Passes the Bechdel test
Dream Scenario
2023. Directed by Kristoffer Borgli, written by Kristoffer Borgli.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
21 women characters. 19 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 6 scenes out of 96. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.
The film
Nicolas Cage stars as Paul Matthews, a listless family man and tenured professor with an affinity for evolutionary biology and anxiety regarding his own anonymity. One day, he discovers he has begun to appear in other people's dreams at an exponential rate. As in life, his presence in these dreams is banal and non-intrusive - he's simply there, staring indifferently at the fantasies and nightmares of strangers. Nonetheless, he becomes an overnight celebrity, and is soon showered with the attention he has long been denied. But when Paul encounters a dreamer whose visions of him differ substantially from the norm, he finds himself grappling with the Faustian bargain of fame as his dream-selves start inexplicably becoming violent within their respective subconsciousnesses.
- Released
- 22 Nov 2023
- Genres
- Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 6.8 / 10
- Metascore
- 74 / 100
- Awards
- 3 wins & 18 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Paul 405 lines, man
- Janet 118 lines, woman
- Molly 71 lines, woman
- Trent 52 lines, man
- Claire 35 lines, woman
- Mary 25 lines, woman
- Sophie 24 lines, woman
- Brett 22 lines, man
- Hannah 21 lines, woman
- Richard 20 lines, man
Full cast, 53 people
- Nicolas Cage as Paul Matthews
- Julianne Nicholson as Janet Matthews
- Michael Cera as Trent
- Tim Meadows as Brett
- Dylan Gelula as Molly
- Lily Bird as Sophie Matthews
- Jessica Clement as Hannah Matthews
- Dylan Baker as Richard
- Kate Berlant as Mary
- Star Slade as Greta
- Josh Richards as Hunter
- Noah Centineo as Dylan
- Marnie McPhail as Claire
- Paula Boudreau as Sheila
- David Klein as Andy
- Kaleb Horn as Miles
- Liz Adjei as Avery
- Noah Lamanna as Jessie
- Maev Beaty as Naomi
- Marc Coppola as Sidney
- Krista Bridges as Carlotta
- Jim Armstrong as Tristan
- Ben Caldwell as Eli
- Agape Mngomezulu as Robbie
- Stephen R. Hart as Tall Man
- Leah Stanley as Snailface
- Sofia Banzhaf as Leah
- Al Warren as Chris
- Thomas Mitchell as David
- Conrad Coates as Dinner Guest #1
- Marnie Brunton as Dinner Guest #2
- Nneka Elliott as News Anchor
- Jeremy Levick as Sleep Specialist
- Caleb Weatherbee as Paul Look-a-Like
- Cara Volchoff as Candice
- Greer Cohen as Grace
- James Collins as Large Man
- Jennifer Wigmore as Kayla
- Ramona Gilmour-Darling as Portia
- Will Corno as Security Guard
- Talia Schlanger as Norio Ad (voice)
- Jessie-Ann Kohlman as Chloe
- Alton Mason as Carter
- Amber Midthunder as Haley
- Nicholas Braun as Brian Berg
- Lily Gao as Realtor
- Philip van Martin as Claude
- Richard Jutras as Jean
- Nicole Leroux as Amandine
- Jordan Raf as Dream Travel Guru
- Trish Hoang as Patron (uncredited)
- Domenic Di Rosa as Fontane (uncredited)
- Jesse Goldman as Theatre Guest (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 3% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 96
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 | 3 | 1 |
| 3 to 4 | 19 | 11 |
| 5 to 6 | 3 | 11 |
| 7 to 8 | 22 | 23 |
| 9 to 10 | 6 | 8 |
| 11 to 12 | 24 | 15 |
| 13 to 14 | 30 | 27 |
| 15 to 16 | 0 | 14 |
| 17 to 18 | 9 | 19 |
| 19 to 20 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 to 22 | 3 | 0 |
