Passes the Bechdel test

Joy

Name: Joy
Released: 2015

2015. Directed by David O. Russell, written by David O. Russell and Annie Mumolo.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
26 women characters. 8 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 34 scenes out of 144.
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

Joy Mangano has always been fascinated by creating things, This pursuit was always supported emotionally by her maternal grandmother, Mimi. Joy feels that lack of practical support has led to others making fortunes on ideas she came up with years ago but could not act upon manufacturing. Despite being broke, Joy is the person in her extended family to whom everyone has always turned, in the process forgoing her own life, including not having attended college to help see her parents through their divorce. She works in an unsatisfying job as an Eastern Airlines ticket clerk; and lives with her mother Terry who spends all day in bed watching soap operas; her ex-husband Tony, a less than successful aspiring Latino Tom Jones wannabe; and their two children. Added to this mix is her father Rudy, the owner of a failing heavy-duty garage, which is managed by Joy's older half-sister Peggy, with whom she has somewhat of a strained relationship, and for which Joy does the books. Sharon, Rudy's latest girlfriend who has just dumped him, drops him off on Joy's doorstep, making Joy's home life even more complicated as Rudy does not get along with either Terry or Tony. Joy begins to feel buried by her life, in the process her childhood dream of making things seemingly getting farther and farther away. As such, Joy decides to make some changes in her life, and expects the unquestioning practical support of her family. Those changes include manufacturing a new product of her design; what she chooses this time around being a self-wringing mop. That support also includes being able to pitch the idea to Rudy's current wealthy girlfriend, Trudy. Even if she does get to the manufacturing stage, Joy will have to battle the narrow minds of business executives in marketing her product, that is unless she can find a way to get into the homes of the American public in one fell swoop. But nothing is a done deal until the consumer forks out his/her hard earned money for the product and all the legal issues are dealt with. Joy has to decide if she will "pick up the gun" as Trudy asked in their initial investment meeting in dealing with an especially troublesome legal issue.

Released: 25 Dec 2015
Genres: Biography, Drama
Rated: PG-13
IMDb: 6.6 / 10
Metascore: 56 / 100
Awards: Nominated for 1 Oscar. 9 wins & 24 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Joy 437 lines, woman
Ronnie 131 lines, woman
Tony 109 lines, man
Rudy 84 lines, man
Toots 44 lines, woman
Doug Briggs 40 lines
Dante 20 lines
Christie 19 lines, woman
John Calcagny 19 lines
Judge 19 lines

Full cast, 87 people

Jennifer Lawrence as Joy
Robert De Niro as Rudy
Bradley Cooper as Neil Walker
Edgar Ramírez as Tony
Diane Ladd as Mimi
Virginia Madsen as Terry
Isabella Rossellini as Trudy
Dascha Polanco as Jackie
Elisabeth Röhm as Peggy
Susan Lucci as Danica
Laura Wright as Clarinda
Maurice Benard as Ridge
Donna Mills as Priscilla
Jimmy Jean-Louis as Toussaint
Ken Howard as Mop Executive
Ray De La Paz as Tony's Father
John Enos III as Roderick
Marianne Leone Cooper as Sharon
Melissa Rivers as Joan Rivers
Drena De Niro as Cindy
Isabella Crovetti as Young Joy
Emily Nuñez as Young Jackie
Madison Wolfe as Young Peggy
Aundrea Gadsby as Cristy 5 Years Old
Gia Gadsby as Cristy 5 Years Old
Tomas Elizondo as Tommy 3 Years Old
Zeke Elizondo as Tommy 3 Years Old
Alexander Cook as Bartholomew
Lori McCoy-Bell as Angry Airline Customer
Suzanne Frazier Wilkins as Airline Customer
Luisa Maria Badaracco as Susan
Jamell Washington as Airline Customer Service Clerk
Gary Tolchin as Airline Supervisor
Will LeBow as Monsignor
Johnnie Mack as Andre
Pedro Martinez Campos as College Party Band
Carlos Sala Valencia as College Party Band
Alvaro Benavides as College Party Band
Edgar Pantoja Aleman as College Party Band
Shonda Schilling as College Party Goer
Grant Schilling as College Party Goer
Gary Zahakos as Divorce Mediator
Joe Boreland as Boat Captain
Robert Sabino as Tino
Mateo Gómez as Latin Priest
Marcela Jaramillo as Eucaria
Jim Frangione as Charlie
Melissa McMeekin as Parking Lot Woman
Erica McDermott as Parking Lot Woman
Carla Antonino as Parking Lot Woman
Michele Egerton as Parking Lot Woman
Marianne Bayard as Angela
Fiore Leo as Angela's Brother
Steven DeMarco as Angela's Brother
Collin Knight as Parking Lot Officer
Barbara Feeney as Receptionist
Damien Di Paola as Marv Brickman
Patsy Meck as Patsy
Jeremiah Kissel as Boardroom Rep
Dale Place as Boardroom Rep
Mitchell Rosenwald as Boardroom Rep
Thomas Matthews as Thomas
Matthew Russell as Roger from Wardrobe
Bates Wilder as Todd
Paul Herman as Rifle Man
Christy Scott Cashman as Sarina Kimball
Colleen Camp as Lori
Richard McElvain as Dr. Whitten
Mark Nemeskal as Funeral Priest
Patrick Pitu as Eerie Fabri-Pac Guy
Michael DeMello as Gregory
Ken Cheeseman as Gerhardt
Daniel Bowen as Fabri-Pac Man
Naheem Garcia as Police Officer
Raymond Alongi as Police Officer
Johnny Lee Davenport as Ray Cagney
Sonny Mirabella as Front Desk Clerk
Bill Thorpe as Dallas Man
Sam Weisman as Lead Diller Attorney
Jeff Avigian as Diller Attorney
Barry Primus as Rudy's Attorney
Eliana Adise as Teen Cristy
Calidore Robinson as Teen Tommy
Jasmine Brooke White as Young Memphis Woman
Susan Garfield as Wedding Guest (uncredited)
Jeff Bellin as QVC Attorney #1 (uncredited)
GeGe Jackson as KMart Customer (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 20% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 144

