Passes the Bechdel test

Mary Poppins Returns

Name: Mary Poppins Returns
Released: 2018

2018. Directed by Rob Marshall, written by P.L. Travers and David Magee and Rob Marshall.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
15 women characters. 11 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 22 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

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

The film

In Depression-era London, a now-grown Jane and Michael Banks, along with Michael's three children, are visited by the enigmatic Mary Poppins following a personal loss. Through her unique magical skills, and with the aid of her friend, Jack, she helps them rediscover the joy and wonder missing in their lives.

Released: 19 Dec 2018
Genres: Adventure, Comedy, Family
Rated: PG
IMDb: 6.6 / 10
Metascore: 66 / 100
Awards: Nominated for 4 Oscars. 24 wins & 112 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Mary Poppins 193 lines, woman
Michael 154 lines, man
Jack 110 lines, man
Annabel 93 lines, woman
Aunt Jane 93 lines, woman
John 93 lines, man
Georgie 80 lines, man
Wilkins 42 lines, man
Ellen 37 lines, woman
Topsy 34 lines, woman

Full cast, 72 people

Emily Blunt as Mary Poppins
Lin-Manuel Miranda as Jack
Ben Whishaw as Michael Banks
Emily Mortimer as Jane Banks
Pixie Davies as Annabel
Nathanael Saleh as John
Joel Dawson as Georgie
Julie Walters as Ellen
Meryl Streep as Cousin Topsy
Colin Firth as Wilkins / Wolf (voice)
Jeremy Swift as Gooding / Badger (voice)
Kobna Holdbrook-Smith as Frye / Weasel (voice)
Dick Van Dyke as Mr. Dawes Jr.
Angela Lansbury as Balloon Lady
David Warner as Admiral Boom
Jim Norton as Binnacle
Noma Dumezweni as Miss Penny Farthing
Tarik Frimpong as Angus
Sudha Bhuchar as Miss Lark
Steve Nicolson as Park Keeper
Christian Dixon as Milkman
Christopher Godwin as Information Desk Clerk
John Dagleish as Courier
Karen Dotrice as Elegant Woman
Ian Conningham as Pub Landlord
Billy Barratt as Street Urchin
Felix Collar as Street Urchin
Kate Attwell as Street Urchin
Chris O'Dowd as Shamus the Coachman (voice)
Mark Addy as Clyde the Horse (voice)
Edward Hibbert as Parrot Umbrella (voice)
Ash as Willoughby
Shay Barclay as Leerie
Ashley Birchall as Leerie
Johnny Bishop as Leerie
Michael Carroll as Leerie
Jon-Scott Clark as Leerie
Leon Cooke as Leerie
Jack Harrison-Cooper as Leerie
Sean Corrie as Leerie
Momar Diagne as Leerie
Antony Edwards as Leerie
Aston Newman Hannington as Leerie
Jake Moyle as Leerie
Marlon Pelayo as Leerie
James Revell as Leerie
Ted Rogers as Leerie
Charles Ruhrmund as Leerie
Christopher Scott as Leerie
Zac Smith as Leerie
Craig Stein as Leerie
Alex J Sturman as Leerie
Jahrel Thomas as Leerie
Johnny White as Leerie
Teneisha Bonner as Female Dancer
Lavinia Fitzpatrick as Female Dancer
Tara Nicole Hughes as Female Dancer
Hannah Kenna-Thomas as Female Dancer
Jennifer Leung as Female Dancer
Rachel Muldoon as Female Dancer
Cassie Rogers as Female Dancer
Lorraine Stewart as Female Dancer
Calvin Chen as Leerie (uncredited)
Johanna Thea as Fairground Attendee (uncredited)
Antonio Raul Garcia as Boy (uncredited)
Raj Awasti as Bank Customer (uncredited)
Fran Targ as Homeless Soup kitchen (uncredited)
Jeremy Azis as Bank Customer 110 (uncredited)
Nina Kumar as Bank Customer (uncredited)
Jag Patel as Corporate Internal Bank Customer (uncredited)
Martyn Mayger as Banker (uncredited)
Steve Carroll as Tramp (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	1
3 to 4	0	1
5 to 6	0	5
7 to 8	1	7
9 to 10	39	57
11 to 12	12	23
13 to 14	10	15
15 to 16	9	14
17 to 18	34	34
19 to 20	32	13
21 to 22	9	2
23 to 24	11	13
25 to 26	0	0
27 to 28	2	4
29 to 30	9	13
31 to 32	10	7
33 to 34	38	45
35 to 36	16	32
37 to 38	5	28
39 to 40	10	9
41 to 42	15	8
43 to 44	18	15
45 to 46	68	14
47 to 48	14	8
49 to 50	7	7
51 to 52	2	13
53 to 54	7	31
55 to 56	12	27
57 to 58	17	33
59 to 60	8	17
61 to 62	3	3
63 to 64	17	38
65 to 66	0	5
67 to 68	1	1
69 to 70	2	6
71 to 72	1	10
73 to 74	1	7
75 to 76	7	11
77 to 78	2	22
79 to 80	22	30
81 to 82	6	2
83 to 84	0	0
85 to 86	2	1
87 to 88	0	2

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.

AUNT JANE: Thank you, darlings - Ellen, fetch us a mop and towels, will you? ELLEN: I told ‘im to get them pipes fixed. They been there since the Romans ruled.

ELLEN: They don’t look like plumbers. ANNABEL: I meant on the phone.

ANNABEL: And the plumbers are on their way. AUNT JANE: Well done, everyone. Phew! Such excitement!

AUNT JANE: We’re handing out breakfasts at the union hall. I snuck away for morning hugs. Come here. ELLEN: Will you stop that bangin’? It’s barely eight o’clock on a Sunday mornin’! ELLEN: Wot’cher doin’ with my mop?

ELLEN: Suppose someone ‘as to - ‘less we all want to starve. AUNT JANE: Why don’t you let Ellen clean up?

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 43 are women's.

479 lines from women, 634 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

15 women and 36 men in the cast. 11 women and 28 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 24 of 1,190. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 23 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 44% of the words (4,360), men 56% (5,588). Women have 43% 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

4 of the 17 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 31% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Rob Marshall (man)
Written by: David Magee (man)
Story by: Rob Marshall (man), John DeLuca (man), David Magee (man)
From the novel by: P.L. Travers (woman)
Produced by: Rob Marshall (man), Marc Platt (man), John DeLuca (man)
Shot by: Dion Beebe (man)
Edited by: Wyatt Smith (man)
Music by: Marc Shaiman (man)
Production design by: John Myhre (man)
Costumes by: Sandy Powell (woman)
Cast by: Francine Maisler (woman), Tiffany Little Canfield (woman), Bernard Telsey (man)

The crew, department by department

Other crew

8 women, 19 men, 28 not listed
Visual Effects

0 women, 9 men, 28 not listed
Art

10 women, 7 men, 17 not listed
Production

9 women, 9 men, 10 not listed
Sound

2 women, 16 men, 5 not listed
Camera

0 women, 16 men, 6 not listed
Costume & Make-Up

10 women, 4 men, 7 not listed
Writing

1 women, 6 men

Women
Men
Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit G: how old the stars were

Women: 46 on average. Men: 31 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Pixie Davies 12, Emily Blunt 35, Emily Mortimer 47, Julie Walters 68, Meryl Streep 69

Men

Joel Dawson 10, Nathanael Saleh 12, Lin-Manuel Miranda 38, Ben Whishaw 38, Colin Firth 58

Exhibit H: the money

It made 2.7 times what it cost.

Budget: $130 million
Box office: $349 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 88 scenes and 1,190 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

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