Does it pass? bechdel.io

Passes the Bechdel test

Doubt

2008. Directed by John Patrick Shanley, written by John Patrick Shanley.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

  1. Yes 1. At least two women
    21 women characters. 11 of them speak.
  2. Yes 2. Who talk to each other
    In 6 scenes out of 81.
  3. 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.

Poster for Doubt

The film

It's 1964, St. Nicholas in the Bronx. A charismatic priest, Father Flynn, is trying to upend the school's strict customs, which have long been fiercely guarded by Sister Aloysius Beauvier, the iron-gloved Principal who believes in the power of fear-based discipline. The winds of political change are sweeping through the community, and indeed, the school has just accepted its first black student, Donald Miller. But when Sister James, a hopeful innocent, shares with Sister Aloysius her guilt-inducing suspicion that Father Flynn is paying too much personal attention to Donald, Sister Aloysius sets off on a personal crusade to unearth the truth and to expunge Flynn from the school. Now, without a shard of proof besides her moral certainty, Sister Aloysius locks into a battle of wills with Father Flynn which threatens to tear apart the community with irrevocable consequences.

Released
25 Dec 2008
Genres
Drama, Mystery
Rated
PG-13
IMDb
7.5 / 10
Metascore
70 / 100
Awards
Nominated for 5 Oscars. 25 wins & 97 nominations total
Elsewhere
View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

  • Women
  • Men
  • Not in the cast list
  • Bigger name, more lines
  1. Sister Aloysius 321 lines, woman
  2. Flynn 228 lines, man
  3. Sister James 163 lines, woman
  4. Mrs. Miller 62 lines, woman
  5. Jimmy 17 lines, man
  6. Donald 14 lines, man
  7. William 9 lines, man
  8. Conroy 6 lines, man
  9. Noreen 6 lines, woman
  10. Sister Raymond 6 lines, woman
Full cast, 43 people
  • Meryl Streep as Sister Aloysius Beauvier
  • Philip Seymour Hoffman as Father Brendan Flynn
  • Amy Adams as Sister James
  • Viola Davis as Mrs. Miller
  • Alice Drummond as Sister Veronica
  • Audrie Neenan as Sister Raymond
  • Susan Blommaert as Mrs. Carson
  • Carrie Preston as Christine Hurley
  • John Costelloe as Warren Hurley
  • Lloyd Clay Brown as Jimmy Hurley
  • Joseph Foster as Donald Miller
  • Bridget Megan Clark as Noreen Horan
  • Mike Roukis as William London
  • Frank Shanley as Kevin
  • Frank Dolce as Ralph
  • Paulie Litt as Tommy Conroy
  • Matthew Marvin as Raymond
  • Molly Chiffer as Sarah
  • Lydia Jordan as Alice
  • Suzanne Hevner as Mrs. Kean
  • Helen Stenborg as Sister Teresa
  • Tom Toner as Monsignor Benedict
  • Michael Puzzo as Father Sherman
  • Margery Beddow as Mrs. Shields
  • Jack A. O'Connell as Mr. McGuinn
  • Marylouise Burke as Mrs. Deakins
  • Alannah Iacovano as Girl in Church
  • Valda Setterfield as Parishioner
  • Gerard Adimando as Parishioner
  • George Aloi as Parishioner
  • James P. Anderson as Parishioner
  • Jackie Brown as Parishioner
  • Jonathan Castillo as Parishioner
  • Jennifer Lauren DiBella as Parishioner
  • Seth Donavan as Parishioner
  • Brian Hopson as Parishioner
  • Evan Lewis as Parishioner
  • Bernadette Lords as Parishioner
  • Jenny Paul as Parishioner
  • Robert Shulman as Parishioner
  • Felicia Tassone as Parishioner
  • Steph Van Vlack as Parishioner
  • Robert Ridgell as Organist

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 81

Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.

Show the numbers
ScenesWomen's linesMen's lines
1 to 200
3 to 422
5 to 602
7 to 801
9 to 1038
11 to 1201
13 to 1400
15 to 16234
17 to 1800
19 to 2010
21 to 221011
23 to 24177
25 to 26170
27 to 2800
29 to 30250
31 to 32393
33 to 34018
35 to 3601
37 to 3842
39 to 4091
41 to 4270
43 to 44191
45 to 46258
47 to 4800
49 to 50132
51 to 528362
53 to 54339
55 to 5608
57 to 5804
59 to 6002
61 to 622831
63 to 64125
65 to 66302
67 to 68107
69 to 70920
71 to 7200
73 to 7433
75 to 765854
77 to 7804
79 to 8000
81 to 81430

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.
SISTER RAYMOND: That’s true. SISTER VERONICA: What are we saying? SISTER ALOYSIUS: I want you all to be alert. I am concerned, perhaps needlessly, about, eh, matters in St. Nicholas School. SISTER RAYMOND: Academically?
SISTER ALOYSIUS: Missy! Get away from her. And sit down. SISTER JAMES: May I join you, Sister Aloysius? SISTER ALOYSIUS: Yes. SISTER JAMES: Chicken Chow Mein.
SISTER ALOYSIUS: Sister Veronica is going blind. SISTER JAMES: Oh how horrible! SISTER ALOYSIUS: If they find out in the rectory, she’ll be gone. So, if she looks unsteady, take her hand.
SISTER ALOYSIUS: It’s the habit. It catches us up more often than not. We go down like dominoes. SISTER JAMES: Am I past the time?
SISTER ALOYSIUS: Hmmm. SISTER JAMES: That’s it.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 67 are women's.

585 lines from women, 293 from men.

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

21 women and 12 men in the cast. 11 women and 9 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 21 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

  • First line by a woman
  • Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 63% of the words (4,903), men 37% (2,836). Women have 67% 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

Exhibit F: behind the camera

2 of the 10 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 35% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by
John Patrick Shanley (man)
Written by
John Patrick Shanley (man)
Produced by
Scott Rudin (man), Mark Roybal (man)
Shot by
Roger Deakins (man)
Edited by
Dylan Tichenor (man)
Music by
Howard Shore (man)
Production design by
David Gropman (man)
Costumes by
Ann Roth (woman)
Cast by
Ellen Chenoweth (woman)

The crew, department by department

  • Production

    7 women, 3 men

  • Costume & Make-Up

    2 women, 4 men, 1 not listed

  • Art

    1 women, 3 men, 2 not listed

  • Other crew

    2 women, 3 men

  • Sound

    0 women, 4 men

  • Directing

    1 women, 1 men

  • Editing

    0 women, 2 men

  • Writing

    0 women, 2 men

  • Women
  • Men
  • Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit G: how old the stars were

Women: 54 on average. Men: 44 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Amy Adams 34, Carrie Preston 41, Viola Davis 43, Audrie Neenan 58, Meryl Streep 59, Susan Blommaert 61, Alice Drummond 80

Men

Philip Seymour Hoffman 41, John Costelloe 47

Exhibit H: the money

It made 2.5 times what it cost.

Budget
$20 million
Box office
$50.9 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 81 scenes and 879 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

Related films

Back to the whole shelf