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	42	30
4 to 6	0	0
7 to 9	22	0
10 to 12	31	32
13 to 15	4	1
16 to 18	2	1
19 to 21	13	12
22 to 24	14	0
25 to 27	19	3
28 to 30	4	0
31 to 33	14	5
34 to 36	4	4
37 to 39	2	0
40 to 42	14	0
43 to 45	16	19
46 to 48	6	0
49 to 51	4	0
52 to 54	73	1
55 to 57	18	8
58 to 60	3	0
61 to 63	25	4
64 to 66	15	0
67 to 69	10	1
70 to 72	24	13
73 to 75	25	1
76 to 78	15	6
79 to 81	3	0
82 to 84	10	0
85 to 87	15	0
88 to 90	7	0
91 to 93	3	0
94 to 96	3	0
97 to 99	1	0
100 to 102	7	1
103 to 105	17	8
106 to 108	22	12
109 to 111	15	0
112 to 114	15	10
115 to 117	12	0
118 to 120	1	1
121 to 123	18	1
124 to 126	37	0
127 to 129	21	13
130 to 132	4	0
133 to 135	23	14
136 to 138	7	0
139 to 141	7	12
142 to 144	51	8

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.

JOY: Wow. Best day of my life. It happened. RONNIE: Look at these animals. You think they’ve never seen a set of boobs in their life. We’re married to these people. Good luck, we just got shot…

JOY: Come on, they’re not all bad. RONNIE: Joy, even the best dog is two meals away from bein’ a wolf.

JOY: Who wants toast? CHRISTIE/JACKIE: I do/Me! BOBBY: Not me! I hate toast. JOY: Let’s not say ‘hate’. Toast is just cooked bread. How can you not like cooked bread?

JOY: Right. Wow. Hi, it’s nice to meet you. VIV: Hi Joy! I’ve heard so much about you! I’d love to have you all over sometime and cook for you in my apartment! JOY: Oh. Um...yeah. Sure...

JOY: You know, this is how people did it in the old days. They didn’t have automatic hot water. How’s that, is that warmer? JACKIE: I’m still cold mommy.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 76 are women's.

718 lines from women, 221 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

26 women and 28 men in the cast. 8 women and 8 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 4 of 1,179. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 17 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 75% of the words (8,369), men 25% (2,849). Women have 76% 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

5 of the 20 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 36% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: David O. Russell (man)
Written by: David O. Russell (man)
Story by: Annie Mumolo (woman), David O. Russell (man)
Produced by: Megan Ellison (woman), Jonathan Gordon (man), David O. Russell (man), John Davis (man), Ken Mok (man)
Shot by: Linus Sandgren (man)
Edited by: Jay Cassidy (man), Christopher Tellefsen (man), Alan Baumgarten (man), Tom Cross (man)
Music by: West Dylan Thordson (man), David Campbell (man)
Production design by: Judy Becker (woman)
Costumes by: Michael Wilkinson (man)
Cast by: Mary Vernieu (woman), Lindsay Graham Ahanonu (woman)