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Passes the Bechdel test

Only Lovers Left Alive

2013. Directed by Jim Jarmusch, written by Jim Jarmusch and Marion Bessay.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

  1. Yes 1. At least two women
    4 women characters. 3 of them speak.
  2. Yes 2. Who talk to each other
    In 5 scenes out of 73.
  3. 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, though someone marked that rating as dubious.

Poster for Only Lovers Left Alive

The film

Set against the romantic desolation of Detroit and Tangiers, an underground musician, deeply depressed by the direction of human activities, reunites with his resilient and enigmatic lover. Their love story has already endured several centuries at least, but their debauched idyll is soon disrupted by her wild and uncontrollable younger sister. Can these wise but fragile outsiders continue to survive as the modern world collapses around them?

Released
25 Dec 2013
Genres
Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
Rated
R
IMDb
7.2 / 10
Metascore
79 / 100
Awards
8 wins & 44 nominations total
Elsewhere
View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

  • Women
  • Men
  • Not in the cast list
  • Bigger name, more lines
  1. Eve 270 lines, woman
  2. Adam 262 lines, man
  3. Ava 65 lines, woman
  4. Ian 53 lines, man
  5. Marlowe 24 lines, man
  6. Over Black 5 lines
  7. Pharmacist 5 lines, man
  8. Man 4 lines, man
  9. Barman 3 lines, man
  10. Man In Street 3 lines, man
Full cast, 26 people
  • Tilda Swinton as Eve
  • Tom Hiddleston as Adam
  • Anton Yelchin as Ian
  • Mia Wasikowska as Ava
  • Jeffrey Wright as Dr. Watson
  • Slimane Dazi as Bilal
  • John Hurt as Christopher Marlowe
  • Carter Logan as Scott
  • Aurélie Thépaut as Flight Attendant
  • Ali Amine as Taxi Driver, Detroit
  • Dave W. as White Hills
  • Ego Sensation as White Hills
  • Nick Name as White Hills
  • Fouad El Achaari as Man on Street, Tangier
  • Hawchi Mustapha as Man on Street, Tangier
  • Abdelkader Dourkan as Man on Street, Tangier
  • Mohamed Chairi Felah as Man on Street, Tangier
  • Bilal Chair Felah as Man on Street, Tangier
  • Omar Raissouli as Man on Street, Tangier
  • Yasmine Hamdan as Yasmine
  • Marc Codsi as Guitarist
  • Noureddine Touati as Gnaoua Player
  • Hanane El Karni as Young Moroccan Lover
  • Hamza Kadri as Young Moroccan Lover
  • Marié Tanaka Kretschmer as Audience (uncredited)
  • Cody Stauber as Adam's Fan (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 2% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 73

Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.

Show the numbers
ScenesWomen's linesMen's lines
1 to 200
3 to 411
5 to 6039
7 to 802
9 to 1008
11 to 12119
13 to 1410
15 to 1611
17 to 1800
19 to 2000
21 to 2202
23 to 2412
25 to 2622
27 to 282218
29 to 30106
31 to 3241
33 to 34023
35 to 3653
37 to 383025
39 to 402120
41 to 42119
43 to 443225
45 to 462611
47 to 48196
49 to 503335
51 to 521214
53 to 54207
55 to 561412
57 to 5854
59 to 60911
61 to 6254
63 to 6489
65 to 6628
67 to 68415
69 to 701111
71 to 7222
73 to 731413

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.
FLIGHT ATTENDANT: Oh, I really like your scarf. You know this is now very chic in Paris! EVE: Is it? Oh. Thank you.
AVA: What? When? Are you still upset about the Paris thing? EVE: Are you alone? AVA: Yeah! But I’m really, really, really hungry. AVA: Do you maybe have something?
EVE: Ava! AVA: I just want to see where you keep it.
EVE: What is it Ava? AVA: Isn’t it time to get up? It’s dark out already and I’m starving.
EVE: Why don’t you go get dressed, and then we’ll get up and we can all have breakfast together. AVA: Some more of that good stuff? EVE: Yeah. AVA: Where do you keep it?

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 48 are women's.

336 lines from women, 358 from men.

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

4 women and 8 men in the cast. 3 women and 4 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 4 of 706. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 50 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

  • First line by a woman
  • Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 50% of the words (3,118), men 50% (3,159). Women have 48% 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

Exhibit F: behind the camera

2 of the 11 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 26% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by
Jim Jarmusch (man)
Written by
Jim Jarmusch (man)
Produced by
Jeremy Thomas (man), Reinhard Brundig (man)
Shot by
Yorick Le Saux (man)
Edited by
Affonso Gonçalves (man)
Music by
Jozef van Wissem (man)
Production design by
Marco Bittner Rosser (man)
Costumes by
Bina Daigeler (woman)
Cast by
Ellen Lewis (woman), Dayna Polehanki (gender not listed)

The crew, department by department

  • Other crew

    9 women, 20 men, 94 not listed

  • Production

    7 women, 20 men, 47 not listed

  • Art

    7 women, 6 men, 48 not listed

  • Sound

    2 women, 22 men, 8 not listed

  • Costume & Make-Up

    5 women, 4 men, 15 not listed

  • Visual Effects

    0 women, 4 men, 20 not listed

  • Camera

    1 women, 7 men, 12 not listed

  • Lighting

    0 women, 1 men, 15 not listed

  • Women
  • Men
  • Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit G: how old the stars were

Women: 38 on average. Men: 46 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Mia Wasikowska 24, Aurélie Thépaut 36, Tilda Swinton 53

Men

Anton Yelchin 24, Tom Hiddleston 32, Jeffrey Wright 48, Slimane Dazi 53, John Hurt 73

Exhibit H: the money

It made 1.2 times what it cost.

Budget
$7 million
Box office
$8.2 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 73 scenes and 706 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

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