Passes the Bechdel test

Roma

Name: Roma
Released: 2018

2018. Directed by Alfonso Cuarón, written by Alfonso Cuarón.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
3 women characters. 3 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 9 scenes out of 148.
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.

The film

Cleo is one of two domestic workers who help Antonio and Sofía take care of their four children in 1970s Mexico City. Complications soon arise when Antonio suddenly runs away with his mistress and Cleo finds out that she's pregnant. When Sofía decides to take the kids on vacation, she invites Cleo for a much-needed getaway to clear her mind and bond with the family.

Released: 14 Dec 2018
Genres: Drama
Rated: R
IMDb: 7.6 / 10
Metascore: 96 / 100
Awards: Won 3 Oscars. 256 wins & 230 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Cleo 199 lines, woman
Pepe 68 lines, man
Paco 63 lines, man
Sofi 45 lines
Adela 38 lines, woman
Benita 24 lines, woman
Professor Zovek 15 lines, man
Dr. Alejandro Matos 7 lines, man
Old Man With Oranges 7 lines, man
Ove 6 lines, man

Full cast, 22 people

Yalitza Aparicio as Cleo Gutiérrez
Marina de Tavira as Sofía
Diego Cortina Autrey as Toño
Carlos Peralta as Paco
Marco Graf as Pepe
Daniela Demesa as Sofi
Nancy García García as Adela
Verónica García as Teresa
Fernando Grediaga as Antonio
Jorge Antonio Guerrero as Fermín
José Manuel Guerrero Mendoza as Ramón
Andy Cortés as Ignacio
Victor Manuel Resendiz Ruiz as Professor Zovek
Zarela Lizbeth Chinolla Arellano as Dr. Velez
José Luis López Gómez as Pediatrician
Edwin Mendoza Ramírez as Resident Doctor
Clementina Guadarrama as Benita
Enoc Leaño as Politician
Nicolás Peréz Taylor Félix as Beto Pardo
Kjartan Halvorsen as Ove Larsen
Alejandra Herrera as Student
Luca De Massis as Lucas (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 17% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 148

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

ADELA: Manita! It’s almost one...! CLEO: Ay, chicú...!

CLEO: Move over! ADELA: Órale! CLEO: Make some chamomile tea for the señora and get going. ADELA: Just don’t take too long...

ADELA: You took forever! CLEO: Turn the light off already! Señora Teresa gets angry if she sees the light on! ADELA: Ready? CLEO: Go...

CLEO: ...I won... ADELA: ...No...we’re...tied...

ADELA: What movie are we watching? CLEO: Sure. I like movies, don’t you? CLEO: Yep, sure is clear. CLEO: You want to go to the Alameda?

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 61 are women's.

273 lines from women, 177 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

3 women and 5 men in the cast. 3 women and 3 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 29 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 59% of the words (1,728), men 41% (1,208). Women have 61% 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

2 of the 10 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 18% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Alfonso Cuarón (man)
Written by: Alfonso Cuarón (man)
Produced by: Nicolás Celis (man), Alfonso Cuarón (man), Gabriela Rodríguez (woman)
Shot by: Alfonso Cuarón (man)
Edited by: Alfonso Cuarón (man), Adam Gough (man)
Production design by: Eugenio Caballero (man)
Costumes by: Anna Terrazas (woman)