Passes the Bechdel test

Flora and Son

Name: Flora and Son
Released: 2023

2023. Directed by John Carney, written by John Carney.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
11 women characters. 5 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 2 scenes out of 94.
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

A single mom at war with her son is trying to find a hobby for him. One day, she rescues a guitar from a dumpster.

Released: 29 Sep 2023
Genres: Comedy, Music, Romance
Rated: R
IMDb: 7 / 10
Metascore: 76 / 100
Awards: 3 wins & 9 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Flora 416 lines, woman
Jeff 142 lines, man
Max 124 lines, man
Ian 66 lines, man
Judge 19 lines
Kathy 16 lines, woman
Kev 13 lines, man
Barry 11 lines, man
Guard 11 lines, man
Teenager 10 lines

Full cast, 36 people

Eve Hewson as Flora
Orén Kinlan as Max
Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Jeff
Jack Reynor as Ian
Marcella Plunkett as Kathy
Paul Reid as Kev
Don Wycherley as Guard
Amy Huberman as Aishling
Callan Cummins as Teenager in Music Shop
Sophie Vavasseur as Juanita
Margarita Murphy as Lawyer
Alex Deegan as Samantha
Harvey Hutchinson as Keith
Melissa Morefield as Ukulele Girl
Keith McErlean as Barry
Stephen Ryan as Cyclist
Ali Fox as Neighbour 1
Ruairí Heading as Neighbour 2
Ellie O'Halloran as Shop Assistant
Dylan Kelly as Brian
Ailbhe Cowley as Young Woman (Defendant in Court)
Marcus Lamb as George Rooney
Aislín McGuckin as Judge McGovern
Jessica Freed as Registrar
Colman Hayes as Guard in Court
Stephen Jones as Therapist
Aaron Delaney as Compound Kid 1
Jedidjah Rondala as Compound Kid 2
Kelly Thornton as Heart
Joni Mitchell as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Katy Perry as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Lionel Richie as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Luke Bryan as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Tom Delahunty as Smoking Customer (uncredited)
Alan Johnson as Man (uncredited)
Alison Johnson as Woman (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 8% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 94

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	4	3
5 to 6	17	36
7 to 8	12	0
9 to 10	0	0
11 to 12	12	0
13 to 14	1	0
15 to 16	10	9
17 to 18	20	15
19 to 20	4	0
21 to 22	1	4
23 to 24	12	9
25 to 26	41	44
27 to 28	1	0
29 to 30	4	0
31 to 32	29	29
33 to 34	7	9
35 to 36	18	17
37 to 38	39	38
39 to 40	13	0
41 to 42	0	0
43 to 44	19	12
45 to 46	2	0
47 to 48	4	3
49 to 50	30	16
51 to 52	1	1
53 to 54	13	13
55 to 56	4	4
57 to 58	6	3
59 to 60	2	2
61 to 62	19	20
63 to 64	0	0
65 to 66	15	18
67 to 68	17	3
69 to 70	0	8
71 to 72	0	2
73 to 74	6	2
75 to 76	20	18
77 to 78	1	1
79 to 80	0	0
81 to 82	1	1
83 to 84	14	16
85 to 86	19	11
87 to 88	2	1
89 to 90	0	9
91 to 92	0	0
93 to 94	7	16

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.

AISHLING: Yikes , look at you, big chocolate mouth. FLORA: Oh, sorry. She found one in the kitchen. AISHLING: No worries. FLORA: How was your work out?

FLORA: Thanks Aishling. See you Monday. See ya Sorcha. AISHLING: Could you get here on time? Just knocks her nap off, if I don't get her down. FLORA: Yeah. Of course. Sorry.

FLORA: Bye now. AISHLING: Thanks for everything. FLORA: Thank you!

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 53 are women's.

447 lines from women, 393 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

11 women and 14 men in the cast. 5 women and 10 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 2 of 913. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 19 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 53% of the words (4,408), men 47% (3,876).

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

1 of the 13 people in these jobs is a woman. Across the whole crew, 10% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: John Carney (man)
Written by: John Carney (man)
Produced by: Anthony Bregman (man), John Carney (man), Peter Cron (man), Rebecca O'Flanagan (gender not listed), Robert Walpole (man)
Shot by: John Conroy (man)
Edited by: Stephen O'Connell (man)
Music by: Gary Clark (man)
Production design by: Ashleigh Jeffers (gender not listed)
Costumes by: Triona Lillis (gender not listed)
Cast by: Amy Rowan (woman)