Passes the Bechdel test

Lady Bird

Name: Lady Bird
Released: 2017

2017. Directed by Greta Gerwig, written by Greta Gerwig.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
29 women characters. 13 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 26 scenes out of 125.
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

Christine "Lady Bird" McPherson is a high-school senior from the "wrong side of the tracks". She longs for adventure, sophistication, and opportunity, but finds little of that in her Sacramento Catholic high school. Her senior year improves: she finds her first romance, participates in the school play, and--most importantly--applies for college.

Released: 01 Dec 2017
Genres: Comedy, Drama
Rated: R
IMDb: 7.4 / 10
Metascore: 93 / 100
Awards: Nominated for 5 Oscars. 124 wins & 228 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Lady Bird 374 lines, woman
Marion 125 lines, woman
Julie 79 lines, woman
Danny 52 lines, man
Kyle 51 lines, man
Larry 51 lines, man
Jenna 37 lines, woman
Sister Sarah-Joan 21 lines, woman
Miguel 19 lines, man
Shelly 13 lines, woman

Full cast, 53 people

Saoirse Ronan as Lady Bird McPherson
Laurie Metcalf as Marion McPherson
Tracy Letts as Larry McPherson
Lucas Hedges as Danny O'Neill
Timothée Chalamet as Kyle Sheible
Beanie Feldstein as Julie Steffans
Lois Smith as Sister Sarah Joan
Stephen McKinley Henderson as Father Leviatch
Odeya Rush as Jenna Walton
Jordan Rodrigues as Miguel McPherson
Marielle Scott as Shelly Yuhan
John Karna as Greg Anrue
Jake McDorman as Mr. Bruno
Bayne Gibby as Casey Kelly
Laura Marano as Diana Greenway
Marietta DePrima as Miss Patty
Daniel Zovatto as Jonah Ruiz
Kristen Cloke as Ms. Steffans
Andy Buckley as Uncle Matthew
Paul Keller as Parish Priest
Kathryn Newton as Darlene Bell
Myra Turley as Sister Gina
Bob Stephenson as Father Walter
Abhimanyu Katyal as Friendly Banker
Chris Witaske as Business Jock
Ben Konigsberg as David From College
Gurpreet Gill as Convenience Store Clerk
Richard Jin Namkung as Cool Coffee Manager
Joan Patricia O'Neil as Danny's Grandmother
Robert Figueroa as Cast Removal Doctor
Carla Valentine as Guidance Counselor
Roman Arabia as Luis Cruz
Monique Edwards as NYC Nurse
Matthew Maher as NYC Man on Street
Anita Kalathara as Prom Chairwoman
Debra Miller as Saleswoman Joyce
Georgia Leva as Senior Class Candidate
Derek Butler as "Merrily We Roll Along" Performer
London Thor as "Merrily We Roll Along" Performer
Shaelan O'Connor as "Merrily We Roll Along" Performer
Christina Offley as "Merrily We Roll Along" Performer
Sabrina Schloss as "Merrily We Roll Along" Performer
Connor Mickiewicz as "Merrily We Roll Along" Performer
Erik Daniells as "Merrily We Roll Along" Performer
Cynthia Cales as Immaculate Heart of Mary Teacher
Giselle Grams as Immaculate Heart of Mary Teacher
Ithamar Enriquez as Driving Instructor
Luisa Lee as Young Lady
Danielle Macdonald as Another Young Lady
Adam Brock as Band Lead Singer
Bonnie Jean Shelton as Fab 40s Realtor
Rebecca Light as Mr. Bruno's Wife
Janet Song as Administrator (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 1% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 125

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	37	0
4 to 6	28	1
7 to 9	17	4
10 to 12	21	9
13 to 15	34	13
16 to 18	29	11
19 to 21	10	11
22 to 24	16	6
25 to 27	30	3
28 to 30	16	7
31 to 33	29	6
34 to 36	13	13
37 to 39	12	4
40 to 42	4	0
43 to 45	3	6
46 to 48	5	0
49 to 51	0	0
52 to 54	10	4
55 to 57	1	1
58 to 60	5	5
61 to 63	43	6
64 to 66	13	12
67 to 69	12	11
70 to 72	27	16
73 to 75	32	0
76 to 78	61	1
79 to 81	24	0
82 to 84	25	20
85 to 87	11	3
88 to 90	3	17
91 to 93	42	4
94 to 96	9	7
97 to 99	13	0
100 to 102	16	1
103 to 105	13	4
106 to 108	8	9
109 to 111	2	2
112 to 114	1	2
115 to 117	6	1
118 to 120	11	15
121 to 123	1	0
124 to 125	3	1

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.

LADY BIRD: Do you think I look like I’m from Sacramento? MARION: You are from Sacramento. LADY BIRD: You don’t have to do that. MARION: Well it’s nice to make things neat and clean.

JULIE: I love this neighborhood. LADY BIRD: Yeah, it’s so beautiful. JULIE: If I lived here I would definitely have my wedding in the backyard. LADY BIRD: I’d have friends over all the time to study and eat snacks. I’d be like “MOM WE’RE TAKING THE SNACKS UPSTAIRS TO THE TV ROOM.”

LADY BIRD: Why can’t I just make the eggs? MARION: Because you take too long and make a big mess and then I have to clean it up. SHELLY: Eggs aren’t good for the environment, anyway. LADY BIRD: WHAT?

LADY BIRD: Yeah, in the tub I just scoot myself under like now, like this, and then the water just... JULIE: We are so gross! LADY BIRD: I think I figured it out when I was like three or something. JULIE: I use, I take off the shower head, oh god this is so embarrassing! I use that.

LADY BIRD: “Everybody says don’t / Everybody says don’t / Everybody says don’t it isn’t right, don’t it isn’t niiiiiceeee / Everybody says don’t / Ever… JULIE: “Make me a channel of your peace / where there’s despair in life let me bring hope / where there is darkness only light / and where there’s …

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 75 are women's.

696 lines from women, 236 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

29 women and 24 men in the cast. 13 women and 14 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 14 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 74% of the words (5,973), men 26% (2,053). Women have 75% 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 13 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 36% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Greta Gerwig (woman)
Written by: Greta Gerwig (woman)
Produced by: Evelyn O'Neill (woman), Eli Bush (man), Scott Rudin (man)
Shot by: Sam Levy (man)
Edited by: Nick Houy (man)
Music by: Jon Brion (man)
Production design by: Chris Jones (man)
Costumes by: April Napier (woman)
Cast by: Allison Jones (woman), Heidi Griffiths (gender not listed), Jordan Thaler (man)

The crew, department by department

Other crew

4 women, 7 men, 20 not listed
Production

6 women, 5 men, 7 not listed
Sound

2 women, 8 men, 5 not listed
Art

2 women, 4 men, 8 not listed
Camera

1 women, 6 men, 4 not listed
Costume & Make-Up

2 women, 0 men, 5 not listed
Directing

2 women, 2 men
Editing

0 women, 3 men, 1 not listed

Women
Men
Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit G: how old the stars were

Women: 43 on average. Men: 37 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Odeya Rush 20, Saoirse Ronan 23, Beanie Feldstein 24, Laurie Metcalf 62, Lois Smith 86

Men

Lucas Hedges 20, Timothée Chalamet 21, Jordan Rodrigues 25, Tracy Letts 52, Stephen McKinley Henderson 68

Exhibit H: the money

It made 7.9 times what it cost.

Budget: $10 million
Box office: $79 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 125 scenes and 945 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

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