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Passes the Bechdel test

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

2004. Directed by Michel Gondry, written by Charlie Kaufman and Michel Gondry and Pierre Bismuth.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

  1. Yes 1. At least two women
    6 women characters. 4 of them speak.
  2. Yes 2. Who talk to each other
    In 1 scene out of 164.
  3. Yes 3. About something besides a man
    In that scene, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.

Second opinion

Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 2 out of 3.

Poster for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

The film

Much to his surprise, timid Joel Barish is shocked to discover that the love of his life, sparky Clementine, has had him erased from her memory. As a result, hurt and angry, Joel wants to pay her back in the same coin, going as far as to undergo a painless but intricate medical procedure to do the same. However, poor Joel is utterly unaware that darkness is an essential part of the light. And as the once-cherished recollections of Clementine gradually fade away, giving way to a soulless black void, something unexpected happens. Now Joel has second thoughts, toying with the idea of stopping the irreversible process. Who said ignorance is bliss?

Released
19 Mar 2004
Genres
Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi
Rated
R
IMDb
8.3 / 10
Metascore
89 / 100
Awards
Won 1 Oscar. 73 wins & 111 nominations total
Elsewhere
View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

  • Women
  • Men
  • Not in the cast list
  • Bigger name, more lines
  1. Joel 337 lines, man
  2. Clementine 304 lines, woman
  3. Mary 104 lines, woman
  4. Stan 87 lines, man
  5. Mierzwiak 63 lines, man
  6. Patrick 52 lines, man
  7. Voice-Over 42 lines
  8. Naomi 30 lines, woman
  9. Carrie 18 lines, woman
  10. Old Woman 8 lines, woman
Full cast, 19 people
  • Jim Carrey as Joel Barish
  • Kate Winslet as Clementine Kruczynski
  • Kirsten Dunst as Mary
  • Mark Ruffalo as Stan
  • Elijah Wood as Patrick
  • Tom Wilkinson as Dr. Mierzwiak
  • Jane Adams as Carrie
  • David Cross as Rob
  • Deirdre O'Connell as Hollis
  • Thomas Jay Ryan as Frank
  • Ryan Whitney as Young Joel
  • Lola Daehler as Young Clementine
  • Debbon Ayer as Joel's Mother
  • Gerry Robert Byrne as Train Conductor
  • Brian Price as Young Bully
  • Josh Flitter as Young Bully
  • Paulie Litt as Young Bully
  • Amir Ali Said as Young Bully
  • Lauren Adler as Rollerblader (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 6% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 164

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 430
5 to 82416
9 to 1273
13 to 164438
17 to 206653
21 to 24522
25 to 28215
29 to 3207
33 to 36412
37 to 4015
41 to 4489
45 to 48111
49 to 52613
53 to 56213
57 to 603131
61 to 641015
65 to 68610
69 to 72613
73 to 761124
77 to 801617
81 to 8467
85 to 8849
89 to 922021
93 to 9684
97 to 10034
101 to 1041214
105 to 10864
109 to 11234
113 to 1161718
117 to 1201312
121 to 1243432
125 to 128118
129 to 132713
133 to 13655
137 to 14076
141 to 1442625
145 to 14885
149 to 1521822
153 to 1561711
157 to 16076
161 to 16441

The evidence

  • Straight from the script
  • Counted from the script and the credits

Tap an exhibit to open it.

Exhibit A: the passing scene

The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.
NAOMI: 'Night. CLEMENTINE: What took you so long?

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 47 are women's.

489 lines from women, 558 from men.

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

6 women and 11 men in the cast. 4 women and 7 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 2 of 1,111. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 26 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

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

Words spoken

Women speak 55% of the words (6,026), men 45% (4,890). Women have 47% 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

Exhibit F: behind the camera

4 of the 14 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 21% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by
Michel Gondry (man)
Written by
Charlie Kaufman (man)
Story by
Michel Gondry (man), Charlie Kaufman (man), Pierre Bismuth (man)
Produced by
Anthony Bregman (man), Steve Golin (man)
Shot by
Ellen Kuras (woman)
Edited by
Valdís Óskarsdóttir (woman)
Music by
Jon Brion (man)
Production design by
Dan Leigh (man)
Costumes by
Melissa Toth (woman)
Cast by
Jeanne McCarthy (woman), Blythe Cappello (gender not listed)

The crew, department by department

  • Art

    0 women, 8 men, 10 not listed

  • Sound

    2 women, 13 men, 3 not listed

  • Production

    2 women, 10 men, 5 not listed

  • Camera

    2 women, 8 men, 6 not listed

  • Other crew

    1 women, 12 men, 2 not listed

  • Costume & Make-Up

    8 women, 3 men, 2 not listed

  • Lighting

    0 women, 1 men, 5 not listed

  • Directing

    1 women, 4 men

  • Women
  • Men
  • Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit G: how old the stars were

Women: 35 on average. Men: 40 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Kirsten Dunst 21, Kate Winslet 28, Jane Adams 38, Deirdre O'Connell 52

Men

Elijah Wood 23, Mark Ruffalo 36, David Cross 39, Thomas Jay Ryan 41, Jim Carrey 42, Tom Wilkinson 56

Exhibit H: the money

It made 3.6 times what it cost.

Budget
$20 million
Box office
$72.3 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 164 scenes and 1,111 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

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