Fails the Bechdel test
Past Lives
2023. Directed by Celine Song, written by Celine Song.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
11 women characters. 6 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
Women do talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Every conversation between women that our parser found mentions a man.
Second opinion
Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3.
The film
In Korea, Na Young, a girl and Hae Sung, a boy are school mates and good friends. They often walk back home together after school. Na Young moves to Canada and then to New York with her parents. Hae Sung continues living in Korea, does his engineering course, goes through a short spell of military service and then takes up a job. Both keep in touch periodically through video chats where they talk of their past and general stuff. Meanwhile in New York, Na has changed her name to Nora, made a name as a playwright and is happily married to Arthur, an American. Hae is keen to meet Nora and visits her in New York where he spends some time with her and Arthur. What has the future in store for Nora and Hae in their relationship?
- Released
- 23 Jun 2023
- Genres
- Drama, Romance
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 7.8 / 10
- Metascore
- 94 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 2 Oscars. 83 wins & 240 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Nora 207 lines, woman
- Hae Sung 177 lines, man
- Arthur 84 lines, man
- Na Young 20 lines
- Mom 17 lines, woman
- Friend Two 11 lines, man
- Cbp Officer 7 lines, man
- Friend One 7 lines, man
- Girl 6 lines, woman
- Guy 5 lines, man
Full cast, 26 people
- Greta Lee as Nora
- Teo Yoo as Hae Sung
- John Magaro as Arthur
- Moon Seung-ah as Young Nora
- Leem Seung-min as Young Hae Sung
- Yoon Ji-hye as Nora's Mom
- Choi Won-young as Nora's Dad
- An Min-young as Hae Sung's Mom
- Seo Yeon-woo as Young Si Young
- Chang Ki-ha as Hae Sung's Friend 1
- Shin Hee-cheol as Hae Sung's Friend 2
- Park Jun-hyuk as Hae Sung's Friend 3
- Jack Alberts as CBP Officer
- Jane Yubin Kim as Actress
- Noo Ri Song as Na Young's Childhood Friend 1
- Si Ah Jin as Na Young's Childhood Friend 2
- Yoon Seo Choi as Na Young's Childhood Friend 3
- Hwang Seung-eon as Hae Sung's Girlfriend
- Jojo T. Gibbs as Janice
- Emily Cass McDonnell as Rachel
- Federico Rodriguez as Robert
- Conrad Schott as Peter
- Kristen Sieh as Heather
- Oge Agulué as Ferry Line Security Guard
- Chase Sui Wonders as Girl (voice)
- Isaac Powell as Guy (voice)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 4% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 104
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 3 | 6 | 9 |
| 4 to 6 | 8 | 1 |
| 7 to 9 | 9 | 0 |
| 10 to 12 | 0 | 7 |
| 13 to 15 | 4 | 0 |
| 16 to 18 | 0 | 0 |
| 19 to 21 | 15 | 10 |
| 22 to 24 | 2 | 3 |
| 25 to 27 | 16 | 17 |
| 28 to 30 | 12 | 13 |
| 31 to 33 | 2 | 3 |
| 34 to 36 | 4 | 5 |
| 37 to 39 | 6 | 3 |
| 40 to 42 | 1 | 1 |
| 43 to 45 | 5 | 3 |
| 46 to 48 | 11 | 9 |
| 49 to 51 | 0 | 0 |
| 52 to 54 | 0 | 7 |
| 55 to 57 | 3 | 4 |
| 58 to 60 | 3 | 0 |
| 61 to 63 | 6 | 3 |
| 64 to 66 | 3 | 13 |
| 67 to 69 | 8 | 8 |
| 70 to 72 | 0 | 9 |
| 73 to 75 | 0 | 0 |
| 76 to 78 | 6 | 7 |
| 79 to 81 | 18 | 21 |
| 82 to 84 | 10 | 12 |
| 85 to 87 | 12 | 12 |
| 88 to 90 | 30 | 30 |
| 91 to 93 | 1 | 1 |
| 94 to 96 | 5 | 14 |
| 97 to 99 | 35 | 58 |
| 100 to 102 | 3 | 8 |
| 103 to 104 | 2 | 5 |
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 45 are women's.
246 lines from women, 296 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
11 women and 9 men in the cast. 6 women and 7 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
A woman speaks the first line.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 14 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 44% of the words (2,601), men 56% (3,286). Women have 45% of the lines, so their lines run shorter than men's.
Exhibit D: 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
1
Two men
14
Exhibit E: behind the camera
7 of the 13 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 47% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Celine Song (woman)
- Written by
- Celine Song (woman)
- Produced by
- Christine Vachon (woman), Pamela Koffler (woman), David Hinojosa (man)
- Shot by
- Shabier Kirchner (man)
- Edited by
- Keith Fraase (man)
- Music by
- Christopher Bear (man), Daniel Rossen (man)
- Production design by
- Grace Yun (woman)
- Costumes by
- Katina Danabassis (gender not listed)
- Cast by
- Ellen Chenoweth (woman), Susanne Scheel (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
13 women, 7 men, 33 not listed
-
Art
4 women, 2 men, 30 not listed
-
Camera
1 women, 7 men, 13 not listed
-
Other crew
3 women, 3 men, 13 not listed
-
Sound
2 women, 10 men, 5 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
4 women, 0 men, 12 not listed
-
Lighting
0 women, 1 men, 10 not listed
-
Directing
2 women, 2 men, 2 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 32 on average. Men: 37 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Seo Yeon-woo 10, Moon Seung-ah 13, Greta Lee 40, Yoon Ji-hye 43, An Min-young 52
Men
Leem Seung-min 15, John Magaro 40, Chang Ki-ha 41, Teo Yoo 42, Choi Won-young 47
Exhibit G: the money
It made 2.3 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $12 million
- Box office
- $28.1 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 104 scenes and 563 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
