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Passes the Bechdel test

Lars and the Real Girl

2007. Directed by Craig Gillespie, written by Nancy Oliver.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

  1. Yes 1. At least two women
    14 women characters. 12 of them speak.
  2. Yes 2. Who talk to each other
    In 6 scenes out of 169.
  3. 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.

Poster for Lars and the Real Girl

The film

In this comedy, Lars Lindstrom is an awkwardly shy young man in a small northern town who finally brings home the girl of his dreams to his brother and sister-in-law's home. The only problem is that she's not real - she's a sex doll Lars ordered off the Internet. But sex is not what Lars has in mind, but rather a deep, meaningful relationship. His sister-in-law is worried for him, his brother thinks he's nuts, but eventually the entire town goes along with his delusion in support of this sweet natured boy that they've always loved.

Released
02 Nov 2007
Genres
Comedy, Drama, Romance
Rated
PG-13
IMDb
7.3 / 10
Metascore
70 / 100
Awards
Nominated for 1 Oscar. 7 wins & 36 nominations total
Elsewhere
View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

  • Women
  • Men
  • Not in the cast list
  • Bigger name, more lines
  1. Lars 229 lines, man
  2. Gus 120 lines, man
  3. Karin 108 lines, woman
  4. Dagmar 90 lines, woman
  5. Margo 64 lines, woman
  6. Mrs. Gruner 32 lines, woman
  7. Kurt 25 lines, man
  8. Cindy 12 lines, woman
  9. Karen 9 lines
  10. Reverendbock 9 lines
Full cast, 34 people
  • Ryan Gosling as Lars Lindstrom
  • Emily Mortimer as Karin
  • Paul Schneider as Gus
  • R.D. Reid as Reverand Bock
  • Kelli Garner as Margo
  • Nancy Beatty as Mrs. Gruner
  • Doug Lennox as Mr. Hofstedter
  • Joe Bostick as Mr. Shaw
  • Liz Gordon as Mrs. Schindler
  • Nicky Guadagni as Mrs. Petersen
  • Patricia Clarkson as Dagmar
  • Karen Robinson as Cindy
  • Maxwell McCabe-Lokos as Kurt
  • Billy Parrott as Erik
  • Sally Cahill as Deb
  • Angela Vint as Sandy
  • Liisa Repo-Martell as Laurel
  • Boyd Banks as Russell
  • Darren Hynes as Moose
  • Víctor Gómez as Hector
  • Tommy Chang as Nelson
  • Arnold Pinnock as Baxter
  • Joshua Peace as Jerry
  • Aurora Browne as Lisa
  • Alec McClure as Steve
  • Tannis Burnett as Nurse Amy
  • Lauren Ash as Holly
  • Lindsey Connell as Victoria
  • Aaron Ferguson as Choir Member #1
  • Danna Howe as Choir Member #2
  • Annabelle Torsein as Choir Member #3
  • Tim Blake as Choir Member #4
  • Torquil Colbo as Choir Member #5
  • Victor Gomez as Hector

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 7% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 169

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 400
5 to 8711
9 to 121311
13 to 1600
17 to 20820
21 to 2478
25 to 281021
29 to 3236
33 to 361634
37 to 4014
41 to 4446
45 to 482814
49 to 521519
53 to 56612
57 to 6002
61 to 6404
65 to 68237
69 to 7229
73 to 763125
77 to 8040
81 to 8432
85 to 881616
89 to 9203
93 to 96814
97 to 10045
101 to 1041119
105 to 108517
109 to 112014
113 to 1161821
117 to 12037
121 to 12476
125 to 128415
129 to 13236
133 to 13601
137 to 14089
141 to 144129
145 to 14842
149 to 15210
153 to 15601
157 to 160256
161 to 164142
165 to 1681021
169 to 16954

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.
DEB: You're serious? SANDY: But that's fascinating! LAUREL: When can we meet her?
SANDY: What do you think, KARIN: I don't know ... DEB: Look what it does for her hair and that gorgeous complexion • LAUREL: a terrific dress. and half
CINDY: Is that for me, Bianca? Thank you! MARGO: I'll take your coats.
LISA: It's a good thing you sent that memo. I would have FREAKED. It's so bizARRE. MARGO: It's a disorder. Like compulsive eating.
CINDY: Margo, are you coming to lunch or not? MARGO: Yes! Wait for me! CINDY: This place is a big kindergarten.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 45 are women's.

339 lines from women, 413 from men.

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

14 women and 15 men in the cast. 12 women and 15 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 2 of 812. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 26 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

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

Words spoken

Women speak 47% of the words (2,447), men 53% (2,729). Women have 45% 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

Exhibit F: behind the camera

4 of the 12 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 26% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by
Craig Gillespie (man)
Written by
Nancy Oliver (woman)
Produced by
John Cameron (man), Sidney Kimmel (man), Sarah Aubrey (woman)
Shot by
Adam Kimmel (man)
Edited by
Tatiana S. Riegel (woman)
Music by
David Torn (man)
Production design by
Arvinder Greywal (man)
Costumes by
Kirston Mann (woman)
Cast by
David Rubin (man), Richard Hicks (man)

The crew, department by department

  • Production

    7 women, 11 men, 13 not listed

  • Sound

    1 women, 11 men, 10 not listed

  • Art

    1 women, 7 men, 10 not listed

  • Camera

    0 women, 6 men, 7 not listed

  • Other crew

    0 women, 3 men, 8 not listed

  • Costume & Make-Up

    3 women, 0 men, 5 not listed

  • Lighting

    0 women, 3 men, 4 not listed

  • Directing

    2 women, 2 men, 1 not listed

  • Women
  • Men
  • Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit G: how old the stars were

Women: 38 on average. Men: 47 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Kelli Garner 23, Emily Mortimer 36, Nicky Guadagni 55

Men

Ryan Gosling 26, Paul Schneider 31, R.D. Reid 63, Doug Lennox 69

Exhibit H: the money

It made 94% of what it cost.

Budget
$12 million
Box office
$11.3 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 169 scenes and 812 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

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