Passes the Bechdel test

Good Will Hunting

Name: Good Will Hunting
Released: 1998

1998. Directed by Gus Van Sant, written by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
5 women characters. 2 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 1 scene out of 127.
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 0 out of 3.

The film

A touching tale of a wayward young man who struggles to find his identity, living in a world where he can solve any problem, except the one brewing deep within himself, until one day he meets his soul mate who opens his mind and his heart.

Released: 09 Jan 1998
Genres: Drama, Romance
Rated: R
IMDb: 8.4 / 10
Metascore: 71 / 100
Awards: Won 2 Oscars. 25 wins & 61 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Will 361 lines, man
Sean 199 lines, man
Lambeau 184 lines, man
Chuckie 133 lines, man
Skylar 129 lines, woman
Morgan 51 lines, man
Psychologist 15 lines, man
Billy 14 lines, man
Clark 12 lines, man
Executive 9 lines, man

Full cast, 49 people

Matt Damon as Will Hunting
Robin Williams as Sean Maguire
Ben Affleck as Chuckie Sullivan
Stellan Skarsgård as Gerald Lambeau
Minnie Driver as Skylar
Casey Affleck as Morgan O'Mally
Cole Hauser as Billy McBride
Vik Sahay as MIT Student
John Mighton as Tom
Rachel Majorowski as Krystyn
Colleen McCauley as Cathy
Matt Mercier as Barbershop Quartet #1
Ralph St. George as Barbershop Quartet #2
Rob Lynds as Barbershop Quartet #3
Dan Washington as Barbershop Quartet #4
Alison Folland as MIT Student
Derrick Bridgeman as MIT Student
Shannon Egleson as Girl on Street
Rob Lyons as Carmine Scarpaglia
Steven Kozlowski as Carmine Friend #1
Jennifer Deathe as Lydia
Scott William Winters as Clark
Philip Williams as Head Custodian
Patrick O'Donnell as Assistant Custodian
Kevin Rushton as Courtroom Guard
Jimmy Flynn as Judge Malone
Joe Cannon as Prosecutor
Ann Matacunas as Court Officer
George Plimpton as Psychologist
Francesco Clemente as Hypnotist
Jessica Morton as Bunker Hill Student
Barna Moricz as Bunker Hill Student
Libby Geller as Toy Store Cashier
Chas Lawther as MIT Professor
Richard Fitzpatrick as Timmy
Frank Nakashima as Executive #1
Chris Britton as Executive #2
David Eisner as Executive #3
Bruce Hunter as NSA Agent
Robert Talvano as NSA Agent #2
James Allodi as Security Guard
Michael Arthur as Reunion Guest (uncredited)
Christian Harmony as Student (uncredited)
Riva Di Paola as MIT Student (uncredited)
Harmony Korine as Hervé (uncredited)
Thomas Lundy as Waiter (uncredited)
Paul McGillicuddy as Race Track Fan (uncredited)
Daniel Olsen as MIT Student (uncredited)
Stephen L'Heureux as Bartender (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 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 127

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 3	0	30
4 to 6	0	16
7 to 9	0	54
10 to 12	0	6
13 to 15	0	2
16 to 18	0	26
19 to 21	16	39
22 to 24	0	7
25 to 27	0	6
28 to 30	4	23
31 to 33	0	19
34 to 36	0	55
37 to 39	0	49
40 to 42	6	12
43 to 45	10	34
46 to 48	0	64
49 to 51	16	16
52 to 54	0	10
55 to 57	1	16
58 to 60	0	0
61 to 63	0	37
64 to 66	5	3
67 to 69	3	37
70 to 72	11	37
73 to 75	3	84
76 to 78	27	44
79 to 81	26	52
82 to 84	0	8
85 to 87	4	4
88 to 90	0	4
91 to 93	0	47
94 to 96	0	30
97 to 99	0	51
100 to 102	0	20
103 to 105	0	0
106 to 108	0	15
109 to 111	0	52
112 to 114	0	25
115 to 117	0	0
118 to 120	0	0
121 to 123	0	0
124 to 126	0	1
127 to 127	0	0

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.

LYDIA: Fine. SKYLAR: Okay.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 11 are women's.

132 lines from women, 1035 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

5 women and 29 men in the cast. 2 women and 20 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 148 of 1,199. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 247 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 10% of the words (1,441), men 90% (12,931). Women have 11% 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

Two men

Exhibit F: behind the camera

2 of the 11 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 25% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Gus Van Sant (man)
Written by: Matt Damon (man), Ben Affleck (man)
Produced by: Lawrence Bender (man)
Shot by: Jean-Yves Escoffier (man)
Edited by: Pietro Scalia (man)
Music by: Danny Elfman (man)
Production design by: Missy Stewart (woman)
Cast by: Billy Hopkins (man), Kerry Barden (man), Suzanne Smith Crowley (woman)