Passes the Bechdel test
Dogma
1999. Directed by Kevin Smith, written by Kevin Smith.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
10 women characters. 4 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 6 scenes out of 61. -
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
Two fallen angels who were ejected from paradise find themselves banned in Wisconsin. They are now headed for New Jersey where they find a loophole that can get them back into heaven. The only catch is that it will destroy humanity. A group bands together to stop them.
- Released
- 12 Nov 1999
- Genres
- Adventure, Comedy, Drama
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.3 / 10
- Metascore
- 62 / 100
- Awards
- 8 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Bethany 230 lines, woman
- Rufus 130 lines, man
- Jay 112 lines, man
- Bartleby 103 lines, man
- Loki 88 lines, man
- Serendipity 82 lines, woman
- Metatron 57 lines, man
- Azrael 36 lines, man
- Glick 14 lines, man
- Liz 11 lines, woman
Full cast, 56 people
- Ben Affleck as Bartleby
- Matt Damon as Loki
- Linda Fiorentino as Bethany
- Salma Hayek Pinault as Serendipity
- Jason Lee as Azrael
- Jason Mewes as Jay
- Alan Rickman as Metatron
- Chris Rock as Rufus
- George Carlin as Cardinal Glick
- Bud Cort as John Doe Jersey
- Alanis Morissette as God
- Jeff Anderson as Gun Salesman
- Brian O'Halloran as Grant Hicks
- Janeane Garofalo as Liz
- Betty Aberlin as Nun
- King Mustafa Obafemi as Kane
- Guinevere Turner as Bus Station Attendent
- Bryan Johnson as Protestor #1
- Walt Flanagan as Protestor #2
- Jared Pfennigwerth as Stygian Triplet
- Kitao Sakurai as Stygian Triplet
- Barret Hackney as Stygian Triplet
- Dan Etheridge as Priest at St. Stephen's
- Derek Milosavljevic as Kissing Couple
- Lesley Braden as Kissing Couple
- Nancy Bach as Mrs. Reynolds
- Armando Rodriguez as Waiter
- Kevin Smith as Silent Bob
- Scott Mosier as Smooching Seaman
- Monica Hampton as Seaman Smoocher
- Ben Cain as Gangster #1
- Richard Baderinwa as Gangster #2
- Javon Johnson as Gangster #3
- Derrick Sanders as Gangster #4
- Mark Joy as Whitland
- Linda Levine as Woman in Boardroom
- Ethan Suplee as Norman (voice)
- Jonathan Gordon as Blanket Boy on Train
- Matthew Maher as Bartender
- Nancy Mosser as Governor Dalton
- Robert Holtzman as Officer McGee
- Ming Chen as Club Patron (uncredited)
- Chris Kittinger as Bus Sleeper (uncredited)
- Kimberly Loughran as Woman in Elevator (uncredited)
- Jim Mahfood as Parishioner (uncredited)
- Brendan McFadden as Parishioner (uncredited)
- Joe Nozemack as Parishioner (uncredited)
- Ernest O'Donnell as Reporter (uncredited)
- Vincent Pereira as Extra (uncredited)
- Brian Quinn as Man Holding Mooby Figurine in Airport (uncredited)
- Bob Schreck as Parishioner (uncredited)
- Joe Shelby as Bus Rider (uncredited)
- J.E. Smith as Businessman (uncredited)
- Adrienne Wehr as Protestor (uncredited)
- Gwyneth Paltrow as Woman at Airport (uncredited)
- Phil Nardozzi as Dead Parishioner (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 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 61
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 | 0 | 35 |
| 5 to 6 | 0 | 2 |
| 7 to 8 | 8 | 0 |
| 9 to 10 | 19 | 0 |
| 11 to 12 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 to 14 | 37 | 45 |
| 15 to 16 | 0 | 0 |
| 17 to 18 | 6 | 5 |
| 19 to 20 | 19 | 35 |
| 21 to 22 | 0 | 0 |
| 23 to 24 | 0 | 38 |
| 25 to 26 | 8 | 28 |
| 27 to 28 | 19 | 35 |
| 29 to 30 | 5 | 42 |
| 31 to 32 | 87 | 39 |
| 33 to 34 | 6 | 18 |
| 35 to 36 | 7 | 21 |
| 37 to 38 | 8 | 12 |
| 39 to 40 | 2 | 4 |
| 41 to 42 | 8 | 15 |
| 43 to 44 | 5 | 8 |
| 45 to 46 | 2 | 2 |
| 47 to 48 | 1 | 0 |
| 49 to 50 | 1 | 1 |
| 51 to 52 | 2 | 42 |
| 53 to 54 | 32 | 80 |
| 55 to 56 | 0 | 0 |
| 57 to 58 | 13 | 27 |
| 59 to 60 | 22 | 29 |
| 61 to 61 | 19 | 27 |
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.
BETHANY: Then who is she? SERENDIPITY: Not who - what. I haven't always been part of the anthropomorphic club. I used to be an abstract. BETHANY: Now I'm really lost.
BETHANY: You made them sing that song? SERENDIPITY: I offered them a solution out of the hole they dug for themselves. Thankfully, they took it. BETHANY: Are you kidding? Those two are so dense, they wouldn't get a good idea if it was given to them in a specially marked box. SERENDIPITY: Dense people are the most open to suggestion - it's vou so-called intelligent folks that have a hard time accepting a good idea.
SERENDIPITY: And sick of watching incapable people take brilliant inspiration and turn out real trash. BETHANY: So what happened? SERENDIPITY: Writer's block.
SERENDIPITY: I don't know what the big surprise is - women are the only gender that can create life, just like God created the universe. Who else but a m… BETHANY: ...mom. God, it makes sense. SERENDIPITY: Not really useful in my new line of work.
BETHANY: You know about that? SERENDIPITY: I always knew that thing was a bad idea. Leave it to the Catholics to destroy existence.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 36 are women's.
336 lines from women, 590 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
10 women and 34 men in the cast. 4 women and 17 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 40 of 971.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 45 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 30% of the words (4,225), men 70% (10,000). Women have 36% 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
25
Two men
66
Exhibit F: behind the camera
1 of the 9 people in these jobs is a woman.
Across the whole crew, 35% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Kevin Smith (man)
- Written by
- Kevin Smith (man)
- Produced by
- Scott Mosier (man)
- Shot by
- Robert D. Yeoman (man)
- Edited by
- Scott Mosier (man), Kevin Smith (man)
- Music by
- Howard Shore (man)
- Production design by
- Robert Holtzman (man)
- Costumes by
- Abigail Murray (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
3 women, 8 men, 4 not listed
-
Sound
3 women, 6 men
-
Art
2 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
3 women, 0 men, 4 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
-
Production
2 women, 2 men
-
Editing
0 women, 2 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 37 on average. Men: 39 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Salma Hayek Pinault 33, Linda Fiorentino 41
Men
Jason Mewes 25, Ben Affleck 27, Matt Damon 28, Jason Lee 29, Chris Rock 34, Bud Cort 51, Alan Rickman 53, George Carlin 62
Exhibit H: the money
It made 3.4 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $10 million
- Box office
- $33.5 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 61 scenes and 971 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
