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Fails the Bechdel test

Kramer vs. Kramer

1979. Directed by Robert Benton, written by Avery Corman and Robert Benton and Jay Christian.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

1 / 3

Fails

  1. Yes 1. At least two women
    6 women characters. 3 of them speak.
  2. No 2. Who talk to each other
    Our parser found no scene where two women talk to each other.
  3. No 3. About something besides a man
    Not reached: the film fails an earlier rule.

Second opinion

Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.

Poster for Kramer vs. Kramer

The film

Ted Kramer is a career man for whom his work comes before his family. His wife Joanna cannot take this anymore, so she decides to leave him. Ted is now faced with the tasks of housekeeping and taking care of himself and their young son Billy. When he has learned to adjust his life to these new responsibilities, Joanna resurfaces and wants Billy back. Ted, however, refuses to give him up, so they go to court to fight for the custody of their son.

Released
19 Dec 1979
Genres
Drama
Rated
PG
IMDb
7.8 / 10
Metascore
77 / 100
Awards
Won 5 Oscars. 41 wins & 26 nominations total
Elsewhere
View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

  • Women
  • Men
  • Not in the cast list
  • Bigger name, more lines
  1. Ted 342 lines, man
  2. Billy 117 lines, man
  3. Joanna 79 lines, woman
  4. Shaunessy 65 lines, man
  5. Thelma 54 lines, woman
  6. O'Connor 43 lines, man
  7. Gressen 40 lines, man
  8. Phyllis 28 lines, woman
  9. Alvarez 18 lines
  10. Judge 13 lines
Full cast, 24 people
  • Dustin Hoffman as Ted Kramer
  • Meryl Streep as Joanna Kramer
  • Jane Alexander as Margaret Phelps
  • Justin Henry as Billy Kramer
  • Howard Duff as John Shaunessy
  • George Coe as Jim O'Connor
  • JoBeth Williams as Phyllis Bernard
  • Bill Moor as Gressen
  • Howland Chamberlain as Judge Atkins
  • Jack Ramage as Spencer
  • Jess Osuna as Ackerman
  • Nicholas Hormann as Interviewer
  • Ellen Parker as Teacher
  • Shelby Brammer as Ted's Secretary
  • Carol Nadell as Mrs. Kline
  • Donald Gantry as Surgeon
  • Joe Seneca as Partygoer
  • David Golden as Grocer
  • Sean Albertson as Boy in Hospital (uncredited)
  • Iris Klein as Partygoer (as Iris Alhanti)
  • Peter Lownds as Norman
  • Judith Calder as Receptionist
  • Kathleen Keller as Waitress
  • Ingeborg Sørensen as Woman at Christmas Party

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 6% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 135

Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.

Show the numbers
ScenesWomen's linesMen's lines
1 to 325
4 to 603
7 to 907
10 to 1203
13 to 151617
16 to 181817
19 to 2100
22 to 24131
25 to 271230
28 to 3020
31 to 3302
34 to 3605
37 to 39526
40 to 4266
43 to 451028
46 to 4805
49 to 5185
52 to 5489
55 to 57128
58 to 60814
61 to 63050
64 to 6649
67 to 69014
70 to 72510
73 to 751522
76 to 78015
79 to 8106
82 to 8405
85 to 87031
88 to 90014
91 to 93011
94 to 96929
97 to 99021
100 to 10200
103 to 10500
106 to 1083151
109 to 111027
112 to 114429
115 to 117822
118 to 12032
121 to 12303
124 to 12603
127 to 129020
130 to 13202
133 to 135109

The evidence

  • Straight from the script
  • Counted from the script and the credits

Tap an exhibit to open it.

Exhibit A: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 22 are women's.

186 lines from women, 646 from men.

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

6 women and 12 men in the cast. 3 women and 9 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 4 of 888. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 86 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

  • First line by a woman
  • Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 26% of the words (2,661), men 74% (7,760). Women have 22% of the lines, so their lines run longer than men's.

Exhibit D: 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

Exhibit E: behind the camera

2 of the 11 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 26% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by
Robert Benton (man)
Written by
Robert Benton (man)
From the novel by
Avery Corman (man)
Produced by
Stanley R. Jaffe (man)
Shot by
Néstor Almendros (man)
Edited by
Gerald B. Greenberg (man)
Music by
John Kander (man), Herb Harris (gender not listed)
Production design by
Paul Sylbert (man)
Costumes by
Ruth Morley (woman)
Cast by
Shirley Rich (woman)

The crew, department by department

  • Sound

    1 women, 2 men, 5 not listed

  • Production

    2 women, 1 men, 3 not listed

  • Camera

    0 women, 3 men, 2 not listed

  • Costume & Make-Up

    1 women, 2 men, 2 not listed

  • Art

    0 women, 3 men, 1 not listed

  • Directing

    2 women, 2 men

  • Other crew

    0 women, 0 men, 2 not listed

  • Editing

    0 women, 2 men

  • Women
  • Men
  • Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit F: how old the stars were

Women: 34 on average. Men: 47 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Meryl Streep 30, JoBeth Williams 31, Jane Alexander 40

Men

Justin Henry 8, Dustin Hoffman 42, Bill Moor 48, Jack Ramage 48, George Coe 50, Howard Duff 66, Howland Chamberlain 68

Exhibit G: the money

It made 13.3 times what it cost.

Budget
$8 million
Box office
$106 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 135 scenes and 888 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

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