Passes the Bechdel test

Jennifer's Body

Name: Jennifer's Body
Released: 2009

2009. Directed by Karyn Kusama, written by Diablo Cody.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
19 women characters. 15 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 12 scenes out of 102.
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.

The film

A small Minnesota town becomes a hunting ground when a botched occult ritual transforms a popular cheerleader into a predatory succubus. Jennifer Check returns from a local bar fire with an insatiable appetite for her male classmates. Her codependent best friend, Needy, watches in horror as the body count rises and their bond twists into something unrecognizable. The narrative focuses on the volatile intersection of female friendship, burgeoning sexuality, and the literal consumption of the suburban masculine ideal.

Released: 18 Sep 2009
Genres: Comedy, Horror
Rated: R
IMDb: 5.6 / 10
Metascore: 47 / 100
Awards: 3 wins & 4 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Needy 243 lines, woman
Jennifer 196 lines, woman
Chip 130 lines, man
Needy V.O 44 lines, woman
Nikolai 40 lines, man
Mr. Wroblewski 18 lines, man
Toni 17 lines, woman
Colin 16 lines, man
Jonas 15 lines
Chip'S Mom 14 lines, woman

Full cast, 46 people

Megan Fox as Jennifer
Amanda Seyfried as Needy
Johnny Simmons as Chip
Adam Brody as Nikolai
Sal Cortez as Chas
Ryan Levine as Mick
Juan Riedinger as Dirk
Colin Askey as Keyboardist
Chris Pratt as Roman Duda
Juno Rinaldi as Officer Warzak
Kyle Gallner as Colin Gray
Josh Emerson as Jonas Kozelle
J.K. Simmons as Mr. Wroblewski
Amy Sedaris as Needy's Mom
Cynthia Stevenson as Chip's Mom
Nicole Leduc as Camille
Aman Johal as Ahmet from India
Dan Joffre as Raymundo
Candus Churchill as Nutritionist
Carrie Genzel as Jennifer's Mom
Emma Gallello as Little Jennifer
Megan Charpentier as Little Needy
Jeremy Schuetze as Craig
Valerie Tian as Chastity
Emily Tennant as Gossiping Girl
Karissa Tynes as Other Girl
Eve Harlow as Goth Girl
Michael Brock as Goth Boy
Genevieve Buechner as Goth Girl #2
Adrian Hough as Colin's Dad
Gabrielle Rose as Colin's Mom
Michael Bean as Priest
Bill Fagerbakke as Jonas' Dad
Marilyn Norry as Jonas' Mom
Cut Chemist as DJ at Dance
Zoe LaLiberté as Candlelight Vigil Singer
Chelsey Smith as Candlelight Vigil Singer
Whitney Chow as Candlelight Vigil Singer
Michael Orstad as Candlelight Vigil Singer
Ronnie Robinson as Orderly
Ed Anders as Orderly
Roxanne Wong as Patient #1
Diane Dutra as Patient #2
Maya Toews as The Creepy Hand
Diablo Cody as Melody Lane Drinking Woman (uncredited)
Lance Henriksen as Passing Motorist (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 102

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	10	1
4 to 6	8	0
7 to 9	14	0
10 to 12	21	6
13 to 15	40	16
16 to 18	46	24
19 to 21	8	8
22 to 24	30	4
25 to 27	27	18
28 to 30	8	3
31 to 33	20	2
34 to 36	24	3
37 to 39	30	17
40 to 42	25	14
43 to 45	5	5
46 to 48	7	6
49 to 51	1	2
52 to 54	3	3
55 to 57	11	0
58 to 60	19	5
61 to 63	14	20
64 to 66	7	0
67 to 69	34	16
70 to 72	28	12
73 to 75	7	7
76 to 78	6	0
79 to 81	20	17
82 to 84	4	2
85 to 87	25	13
88 to 90	38	14
91 to 93	5	7
94 to 96	5	0
97 to 99	5	0
100 to 102	7	6

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.

JENNIFER: God, I can't wait until I'm old enough to get wasted. Have you ever had peach schnapps? NEEDY: I don't think so. JENNIFER: Peach schnapps are excellent. They even taste good when they come out of your nose mid-puke.

NEEDY: Look, there's the band! JENNIFER: You can tell they're from the city.

JENNIFER: It's so hot, Needy. I think I'm on fire. Oh God, I'm burning! NEEDY: You're okay, I promise. You got burned worse when you wore that tin-foil bikini to the beach. Everything's fine.

NEEDY: Um, Jennifer? NEEDY: What happened? NEEDY: J-Jen? JENNIFER: Are you scared?

NEEDY: Work, you...twat! Swiff, darn it! Swiff! Swiff! NEEDY: Shoot. JENNIFER: Don't talk to yourself. It's one of your more freakish Needy behaviors and it makes us both look like total gaylords. JENNIFER: Eww, you need a mani bad. You'd better find a Chinese chick to buff your situation!

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 69 are women's.

562 lines from women, 251 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

19 women and 17 men in the cast. 15 women and 12 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 8 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 73% of the words (6,668), men 27% (2,514). Women have 69% 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

Two women

Two men

Exhibit F: behind the camera

5 of the 13 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 35% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Karyn Kusama (woman)
Written by: Diablo Cody (woman)
Produced by: Daniel Dubiecki (man), Mason Novick (man), Jason Reitman (man), Brad Van Arragon (man)
Shot by: M. David Mullen (man)
Edited by: Plummy Tucker (woman)
Music by: Stephen Barton (man), Theodore Shapiro (man)
Production design by: Arvinder Greywal (man)
Costumes by: Katia Stano (woman)
Cast by: Mindy Marin (woman)