Passes the Bechdel test
Marriage Story
2019. Directed by Noah Baumbach, written by Noah Baumbach.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
22 women characters. 20 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 7 scenes out of 88. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 2 out of 3.
The film
After several unsuccessful marital mediation sessions and fruitless attempts to make it work, Charlie, a talented theatre director from New York City, and Nicole, a former movie actress from Los Angeles, want to call it quits. However, divorce is never easy, especially after ten years of marriage and an eight-year-old boy. As slick and absurdly costly lawyers step in, mutual accusations and bitter resentment threaten an amicable separation. And now, things have got even messier. But why do the painful wounds of passion run so deep? Is love always meant to last forever in the end?
- Released
- 06 Dec 2019
- Genres
- Drama, Romance
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.9 / 10
- Metascore
- 94 / 100
- Awards
- Won 1 Oscar. 129 wins & 269 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Charlie 431 lines, man
- Nicole 277 lines, woman
- Henry 123 lines, man
- Nora 82 lines, woman
- Bert 55 lines, man
- Evaluator 44 lines, woman
- Nicole Charlie 35 lines, man
- Sandra 34 lines, woman
- Charlie Nicole 33 lines
- Jay Marotta 33 lines, man
Full cast, 56 people
- Adam Driver as Charlie Barber
- Scarlett Johansson as Nicole Barber
- Laura Dern as Nora Fanshaw
- Alan Alda as Bert Spitz
- Ray Liotta as Jay Marotta
- Julie Hagerty as Sandra
- Merritt Wever as Cassie
- Azhy Robertson as Henry Barber
- Wallace Shawn as Frank
- Martha Kelly as The Evaluator
- Mark O'Brien as Carter Mitchum
- Julia Greer as Street Solicitor #1
- Matthew Maher as Theater Actor
- Eric Berryman as Theater Actor
- Mickey Sumner as Beth - Theater Actor
- Jasmine Cephas Jones as Theater Actor
- Gideon Glick as Theater Actor
- Motell Gyn Foster as Theater Actor
- David Turner as Theater Actor
- Raymond J. Lee as Theater Actor
- Mary Wiseman as Theater Actor
- Pete Simpson as Theater Actor
- Irene Choi as Theater Actor
- Matthew Shear as Terry - Theater Actor
- Becca Blackwell as Theater Actor
- Brooke Bloom as Mary Ann
- Hannah Dunne as Agnes - Set Designer
- McKinley Belcher III as Lighting Designer
- Roslyn Ruff as Donna - Costume Designer
- Santiago Mallan as Intern
- Robert Smigel as Mediator
- Amanda Rovner as Babysitter
- Carlos Jacott as Producer
- Sarah Jones as Carol - Producer
- Dean Wareham as Cinematographer
- Bashir Salahuddin as Director
- Vinny Chhibber as Visual Effects Guy
- Ayden Mayeri as Makeup Artist
- Erin Evans as Wardrobe Assistant
- Lucas Neff as Pablo (Grip)
- Annie Hamilton as Becca - Nora's Assistant
- Tunde Adebimpe as Sam
- Jordyn Curet as Molly
- Justin Claiborne as Jules
- Kyle Bornheimer as Ted
- Pilar Holland as Law Receptionist
- Emily Cass McDonnell as Nell (Bert's Associate)
- Andrew Steven Hernandez as Pink Dot Clerk
- Amir Talai as Amir
- Juan Alfonso as Arguing Man
- Connie Marie Flores as Arguing Woman
- Jeremy Barber as Lawyer
- Rich Fulcher as Judge
- Mary Hollis Inboden as Nora's Associate
- Peter Oliver as Street Solicitor #2
- Bill Blair as Party Robot Alien (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 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 88
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 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 3 to 4 | 2 | 4 |
| 5 to 6 | 0 | 4 |
| 7 to 8 | 1 | 5 |
| 9 to 10 | 2 | 1 |
| 11 to 12 | 0 | 2 |
| 13 to 14 | 1 | 4 |
| 15 to 16 | 2 | 0 |
| 17 to 18 | 3 | 3 |
| 19 to 20 | 2 | 1 |
| 21 to 22 | 2 | 2 |
| 23 to 24 | 2 | 3 |
| 25 to 26 | 3 | 0 |
| 27 to 28 | 1 | 2 |
| 29 to 30 | 5 | 9 |
| 31 to 32 | 9 | 19 |
| 33 to 34 | 39 | 19 |
| 35 to 36 | 14 | 5 |
| 37 to 38 | 53 | 0 |
| 39 to 40 | 84 | 56 |
| 41 to 42 | 12 | 75 |
| 43 to 44 | 6 | 27 |
| 45 to 46 | 20 | 23 |
| 47 to 48 | 9 | 35 |
| 49 to 50 | 0 | 21 |
| 51 to 52 | 6 | 8 |
| 53 to 54 | 4 | 17 |
| 55 to 56 | 1 | 52 |
| 57 to 58 | 20 | 27 |
| 59 to 60 | 0 | 9 |
| 61 to 62 | 0 | 3 |
| 63 to 64 | 1 | 20 |
| 65 to 66 | 16 | 18 |
| 67 to 68 | 17 | 65 |
| 69 to 70 | 10 | 12 |
| 71 to 72 | 2 | 1 |
| 73 to 74 | 28 | 18 |
| 75 to 76 | 50 | 79 |
| 77 to 78 | 58 | 97 |
| 79 to 80 | 13 | 0 |
| 81 to 82 | 0 | 0 |
| 83 to 84 | 0 | 2 |
| 85 to 86 | 1 | 3 |
| 87 to 88 | 16 | 50 |
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.
MARY ANN: Do you think I can go over there now? DONNA: Not yet.
MARY ANN: How about now? DONNA: I’d wait, honey.
MARY ANN: Now? DONNA: Don’t do it.
SANDRA: You can’t make home too nice, otherwise your children will never leave-- NICOLE: What do you want to do today?
SANDRA: Your emails are so articulate, I get intimidated! NICOLE SANDRA: Mom, can you help with-- Now, I’m going to lift YOU! NICOLE: MOM! SANDRA NICOLE: What? Upstairs--
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 39 are women's.
515 lines from women, 804 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
22 women and 30 men in the cast. 20 women and 29 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 7 of 1,409.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 79 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 45% of the words (6,785), men 55% (8,447). Women have 39% 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
23
Two men
82
Exhibit F: behind the camera
3 of the 11 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 42% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Noah Baumbach (man)
- Written by
- Noah Baumbach (man)
- Produced by
- Noah Baumbach (man), David Heyman (man)
- Shot by
- Robbie Ryan (man)
- Edited by
- Jennifer Lame (woman)
- Music by
- Randy Newman (man)
- Production design by
- Jade Healy (woman)
- Costumes by
- Mark Bridges (man)
- Cast by
- Francine Maisler (woman), Douglas Aibel (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
6 women, 21 men, 2 not listed
-
Production
9 women, 8 men, 5 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
6 women, 1 men, 7 not listed
-
Art
6 women, 2 men, 4 not listed
-
Directing
3 women, 3 men
-
Camera
0 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
-
Other crew
1 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Editing
1 women, 0 men, 2 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 48 on average. Men: 53 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Scarlett Johansson 34, Merritt Wever 39, Martha Kelly 51, Laura Dern 52, Julie Hagerty 64
Men
Azhy Robertson 9, Adam Driver 35, Ray Liotta 64, Wallace Shawn 75, Alan Alda 83
Exhibit H: the money
It made 2% of what it cost.
- Budget
- $18 million
- Box office
- $333,686
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 88 scenes and 1,409 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
