Passes the Bechdel test

Jules

Name: Jules
Released: 2023

2023. Directed by Marc Turtletaub, written by Gavin Steckler.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
11 women characters. 7 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 11 scenes out of 150.
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

Jules follows Milton (Kingsley) who lives a quiet life of routine in a small western Pennsylvania town, but finds his day upended when a UFO and its extra-terrestrial passenger crash land in his backyard. Before long, Milton develops a close relationship with the extra-terrestrial he calls "Jules." Things become complicated when two neighbors (Harris and Curtin) discover Jules and the government quickly closes in. What follows is a funny, wildly inventive ride as the three neighbors find meaning and connection later in life - thanks to this unlikely stranger.

Released: 11 Aug 2023
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Sci-Fi
Rated: PG-13
IMDb: 6.8 / 10
Metascore: 57 / 100
Awards: 2 wins & 5 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Milton 223 lines, man
Sandy 188 lines, woman
Joyce 102 lines, woman
Denise 81 lines, woman
Dave 16 lines
Mayor Martinez 16 lines, man
Tim 14 lines, man
Dr. North 12 lines, woman
Agent Mann 10 lines, man
Danny 10 lines, man

Full cast, 33 people

Ben Kingsley as Milton Robinson
Harriet Sansom Harris as Sandy
Jane Curtin as Joyce
Jade Quon as Jules
Teddy Cañez as Mayor Martinez
Narea Kang as Councilwoman Wu
Edward James Hyland as Councilman Daniels
Blair Baker as Councilwoman Diane Strauss
Joshua Moore as Steve Gorham
John Skelley as Engineer
Christopher Kelly as Councilman Bouchard
Zoë Winters as Denise
Aubie Merrylees as Dave
Andy Daly as Anchor Aaron Campbell
Anna George as Dr. North
Eric T. Miller as Tim
Cody Kostro as Danny
Marina Shay as Hippie Woman
Donald Paul as Agent Mann
Jeff Kim as Agent Shu
Patrick Noonan as Cop 1
Rebekah Brockman as Cop 2
Lee Sellars as Chief
David Carl as Man Riding Shotgun (uncredited)
Laura Jordan as Eden (uncredited)
Michael Frederic as Additional Voices (voice)
Daphne Gaines as Additional Voices (voice)
Jeffrey Omura as Additional Voices (voice)
Eric Tiede as Additional Voices (voice)
Brian Wiles as Additional Voices (voice)
Sally Winters as Additional Voices (voice)
Jessica Keenan Wynn as Additional Voices (voice)
Dann Fink as Additional Voices (voice)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 5% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 150

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 4	14	19
5 to 8	0	0
9 to 12	13	11
13 to 16	5	6
17 to 20	0	7
21 to 24	9	9
25 to 28	5	8
29 to 32	0	9
33 to 36	1	2
37 to 40	0	6
41 to 44	7	5
45 to 48	1	9
49 to 52	8	9
53 to 56	14	17
57 to 60	19	18
61 to 64	7	6
65 to 68	26	10
69 to 72	9	7
73 to 76	17	10
77 to 80	7	3
81 to 84	14	7
85 to 88	12	5
89 to 92	18	7
93 to 96	6	2
97 to 100	3	5
101 to 104	0	0
105 to 108	7	3
109 to 112	13	6
113 to 116	12	12
117 to 120	17	5
121 to 124	5	8
125 to 128	17	7
129 to 132	25	15
133 to 136	11	20
137 to 140	14	1
141 to 144	16	12
145 to 148	15	11
149 to 150	29	5

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.

JOYCE: A toothbrush! Do I recycle it? I don’t know. Twist-ties! Do I recycle them? I don’t know. A spent lightbulb. What in God’s name do I do with… JOYCE: Review your recycling guidelines, they’re not clear enough. There’s still a cell hole on Route 42 out past Sanger Landing. You can build a b… COUNCILWOMAN WU: No it is not. SANDY: Good evening, council. The new cold storage facility near the highway is going to give our businesses a marvellous way to store their perish…

SANDY: Joyce! How are you? Milt and I were just having a little dinner. Would you like to join? JOYCE: I seen the alien.

SANDY: Well. Only when someone’s being dangerous toward us. JOYCE: Yeah. Only when someone’s being dangerous toward us.

SANDY: Joyce? SANDY: Can I stay over your place? I’m scared to be alone, to be honest. And I’m not looking forward to going home to that mess. JOYCE: Of course.

SANDY: It’s sort of a... rotting smell. JOYCE: I didn’t want to say anything. I thought it was maybe how your house usually smelled.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 57 are women's.

396 lines from women, 302 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

11 women and 17 men in the cast. 7 women and 13 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 12 of 738. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 16 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 61% of the words (5,252), men 39% (3,370). Women have 57% 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

2 of the 12 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 14% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Marc Turtletaub (man)
Written by: Gavin Steckler (gender not listed)
Produced by: Andy Daly (man), Michael B. Clark (man), Deborah Liebling (woman), Alex Turtletaub (man), Marc Turtletaub (man)
Shot by: Christopher Norr (man)
Edited by: Ayelet Gil-Efrat (gender not listed)
Music by: Volker Bertelmann (man)
Costumes by: Stacy Jansen (gender not listed)
Cast by: Avy Kaufman (woman)