Passes the Bechdel test

Minari

Name: Minari
Released: 2021

2021. Directed by Lee Isaac Chung, written by Lee Isaac Chung.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
10 women characters. 9 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 14 scenes out of 160.
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

Jacob Yi, an ambitious family man yearning to own a small patch of land and be more than a chicken sexer, moves his Korean-American family from 1980s California to rural Arkansas to start afresh and capture the elusive American Dream. However, new beginnings are always challenging. After all, finding out what is best for the family, let alone starting a 50-acre farm to grow and sell Korean fruits and vegetables, is easier said than done. But amid sincere promises, cultural unease, fleeting hopes, and the ever-present threat of financial disaster, Jacob is confident that he has found their slice of Eden in Arkansas' rich, dark soil. Can grandma's humble but resilient minari help the Yi family find their place in the world?

Released: 12 Feb 2021
Genres: Drama
Rated: PG-13
IMDb: 7.4 / 10
Metascore: 89 / 100
Awards: Won 1 Oscar. 120 wins & 241 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Monica 184 lines, woman
Jacob 173 lines, man
David 107 lines, man
Soonja 105 lines, woman
Anne 81 lines, woman
Paul 56 lines, man
Johnnie 15 lines, man
Mrs. Oh 12 lines, woman
Billy 7 lines, man
Doctor 6 lines, man

Full cast, 25 people

Steven Yeun as Jacob
Han Ye-ri as Monica
Youn Yuh-jung as Soonja
Will Patton as Paul
Alan Kim as David
Noel Kate Cho as Anne
Darryl Cox as Mr. Harlan
Esther Moon as Mrs. Oh
Ben Hall as Dowsing Dan
Eric Starkey as Randy Boomer
Jacob Wade as Johnnie
James Carroll as Brother Roy
Jenny Phagan as Bonnie
Tina Parker as Debbie
Chloe Lee as June
Joel Telford as Older Kid
Scott Haze as Billy
Kaye Brownlee-France as Lab Tech
Skip Schwink as Doctor
Tea Oh as Grocery Store Owner
Debbi Tucker as Hospital Visitor (uncredited)
Ed Spinelli as Church Member (uncredited)
Ernie Robinson as Church Member (uncredited)
Danny Frost as Church Member (uncredited)
Jonnie Parnell as Bank Teller (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 160

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 4	4	2
5 to 8	15	10
9 to 12	16	5
13 to 16	7	31
17 to 20	11	12
21 to 24	21	12
25 to 28	4	16
29 to 32	4	3
33 to 36	2	19
37 to 40	6	5
41 to 44	16	6
45 to 48	28	16
49 to 52	8	7
53 to 56	17	5
57 to 60	16	3
61 to 64	18	6
65 to 68	28	11
69 to 72	9	24
73 to 76	2	8
77 to 80	8	10
81 to 84	20	22
85 to 88	0	1
89 to 92	2	14
93 to 96	5	2
97 to 100	15	3
101 to 104	12	7
105 to 108	15	1
109 to 112	11	8
113 to 116	4	5
117 to 120	5	20
121 to 124	1	16
125 to 128	12	2
129 to 132	6	13
133 to 136	8	11
137 to 140	12	4
141 to 144	13	15
145 to 148	7	13
149 to 152	5	4
153 to 156	5	8
157 to 160	1	6

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.

ANNE: [Where should grandma’s picture go?] MONICA: [We’re not staying. Leave it in there.] ANNE: Is the murmur getting louder? MONICA: [Mmm. We will need to keep checking. ...We need to find a home near a hospital too.]

ANNE: [Mom. Why will the house fly away?] MONICA: [It isn’t attached to the land.] ANNE: [But why?] MONICA: [Didn’t you see? The house is on wheels.]

MONICA: [Of course we aren’t on any map.] ANNE: God please save our family. God please save our family...

ANNE: [Why don’t you ever hang this up?] MONICA: [This?] ANNE: [In other houses they put up wedding pictures...] MONICA: [Is that so? Maybe later...]

MONICA: [We need to get you both new shoes. There’s a clothing store in that little town.] MONICA: [We’ll look our best for grandma.] ANNE: [Mom, from now on, do we have to burn all our trash?] MONICA: [Yes. Isn’t the city better? Careful of the smoke.]

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 51 are women's.

399 lines from women, 386 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

10 women and 15 men in the cast. 9 women and 11 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 29 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 49% of the words (3,122), men 51% (3,227). Women have 51% 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

5 of the 11 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 33% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Lee Isaac Chung (man)
Written by: Lee Isaac Chung (man)
Produced by: Jeremy Kleiner (man), Dede Gardner (woman), Christina Oh (woman)
Shot by: Lachlan Milne (man)
Edited by: Harry Yoon (man)
Music by: Emile Mosseri (man)
Production design by: Lee Yong-ok (woman)
Costumes by: Susanna Song (woman)
Cast by: Julia Kim (woman)