other side, there's a rich newcomer that may take Victor's place. So two brides, one groom, who will Victor pick?

Released: 23 Sep 2005
Genres: Animation, Comedy, Drama
Rated: PG
IMDb: 7.4 / 10
Metascore: 83 / 100
Awards: Nominated for 1 Oscar. 9 wins & 30 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Victor 89 lines, man
Corpse Bride 64 lines, woman
Victoria 34 lines, woman
Elder Gutknecht 26 lines, man
William 25 lines, man
Nell 18 lines, woman
Maggot 17 lines, man
Maudeline 16 lines, woman
Black Widow 14 lines, woman
Barkis 13 lines, man

Full cast, 26 people

Johnny Depp as Victor Van Dort (voice)
Helena Bonham Carter as Corpse Bride (voice)
Emily Watson as Victoria Everglot (voice)
Tracey Ullman as Nell Van Dort / Hildegarde (voice)
Paul Whitehouse as William Van Dort / Mayhew / Paul the Head Waiter (voice)
Joanna Lumley as Maudeline Everglot (voice)
Albert Finney as Finis Everglot (voice)
Richard E. Grant as Barkis Bittern (voice)
Christopher Lee as Pastor Galswells (voice)
Michael Gough as Elder Gutknecht (voice)
Jane Horrocks as Black Widow Spider / Mrs. Plum (voice)
Enn Reitel as Maggot / Town Crier (voice)
Deep Roy as General Bonesapart (voice)
Danny Elfman as Bonejangles (voice)
Stephen Ballantyne as Emil (voice)
Lisa Kay as Solemn Village Boy (voice)
Steve Alterman as Various (voice) (uncredited)
Jack Blessing as Various (voice) (uncredited)
Mitch Carter as Various (voice) (uncredited
Robert Clotworthy as Various (voice (uncredited)
David Cowgill as Various (voice) (uncredited)
Donald Fullilove as Various (voice) (uncredited)
Nicholas Guest as Various (voice) (uncredited)
Rif Hutton as Various (voice) (uncredited)
Paul Pape as Various (voice (uncredited)
Justin Shenkarow as Various (voice) (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 10% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 58

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 2	0	0
3 to 4	1	12
5 to 6	6	3
7 to 8	3	2
9 to 10	0	0
11 to 12	0	1
13 to 14	9	34
15 to 16	1	6
17 to 18	0	0
19 to 20	8	8
21 to 22	2	8
23 to 24	9	11
25 to 26	18	19
27 to 28	8	10
29 to 30	9	17
31 to 32	1	3
33 to 34	10	9
35 to 36	17	6
37 to 38	0	0
39 to 40	10	6
41 to 42	6	6
43 to 44	2	6
45 to 46	4	12
47 to 48	6	15
49 to 50	9	2
51 to 52	1	2
53 to 54	1	2
55 to 56	16	19
57 to 58	0	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.

CORPSE BRIDE: It's beautiful. She starts to cry happy tears. BLACK WIDOW: So now she wants a gown. As the bugs put the veil on, we...

BLACK WIDOW: We'll be seeing you. VICTORIA: I feel terrible for her. To lose so much.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 42 are women's.

157 lines from women, 219 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

6 women and 20 men in the cast. 8 women and 13 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 13 of 420. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 21 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 44% of the words (2,544), men 56% (3,224). Women have 42% 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

Two men

Exhibit F: behind the camera

5 of the 15 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 15% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Mike Johnson (man), Tim Burton (man)
Written by: Pamela Pettler (woman), John August (man), Caroline Thompson (woman)
Produced by: Allison Abbate (woman), Tim Burton (man)
Shot by: Pete Kozachik (man)
Edited by: Jonathan Lucas (man), Chris Lebenzon (man), Claire Dodgson (woman)
Music by: Danny Elfman (man)
Production design by: Alex McDowell (man)
Cast by: Michelle Guish (woman), Brendan Donnison (man)