Passes the Bechdel test
Parasite
2019. Directed by Bong Joon Ho, written by Bong Joon Ho and Han Jin-won.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
26 women characters. 3 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 12 scenes out of 159. -
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.
The film
The Kims - mother and father Chung-sook and Ki-taek, and their young adult offspring, son Ki-woo and daughter Ki-jung - are a poor family living in a shabby and cramped half basement apartment in a busy lower working class commercial district of Seoul. Ki-woo is the one who has dreams of getting out of poverty by one day going to university. Despite not having that university education, Ki-woo is chosen by his university student friend Min, who is leaving to go to school, to take over his tutoring job to Park Da-hye, who Min plans to date once he returns to Seoul and she herself is in university. The Parks are a wealthy family who for four years have lived in their modernistic house designed by and the former residence of famed architect Namgoong. While Mr. and Mrs. Park are all about status, Mrs. Park has a flighty, simpleminded mentality and temperament, which Min tells Ki-woo to feel comfortable in lying to her about his education to get the job. In getting the job, Ki-woo further learns that Mrs. Park is looking for an art therapist for the Parks' adolescent son, Da-song, Ki-woo quickly recommending his professional art therapist friend "Jessica", really Ki-jung who he knows can pull off the scam in being the easiest liar of the four Kims. In Ki-woo also falling for Da-hye, he begins to envision himself in that house, and thus the Kims as a collective start a plan for all the Kims, like Ki-jung using assumed names, to replace existing servants in the Parks' employ in orchestrating reasons for them to be fired. The most difficult to get rid of may be Moon-gwang, the Parks' housekeeper who literally came with the house - she Namgoong's housekeeper when he lived there - and thus knows all the little nooks and crannies of it better than the Parks themselves. The question then becomes how far the Kims can take this scam in their quest to become their version of the Parks.
- Released
- 08 Nov 2019
- Genres
- Drama, Thriller
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 8.5 / 10
- Metascore
- 97 / 100
- Awards
- Won 4 Oscars. 309 wins & 261 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Ki-Woo 181 lines, man
- Yon-Kyo 157 lines, woman
- Ki-Tek 132 lines, man
- Chung-Sook 93 lines, woman
- Ki-Jung 91 lines, woman
- Dong-Ik 74 lines, man
- Mun-Kwang 71 lines, woman
- Da-Hae 35 lines
- Kun-Sae 25 lines, man
- Min-Hyuk 21 lines, man
Full cast, 85 people
- Song Kang-ho as Kim Ki-taek
- Lee Sun-kyun as Park Dong-ik
- Cho Yeo-jeong as Yeon-kyo
- Choi Woo-shik as Ki-woo
- Park So-dam as Ki-jung
- Lee Jung-eun as Moon-gwang
- Jang Hye-jin as Chung-sook
- Park Myung-hoon as Geun-se
- Jung Zi-so as Da-hye
- Jung Hyeon-jun as Da-song
- Park Keun-rok as Driver Yoon
- Jung Yi-seo as Pizza Manager
- Cho Jae-myung as Pizza Man
- Jeong Ik-han as Neighbor
- Kim Kyu-baek as Drunk 1
- Lee Dong-yong as Drunk 2
- Ahn Seong-bong as Street Man
- Yoon Young-woo as Benz Dealer
- Park Jae-wook as VR Specialist
- Jeon Eun-mi as Mart Cashier
- Kim Geon as Party Man
- Lee Joo-hyung as Party Man
- Kim Yeong-jo as Party people
- Kim Jung-woo as Party Man
- Baek Seung-hwan as Party Man
- Je Seung-hyun as Party Woman
- Park Hye-sook as Party Woman
- Choi Ji-won as Party Woman
- Lee Sang-kyung as Party Woman
- Kim Ha-eon as Party Kid
- Lee Ji-hye as A Singer
- Kim Bo-ryeong as Cellist
- Riccardo Ferraresso as Italy Chef
- Ko Kwan-jae as Doctor
- Lee Si-hoon as Detective
- Seo Bok-hyeon as JTBC Reporter
- Shim Soo-mi as JTBC Reporter
- Yoon Hye-ree as JTBC Reporter
- Andreas Fronk as German Father
- Anna Elisabeth Rihlmann as German Mother
- Rosie Peralta as Southeast Asian Housekeeper
- Shin Seung-min as Namgung Hyun-ja
- Park Seo-jun as Min-hyuk
- Kwak Sin-ae as Judge (voice)
- Choi Jeong-hyun as Assistant Chef
- Lee Eun-hee as Real Estate Woman
- Park Jae-wan as Designer Lee Ha-bong
- Hwang In-gyeong as PC Room Staff
- Lee Si-hoo as Golf Player
- Ahn Jin-sang as Shelter Official
- Jeong Il-hwa as Party Woman
- Seo Han-gyeol as Party Woman
- Kim Se-in as Real Estate Woman
- Baek Dong-hyun as Following Detective
- Kim Jin-hyung as Street Man
- Kang Hyun-gyu as Dong-ik's Company employee
- Seo Hee-young as Dong-ik's Company employee
- Jeong Ah-reum as Shelter woman
- Jeong Jae-hoon as Party Man
- Yang Sun-young as Party Woman
- Lee Ru-ah as Party Woman
- Jang Ji-woo as Nurse
- Han Mi-ja as Mart woman