| 23 to 24 | 2 | 6 |
| 25 to 26 | 2 | 15 |
| 27 to 28 | 0 | 9 |
| 29 to 30 | 0 | 1 |
| 31 to 32 | 0 | 0 |
| 33 to 34 | 1 | 3 |
| 35 to 36 | 17 | 17 |
| 37 to 38 | 20 | 30 |
| 39 to 40 | 3 | 13 |
| 41 to 42 | 2 | 19 |
| 43 to 44 | 22 | 66 |
| 45 to 46 | 14 | 15 |
| 47 to 48 | 21 | 16 |
| 49 to 50 | 11 | 12 |
| 51 to 52 | 26 | 19 |
| 53 to 54 | 0 | 1 |
| 55 to 56 | 8 | 9 |
| 57 to 58 | 0 | 11 |
| 59 to 60 | 8 | 32 |
| 61 to 62 | 7 | 2 |
| 63 to 64 | 9 | 8 |
| 65 to 66 | 9 | 9 |
| 67 to 68 | 12 | 22 |
| 69 to 70 | 13 | 18 |
| 71 to 72 | 0 | 0 |
| 73 to 74 | 7 | 9 |
| 75 to 76 | 4 | 1 |
| 77 to 78 | 0 | 6 |
| 79 to 80 | 0 | 0 |
| 81 to 82 | 7 | 19 |
| 83 to 84 | 10 | 8 |
| 85 to 86 | 11 | 13 |
| 87 to 88 | 0 | 3 |
| 89 to 90 | 0 | 10 |
| 91 to 92 | 0 | 12 |
| 93 to 94 | 0 | 4 |
| 95 to 96 | 0 | 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.
JANET SOPHIE: She was four. I remember you telling me about it. HANNAH: Bye! JANET: Hannah! JANET: Remember you have to be home with Sophie tonight.
HANNAH: Really? She can't she be alone for, like, a few hours? SOPHIE: I don't mind.. JANET: You already agreed to this. HANNAH: OK, fine. Bye!
CLAIRE: Oh hi, I'm Claire. JANET: Hello, Janet. CLAIRE: When did you get married?
CLAIRE: Okay. Put your number in there. CLAIRE: Did you like the play? JANET: I did, yeah. Yeah... CLAIRE: What, you changed your last name?
HANNAH: I didn't say that! SOPHIE: Can you drive me to school today?
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 39 are women's.
365 lines from women, 568 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
21 women and 25 men in the cast. 19 women and 22 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 2 of 960.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 34 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 33% of the words (3,086), men 67% (6,237). Women have 39% 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
11
Two men
40
Exhibit F: behind the camera
2 of the 15 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 35% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Kristoffer Borgli (man)
- Written by
- Kristoffer Borgli (man)
- Produced by
- Lars Knudsen (man), Tyler Campellone (man), Jacob Jaffke (man), Ari Aster (man), Nicolas Cage (man)
- Shot by
- Benjamin Loeb (man)
- Edited by
- Kristoffer Borgli (man)
- Music by
- Owen Pallett (man)
- Production design by
- Zosia Mackenzie (woman)
- Costumes by
- Kaysie Bergens (gender not listed)
- Cast by
- Ellen Lewis (woman), John Buchan (man), Jason Knight (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Costume & Make-Up
8 women, 4 men, 16 not listed
-
Other crew
8 women, 8 men, 7 not listed
-
Production
4 women, 10 men, 6 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 8 men, 12 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 4 men, 12 not listed
-
Art
4 women, 3 men, 8 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 3 men, 6 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 5 men, 3 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 36 on average. Men: 55 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Jessica Clement 28, Dylan Gelula 29, Kate Berlant 36, Julianne Nicholson 52
Men
Michael Cera 35, Nicolas Cage 59, Tim Meadows 62, Dylan Baker 64
Exhibit H: the money
It made 1.4 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $10 million
- Box office
- $14.1 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 96 scenes and 960 lines of dialogue. How the test works
