Passes the Bechdel test
Mass
2021. Directed by Fran Kranz, written by Fran Kranz.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
4 women characters. 4 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 10 scenes out of 35. -
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
The parents of both the shooter and one of the victims of a school shooting tragedy agree to meet and talk in an attempt to move forward.
- Released
- 15 Oct 2021
- Genres
- Drama
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 7.5 / 10
- Metascore
- 81 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 1 BAFTA Award. 47 wins & 88 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Jay 257 lines, man
- Richard 196 lines, man
- Linda 188 lines, woman
- Gail 182 lines, woman
- Judy 106 lines, woman
- Kendra 70 lines, woman
- Anthony 32 lines, man
- Jay Gail 4 lines, woman
- Anthony Judy 1 lines, woman
- Judy Anthony 1 lines
Full cast, 9 people
- Martha Plimpton as Gail
- Jason Isaacs as Jay
- Ann Dowd as Linda
- Reed Birney as Richard
- Breeda Wool as Judy
- Michelle N. Carter as Kendra
- Kagen Albright as Anthony
- Michael White as Piano Teacher
- Campbell Spoor as Piano Student
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 1 scene, start to finish. Women above the line, men below.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 35
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 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 to 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 to 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 to 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 to 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 to 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 to 7 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 to 8 | 1 | 0 |
| 9 to 9 | 3 | 2 |
| 10 to 10 | 8 | 6 |
| 11 to 11 | 6 | 4 |
| 12 to 12 | 14 | 0 |
| 13 to 13 | 6 | 0 |
| 14 to 14 | 7 | 0 |
| 15 to 15 | 7 | 1 |
| 16 to 16 | 64 | 10 |
| 17 to 17 | 0 | 0 |
| 18 to 18 | 3 | 4 |
| 19 to 19 | 2 | 0 |
| 20 to 20 | 7 | 7 |
| 21 to 21 | 0 | 0 |
| 22 to 22 | 0 | 0 |
| 23 to 23 | 0 | 0 |
| 24 to 24 | 1 | 0 |
| 25 to 25 | 2 | 2 |
| 26 to 26 | 10 | 4 |
| 27 to 27 | 7 | 3 |
| 28 to 28 | 0 | 0 |
| 29 to 29 | 1 | 0 |
| 30 to 30 | 337 | 403 |
| 31 to 31 | 24 | 20 |
| 32 to 32 | 42 | 19 |
| 33 to 33 | 0 | 0 |
| 34 to 34 | 0 | 0 |
| 35 to 35 | 0 | 0 |
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.
JUDY: Hi! KENDRA: Good morning. Are you Judy? JUDY: Yes! I’m Judy! Are you Kendra? KENDRA: Kendra Carter, pleasure.
KENDRA: It’s nice. JUDY: Thank you. We think so. Most people drive north to St. Thomas these days, but... we still find plenty to do. KENDRA: Where will they be meeting? JUDY: Oh. Sorry...
JUDY: We hold most meetings in here, but Charlotte thought they should have more privacy, so we’ll put them in back. KENDRA: If you think it’s best. JUDY: Yeah, I think so... I mean, it’s much nicer. Lots of light. KENDRA: And Linda approved?
KENDRA: Will we hear the music back here? JUDY: Oh shoot. Will that be a problem? KENDRA: It might be can they stop? JUDY: They’re having lessons today...
KENDRA: I just don’t want it to be a distraction. JUDY: Of course, we’ll talk to them. You want to see back here? KENDRA: Thank you.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 53 are women's.
552 lines from women, 485 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
4 women and 4 men in the cast. 4 women and 3 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 16 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 52% of the words (5,724), men 48% (5,298). Women have 53% 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
72
Two men
53
Exhibit F: behind the camera
2 of the 12 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 29% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Fran Kranz (man)
- Written by
- Fran Kranz (man)
- Produced by
- Casey Wilder Mott (gender not listed), Dylan Matlock (gender not listed), Fran Kranz (man), J.P. Ouellette (gender not listed)
- Shot by
- Ryan Jackson-Healy (man)
- Edited by
- Yang-Hua Hu (man)
- Music by
- Darren Morze (man)
- Production design by
- Lindsey Moran (woman)
- Cast by
- Allison Estrin (woman), Henry Russell Bergstein (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
2 women, 3 men, 9 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 1 men, 5 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 1 men, 4 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 2 men, 2 not listed
-
Art
2 women, 0 men
-
Editing
0 women, 2 men
-
Lighting
0 women, 0 men, 2 not listed
-
Writing
0 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 50 on average. Men: 63 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Breeda Wool 36, Martha Plimpton 50, Ann Dowd 65
Men
Jason Isaacs 58, Reed Birney 67
Exhibit H: the money
What it cost and made, where TMDB lists it.
- Budget
- Not listed
- Box office
- $131,357
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 35 scenes and 1,038 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
