Passes the Bechdel test

Punch-Drunk Love

Name: Punch-Drunk Love
Released: 2002

2002. Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, written by Paul Thomas Anderson.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
4 women characters. 4 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 1 scene out of 85.
Yes 3. About something besides a man
In that scene, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.

Second opinion

Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.

The film

Barry Egan hates himself and hates his life. The only male among eight siblings, Barry is treated poorly by his overbearing sisters. Despite owning his own business, he has gotten nowhere in life largely because of his insecurities. He leads a solitary life, which allows him to hide his violent outbursts that occur when he's frustrated. His solitude however allows him to think, he stumbling upon a scheme to travel the world on a pittance, travel which he has never done. Concurrently, he meets two people who pull him in two different directions. The first is Lena Leonard, a friend of his sister Elizabeth. Barry is slow to realize that Lena is attracted to him, he making her make all the first moves. Lena is eventually able to get Barry out of his shell, she who sticks around despite his obvious problems. His burgeoning relationship and thus new life with Lena is threatened by the second, "Georgia", who he contacted in an effort to alleviate his loneliness. Georgia and her "band of brothers" do whatever they can get get out of Barry what they want, no matter the price to Barry.

Released: 01 Nov 2002
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Rated: R
IMDb: 7.3 / 10
Metascore: 78 / 100
Awards: 14 wins & 37 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Barry 414 lines, man
Lena 132 lines, woman
Elizabeth 69 lines, woman
Sexy Voice 60 lines, woman
Dean 33 lines, man
David 25 lines, man
Lance 25 lines, man
Kathleen 19 lines
Manager 18 lines, man
Latisha 17 lines, woman

Full cast, 54 people

Adam Sandler as Barry Egan
Emily Watson as Lena Leonard
Philip Seymour Hoffman as Dean Trumbell
Luis Guzmán as Lance
Mary Lynn Rajskub as Elizabeth Egan
Robert Smigel as Walter the Dentist
Jason Andrews as Operator Carter (voice)
Don McManus as Plastic (voice)
David Schrempf as Customer #1
Seann Conway as Customer #2
Rico Bueno as Rico
Hazel Mailloux as Rhonda
Karen Kilgariff as Anna (voice)
Julie Hermelin as Kathleen
Salvador Curiel as Sal
Jorge Barahona as Jorge
Ernesto Quintero as Ernesto
Julius Steuer as Mechanic
Lisa Spector as Susan
Nicole Gelbard as Nicole
Mia Weinberg as Gilda
Karen Hermelin as Anna
Larry Ring as Steve - Brother-in-Law
Kerry Gelbard as Richard - Brother-in-Law
Ashley Clark as Phone Sex Sister
Alan Parry as Member of After Eden Band
John E. Beck as Member of After Eden Band
Eddie Wayne Howell as Member of After Eden Band
Taylor J. Thomas as Member of After Eden Band
Bobby Bluehouse as After Eden Sound Man
David H. Stevens as David
Nathan Stevens as Nate
Jimmy Stevens as Jim
Carol Mirelez as Phone Sex Girl #1 - Utah
June Sepulveda as Phone Sex Girl #2 - Utah
Andrew Higgs as Restaurant Manager
Rogerlyn Kanealii Wakinekona as Lena's Apartment Receptionist
Mike D. Stevens as Mike D.
Catherine Cooley as Flight Attendant
Michael Immel as Man on Plane
Ross Lasi Tanoai as Cab Driver
Jonathan Loughran as Wrong Number (voice)
Kaila as Member of Ladies K Band
Ku'Ulei as Member of Ladies K Band
Sissy Lake as Hula Dancer
Marie Irwin as Lena's Nurse
Esther Imade Balogun as Receptionist Nurse
Thomas Bornt as Dean's Employee
Mary Kilmartin as D&D Mattress Customer
Anica Brown as Parader (uncredited)
Ryder Davis as Customer (uncredited)
Wells Rosales as Leo (uncredited)
Shelley Waggener as Co-Worker (uncredited)
Joji Yoshida as Japanese Tourist (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 7% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 85

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 2	0	13
3 to 4	10	31
5 to 6	0	43
7 to 8	17	16
9 to 10	0	2
11 to 12	6	34
13 to 14	35	36
15 to 16	8	7
17 to 18	18	18
19 to 20	82	75
21 to 22	6	18
23 to 24	5	15
25 to 26	0	0
27 to 28	19	18
29 to 30	6	42
31 to 32	12	11
33 to 34	5	5
35 to 36	6	6
37 to 38	0	30
39 to 40	0	3
41 to 42	0	2
43 to 44	1	14
45 to 46	0	1
47 to 48	4	8
49 to 50	0	6
51 to 52	0	12
53 to 54	0	2
55 to 56	0	0
57 to 58	1	2
59 to 60	17	25
61 to 62	2	2
63 to 64	7	6
65 to 66	0	3
67 to 68	19	4
69 to 70	0	0
71 to 72	4	6
73 to 74	5	4
75 to 76	3	2
77 to 78	6	21
79 to 80	0	4
81 to 82	0	9
83 to 84	0	4
85 to 85	3	4

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.

LENA: It's ok. That's alright. ELIZABETH: Are you learning how to play the piano? What is that?

ELIZABETH: You're being weird again, see. Come on. Please don't be weird. ELIZABETH: I gotta grab something from my car.... LENA: We should be going -- ELIZABETH: Yeah, no, I have to get something from my car, I said.

ELIZABETH: I can't find that thing in my car, I can't find it so I'll just get it and give it to you later. So? LENA: You ready? ELIZABETH: Are you coming to eat with us?

ELIZABETH: OH MY GOD. Look at that. LENA: It was great to meet you again. To see you again, thanks for helping me yesterday --

ELIZABETH: Call me later. ELIZABETH: So I'll meet you at the restaraunt? LENA: Ok.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 35 are women's.

307 lines from women, 564 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

4 women and 12 men in the cast. 4 women and 14 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 28 of 939. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 86 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 35% of the words (2,701), men 65% (5,084).

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

3 of the 11 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 23% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Paul Thomas Anderson (man)
Written by: Paul Thomas Anderson (man)
Produced by: Paul Thomas Anderson (man), Daniel Lupi (man), JoAnne Sellar (woman)
Shot by: Robert Elswit (man)
Edited by: Leslie Jones (woman)
Music by: Jon Brion (man)
Production design by: William Arnold (man)
Costumes by: Mark Bridges (man)
Cast by: Cassandra Kulukundis (woman)