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Passes the Bechdel test

Parallel Mothers

2021. Directed by Pedro Almodóvar, written by Pedro Almodóvar.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

  1. Yes 1. At least two women
    12 women characters. 4 of them speak.
  2. Yes 2. Who talk to each other
    In 1 scene out of 2.
  3. Yes 3. About something besides a man
    In that scene, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.

Second opinion

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

Poster for Parallel Mothers

The film

Two women, Janis and Ana, coincide in a hospital room where they are going to give birth. Both are single and became pregnant by accident. Janis, middle-aged, doesn't regret it and she is exultant. The other, Ana, an adolescent, is scared, repentant and traumatized. Janis tries to encourage her while they move like sleepwalkers along the hospital corridors. The few words they exchange in these hours will create a very close link between the two, which by chance develops and complicates, and changes their lives in a decisive way.

Released
08 Oct 2021
Genres
Drama
Rated
R
IMDb
7.1 / 10
Metascore
88 / 100
Awards
Nominated for 2 Oscars. 26 wins & 94 nominations total
Elsewhere
View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

  • Women
  • Men
  • Not in the cast list
  • Bigger name, more lines
  1. Janis 295 lines, woman
  2. Ana 157 lines, woman
  3. Arturo 78 lines, man
  4. Teresa 44 lines, woman
  5. Mamen 23 lines, woman
  6. Brigida 8 lines, woman
  7. Director 8 lines
  8. Aturo 5 lines
  9. Niece 5 lines, woman
  10. Off 5 lines
Full cast, 30 people
  • Penélope Cruz as Janis
  • Milena Smit as Ana
  • Israel Elejalde as Arturo
  • Aitana Sánchez-Gijón as Teresa
  • Rossy de Palma as Elena
  • Julieta Serrano as Brígida
  • Arantxa Aranguren
  • Adelfa Calvo
  • José Javier Domínguez
  • Trinidad Iglesias
  • Inma Ochoa
  • Ana Peleteiro
  • Daniela Santiago
  • Chema Adeva
  • Luna Auria Contreras
  • Agustín Almodóvar
  • Carmen Flores Sandoval as Dolores
  • Alice Davies
  • Ainhoa Santamaría
  • Julio Manrique
  • María Jesús Hoyos
  • Mar Vidal
  • Lorenzo Profilio
  • Edy Pérez
  • Amets Iriondo
  • Adrián Navas
  • Yohana Yara
  • Pedro Casablanc
  • Carlotta Castro Bohórquez
  • Eira Rey Enríquez

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 1 scene, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 5% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 2

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 12417
2 to 251766

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.
JANIS: I’m not presentable… and I’m really busy now… Well, give me an hour. DEBORAH: When I finish the course on Spanish language and literature, I’d like to enroll for another one . Could I continue staying here? JANIS: I don’t know… If you stay, you’ll have to listen to everything I tell DEBORAH: No… no.
JANIS: I’ve told you that you have to put her on her side!! If she vomits when she’s on her back, she could choke! JANIS: Don’t you understand what I’m saying? JANIS: In two weeks you’ll have been here three months and I don’t want you to stay on! DEBORAH: But I’ve enrolled for classes!
JANIS: It was terrible, finding her when she was already dead… ANA: Hello, did I wake you? JANIS: Ana… I’m half asleep… from the tranquilizers… ANA: I’m sorry I left like that.
ANA: She’s sleepy. JANIS: I’m fine. We’re going to the house, to get settled in. MAMEN: I’m going to take a look at my house.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 87 are women's.

541 lines from women, 83 from men.

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

12 women and 6 men in the cast. 4 women and 1 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 4 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

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

Words spoken

Women speak 89% of the words (6,881), men 11% (857). Women have 87% of the lines, so their lines run longer than men's.

Exhibit E: the test the other way

Run the other way, for men, the film scores 0 out of 3.

Conversations between two named characters

Exhibit F: behind the camera

3 of the 9 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 42% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by
Pedro Almodóvar (man)
Written by
Pedro Almodóvar (man)
Produced by
Agustín Almodóvar (man)
Shot by
José Luis Alcaine (man)
Edited by
Teresa Font (woman)
Music by
Alberto Iglesias (man)
Production design by
Antxón Gómez (man)
Cast by
Eva Leira (woman), Yolanda Serrano (woman)

The crew, department by department

  • Art

    2 women, 3 men, 10 not listed

  • Camera

    0 women, 3 men, 7 not listed

  • Directing

    2 women, 2 men, 4 not listed

  • Costume & Make-Up

    1 women, 0 men, 6 not listed

  • Production

    3 women, 1 men, 3 not listed

  • Sound

    1 women, 4 men, 2 not listed

  • Lighting

    0 women, 1 men, 2 not listed

  • Editing

    1 women, 0 men, 1 not listed

  • Women
  • Men
  • Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit G: how old the stars were

Women: 55 on average. Men: 43 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Milena Smit 25, Penélope Cruz 47, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón 52, Arantxa Aranguren 55, Rossy de Palma 57, Adelfa Calvo 59, Julieta Serrano 88

Men

José Javier Domínguez 38, Israel Elejalde 47

Exhibit H: the money

It made 2.1 times what it cost.

Budget
$11 million
Box office
$23.1 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 2 scenes and 657 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

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