- Kim I-seul as Party people
- Kim Hye-ryeon as Party people
- Kim Seong-joon as Party people
- Kim Sung-soo as Party people
- Park Mi-ae as Party people
- Park Ga-bin as Party people
- Seol-min as Party people
- Oh Sang-jun as Party people
- Lee In-gyeong as Party people
- Lee Si-eun as Party people
- Lee Do-woon as Party people
- Oh Byeol-ha as Party people
- Yoo In as Party people
- Yoo Chae-ryeon as Party people
- Jang Ye-won as Party people
- Jung Yu-ha as Party people
- Ji-yeon as Party people
- Ji Hye-young as Party people
- Ha Yoon-hee as Party people
- Joo Su-ji as Hair salon owner
- Melinda MacDonald as German daughter
- Sean Thomas as German son
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, 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 159
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 | 26 | 17 |
| 5 to 8 | 12 | 53 |
| 9 to 12 | 16 | 6 |
| 13 to 16 | 19 | 26 |
| 17 to 20 | 5 | 19 |
| 21 to 24 | 51 | 11 |
| 25 to 28 | 33 | 14 |
| 29 to 32 | 1 | 12 |
| 33 to 36 | 3 | 5 |
| 37 to 40 | 4 | 5 |
| 41 to 44 | 2 | 7 |
| 45 to 48 | 4 | 3 |
| 49 to 52 | 0 | 2 |
| 53 to 56 | 5 | 4 |
| 57 to 60 | 6 | 26 |
| 61 to 64 | 18 | 16 |
| 65 to 68 | 5 | 3 |
| 69 to 72 | 42 | 46 |
| 73 to 76 | 66 | 23 |
| 77 to 80 | 6 | 0 |
| 81 to 84 | 8 | 6 |
| 85 to 88 | 4 | 4 |
| 89 to 92 | 24 | 7 |
| 93 to 96 | 19 | 20 |
| 97 to 100 | 1 | 5 |
| 101 to 104 | 6 | 12 |
| 105 to 108 | 3 | 1 |
| 109 to 112 | 0 | 20 |
| 113 to 116 | 9 | 2 |
| 117 to 120 | 9 | 0 |
| 121 to 124 | 2 | 10 |
| 125 to 128 | 8 | 15 |
| 129 to 132 | 4 | 6 |
| 133 to 136 | 0 | 6 |
| 137 to 140 | 0 | 8 |
| 141 to 144 | 0 | 5 |
| 145 to 148 | 0 | 4 |
| 149 to 152 | 0 | 6 |
| 153 to 156 | 0 | 3 |
| 157 to 159 | 0 | 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.
CHUNG-SOOK: Shit! KI-JUNG: I told you to close it! CHUNG-SOOK: Fuck me.
PIZZA SHOP OWNER: Look at this for example. This shitty folding job here. PIZZA SHOP OWNER: One out of four. One-fourth of the boxes are unusable. CHUNG-SOOK: Still, you can’t cut ten percent from my pay. That’s too much. PIZZA SHOP OWNER: I should pay even less considering the number of botched boxes.
KI-JUNG: When were you a valet? CHUNG-SOOK: After the fried chicken and before the Taiwanese Castella. About six months, I’d say?
KI-JUNG: Thank you for calling The Care. This is senior advisor Yeo Myung- Sun. How may I help you? CHUNG-SOOK: She could have won an Oscar if she became an actress.
YON-KYO: I heard I need to sign up for a membership. KI-JUNG: That’s correct. We are a membership-only service. If you aren’t currently a member I can guide you through the steps to become one. YON-KYO: Sure, okay. KI-JUNG: Do you have a pen? I can give you the list of forms you need to submit.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 49 are women's.
421 lines from women, 444 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
26 women and 31 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 3 of 911.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 42 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 46% of the words (4,836), men 54% (5,631). Women have 49% 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
40
Two men
39
Exhibit F: behind the camera
2 of the 13 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 29% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Bong Joon Ho (man)
- Written by
- Han Jin-won (man), Bong Joon Ho (man)
- Story by
- Bong Joon Ho (man)
- Produced by
- Jang Young-hwan (man), Kwak Sin-ae (woman), Moon Yang-kwon (gender not listed), Bong Joon Ho (man)
- Shot by
- Hong Kyung-pyo (man)
- Edited by
- Yang Jin-mo (man)
- Music by
- Jung Jae-il (man)
- Production design by
- Lee Ha-jun (man)
- Costumes by
- Choi Se-yeon (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Visual Effects
1 women, 5 men, 64 not listed
-
Sound
4 women, 5 men, 8 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
2 women, 1 men, 11 not listed
-
Other crew
2 women, 7 men, 5 not listed
-
Production
2 women, 3 men, 9 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 2 men, 8 not listed
-
Art
2 women, 2 men, 5 not listed
-
Lighting
0 women, 1 men, 6 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 35 on average. Men: 35 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Jung Zi-so 19, Park So-dam 27, Cho Yeo-jeong 38, Jang Hye-jin 43, Lee Jung-eun 49
Men
Jung Hyeon-jun 7, Choi Woo-shik 29, Lee Sun-kyun 44, Park Myung-hoon 44, Song Kang-ho 52
Exhibit H: the money
It made 22.7 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $11.4 million
- Box office
- $258 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 159 scenes and 911 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
