Passes the Bechdel test

Puzzle

Name: Puzzle
Released: 2018

2018. Directed by Marc Turtletaub, written by Polly Mann and Oren Moverman and Natalia Smirnoff.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
6 women characters. 6 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 5 scenes out of 175.
Yes 3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.

Second opinion

Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.

The film

The film centers on a fortysomething suburban mother whose world is consumed with caring for the men in her family. When she discovers she has a gift for assembling puzzles, her world begins to open and her entire family is forced to adjust and grow as well.

Released: 07 Sep 2018
Genres: Drama, Mystery, Romance
Rated: R
IMDb: 6.7 / 10
Metascore: 66 / 100
Awards: 2 wins & 2 nominations
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Agnes 433 lines, woman
Robert 200 lines, man
Louie 180 lines, man
Ziggy 75 lines, man
Gabe 60 lines, man
Nicki 20 lines, woman
Ronnie 8 lines, man
Young Man 8 lines, man
Aunt Emily 7 lines, woman
Train Conductor 7 lines, man

Full cast, 17 people

Kelly Macdonald as Agnes
Irrfan Khan as Robert
David Denman as Louie
Daniel Stewart Sherman as Ronnie
Austin Abrams as Gabe
Bubba Weiler as Ziggy
Helen Coxe as Ezster
Mandela Bellamy as Grocery Clerk
Liv Hewson as Nicki
Lori Hammel as Fanny
Lawrence Arancio as Train Conductor
Sebastian Chacon as Puzzlemania Clerk
Barry Godin as Father Kutash
Matthew Shifrin as Subway Singer
Myrna Cabello as Maria
Audrie Neenan as Aunt Emily
Mhari Sandoval as Puzzle Competition MC

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 1% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 175

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	1	4
5 to 8	11	9
9 to 12	2	3
13 to 16	2	0
17 to 20	7	5
21 to 24	8	15
25 to 28	4	0
29 to 32	6	11
33 to 36	15	13
37 to 40	3	0
41 to 44	27	21
45 to 48	7	5
49 to 52	7	8
53 to 56	0	0
57 to 60	0	1
61 to 64	11	8
65 to 68	17	23
69 to 72	16	23
73 to 76	24	24
77 to 80	2	2
81 to 84	15	29
85 to 88	23	28
89 to 92	21	20
93 to 96	31	25
97 to 100	10	10
101 to 104	23	26
105 to 108	10	14
109 to 112	16	20
113 to 116	8	8
117 to 120	8	9
121 to 124	10	17
125 to 128	25	26
129 to 132	16	23
133 to 136	18	32
137 to 140	7	12
141 to 144	10	6
145 to 148	6	10
149 to 152	1	1
153 to 156	11	15
157 to 160	13	17
161 to 164	0	1
165 to 168	8	8
169 to 172	5	4
173 to 175	11	9

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.

EZSTER: Do you need a hand? AGNES: What? Oh. No. I’m-- I’m missing a piece. It’s tiny. I’ll never find it. EZSTER: There’s no shame in asking for help, you know. You don’t have to do everything. AGNES: I know. I know. But-- I like doing everything. I don’t need any help. Thank you.

AGNES: I’m trying. I know. I’m trying. GROCERY CLERK: All set. AGNES: Thank you.

AGNES: I thought you just didn't eat red meat. NICKI: I'm vegan.

AGNES: The way we were raised, everything had to come with meat. I’m sorry. NICKI: It's fine. I can eat the salad. And bread. I’m fine. AGNES: Have you always been this way?

AGNES: You know, I have no idea what that really means. Buddhist. I always hear people talking about Buddhism and celebrities and nobody says what … NICKI: It's like-- Like the root of all suffering is our desire not to suffer. NICKI: So we have to give up on the idea of being happy

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 47 are women's.

476 lines from women, 545 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

6 women and 7 men in the cast. 6 women and 9 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 4 of 1,032. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 10 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 42% of the words (4,565), men 58% (6,197). Women have 47% 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

Two men

Exhibit F: behind the camera

4 of the 12 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 33% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Marc Turtletaub (man)
Written by: Polly Mann (woman), Oren Moverman (man)
Produced by: Marc Turtletaub (man), Peter Saraf (man), Guy Stodel (man), Wren Arthur (gender not listed)
Shot by: Christopher Norr (man)
Edited by: Catherine Haight (woman)
Music by: Dustin O'Halloran (man)
Production design by: Roshelle Berliner (woman)
Cast by: Avy Kaufman (woman)