Passes the Bechdel test

Meet Joe Black

Name: Meet Joe Black
Released: 1998

1998. Directed by Martin Brest, written by Ron Osborn and Jeff Reno and Kevin Wade.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
11 women characters. 3 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 4 scenes out of 76.
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 1 out of 3.

The film

Death, in the form of a young man named Joe Black, visits media mogul Bill Parrish to escort him to the afterlife. Joe experiences human life, love, and emotional complexity, particularly developing a romantic relationship with Parrish's daughter Susan. The story examines mortality, human desire, and the value of life, blending romance, philosophical inquiry, and drama as characters navigate grief, love, and the inevitability of death.

Released: 13 Nov 1998
Genres: Drama, Fantasy, Romance
Rated: PG-13
IMDb: 7.2 / 10
Metascore: 43 / 100
Awards: 3 wins & 6 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Parrish 418 lines, man
Joe 334 lines, man
Susan 256 lines, woman
Drew 168 lines, man
Quince 85 lines, man
Allison 79 lines, woman
Young Man 55 lines, man
Voice 39 lines
Easter 27 lines
Sloane 20 lines, man

Full cast, 28 people

Brad Pitt as Joe Black / Young Man in Coffee Shop
Anthony Hopkins as William Parrish
Claire Forlani as Susan Parrish
Jake Weber as Drew
Marcia Gay Harden as Allison
Jeffrey Tambor as Quince
David S. Howard as Eddie Sloane
Lois Kelly-Miller as Jamaican Woman
Jahnni St. John as Jamaican Woman's Daughter
Richard Clarke as Butler
Marylouise Burke as Lillian
Diane Kagan as Jennifer
June Squibb as Helen
Gene Canfield as Construction Foreman
Suzanne Hevner as Florist
Steve Coats as Electrician
Madeline Balmaceda as Madeline
Julie Lund as Drew's Secretary
Kay Gaffney as Boardmember
Anthony Kane as Boardmember
Joe H. Lamb as Boardmember
Robert C. Lee as Boardmember
Jim Taylor McNickle as Boardmember
Hardy Phippen Jr. as Boardmember
Stephen Adly Guirgis as Hospital Receptionist
Leo Marks as Party Waiter
Michelle Youell as Party Guest
Gene Leverone as Party Guest

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 2 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 76

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	0
3 to 4	0	0
5 to 6	23	13
7 to 8	23	44
9 to 10	2	12
11 to 12	2	7
13 to 14	0	7
15 to 16	13	18
17 to 18	0	10
19 to 20	3	21
21 to 22	13	9
23 to 24	6	13
25 to 26	26	113
27 to 28	0	33
29 to 30	0	6
31 to 32	0	0
33 to 34	21	31
35 to 36	0	20
37 to 38	0	30
39 to 40	0	45
41 to 42	20	44
43 to 44	16	86
45 to 46	15	49
47 to 48	25	41
49 to 50	29	64
51 to 52	0	38
53 to 54	0	16
55 to 56	15	23
57 to 58	0	31
59 to 60	12	26
61 to 62	0	14
63 to 64	0	1
65 to 66	10	17
67 to 68	0	32
69 to 70	18	11
71 to 72	20	61
73 to 74	0	16
75 to 76	25	101

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.

ALLISON: I'm Allison, you're 'honey'. SUSAN: Drew called from the AStar, they're still two minutes away.

ALLISON: No. SUSAN: Will you relax? I know it is a big deal day --

SUSAN: That's your name? ALLISON: And isn't it a lovely one? So sturdy, so straight --

SUSAN: So, what are you doing here? SUSAN: Cat got your tongue? You weren't so silent this morning. ALLISON: Now, I'm getting interested. I want to know more ---

SUSAN: Look who's talking. ALLISON: Yeah, speak for yourself.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 23 are women's.

337 lines from women, 1103 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

11 women and 16 men in the cast. 3 women and 5 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 5 of 1,544. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 117 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 21% of the words (3,084), men 79% (11,897). Women have 23% 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

3 of the 15 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 21% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Martin Brest (man)
Written by: Ron Osborn (man), Jeff Reno (man), Bo Goldman (man), Kevin Wade (man)
Produced by: Martin Brest (man)
Shot by: Emmanuel Lubezki (man)
Edited by: Joe Hutshing (man), Michael Tronick (man)
Music by: Thomas Newman (man)
Production design by: Dante Ferretti (man)
Costumes by: David C. Robinson (man), Aude Bronson-Howard (woman)
Cast by: Ellen Lewis (woman), Juliet Taylor (woman)