Passes the Bechdel test
Ruby Sparks
2012. Directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, written by Zoe Kazan.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
15 women characters. 10 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 5 scenes out of 126. -
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
Calvin is a genius novelist who begins to type a new novel on his manual typewriter about Ruby, his dream girl. He can't believe his eyes, because the next day, Ruby becomes a real person, and they begin to have a beautiful relationship together. If the relationship isn't perfect, all Calvin has to do is simply type the words on the page and Ruby's actions change to what he needs.
- Released
- 06 Sep 2012
- Genres
- Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.2 / 10
- Metascore
- 67 / 100
- Awards
- 1 win & 11 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Calvin 425 lines, man
- Ruby 219 lines, woman
- Harry 120 lines, man
- Gertrude 42 lines, woman
- Dr. Rosenthal 35 lines, man
- Cyrus 24 lines, man
- Langdon Tharp 24 lines, man
- Mort 22 lines, man
- Girl 20 lines, woman
- Mabel 19 lines, woman
Full cast, 31 people
- Paul Dano as Calvin
- Zoe Kazan as Ruby
- Chris Messina as Harry
- Annette Bening as Gertrude
- Antonio Banderas as Mort
- Alia Shawkat as Mabel
- Deborah Ann Woll as Lila
- Steve Coogan as Langdon Tharp
- Elliott Gould as Dr. Rosenthal
- Aasif Mandvi as Cyrus Modi
- Toni Trucks as Susie
- Eleanor Seigler as Mandi
- John F. Beach as Adam
- Jane Anne Thomas as Saskia
- Wallace Langham as Warren
- Mary Jo Deschanel as Female Professor
- Emma Jacobs as Party Goer at Langdon's
- Rightor Doyle as Party Goer 1 - Hammer
- Eden Brolin as Party Goer 2 - Hammer
- Kai Lennox as Sort of Weird Guy
- Ole Olofson as Older Dude
- Jack Levinson as Party Goer 2 - Book Release
- China Shavers as Party Goer 1 - Book Release
- Casey Genton as Busboy
- Michael Berry Jr. as Silverlake Passerby
- Lindsay Fishkin as Box Office Teller
- Claudia Bestor as Lecture Curator
- Diana Parros as Book Club Member (uncredited)
- Mark Roman as Literary Fan (uncredited)
- Tatiana Sarasty as Book Club Member (uncredited)
- Marco Tazioli as Book Club Groupie (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 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 126
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 | 4 | 1 |
| 4 to 6 | 0 | 23 |
| 7 to 9 | 0 | 30 |
| 10 to 12 | 0 | 18 |
| 13 to 15 | 6 | 12 |
| 16 to 18 | 19 | 18 |
| 19 to 21 | 0 | 38 |
| 22 to 24 | 0 | 5 |
| 25 to 27 | 0 | 3 |
| 28 to 30 | 2 | 8 |
| 31 to 33 | 7 | 41 |
| 34 to 36 | 1 | 3 |
| 37 to 39 | 22 | 35 |
| 40 to 42 | 4 | 23 |
| 43 to 45 | 11 | 9 |
| 46 to 48 | 36 | 27 |
| 49 to 51 | 7 | 26 |
| 52 to 54 | 2 | 35 |
| 55 to 57 | 6 | 2 |
| 58 to 60 | 7 | 42 |
| 61 to 63 | 24 | 25 |
| 64 to 66 | 21 | 6 |
| 67 to 69 | 12 | 16 |
| 70 to 72 | 12 | 10 |
| 73 to 75 | 26 | 26 |
| 76 to 78 | 10 | 11 |
| 79 to 81 | 4 | 3 |
| 82 to 84 | 7 | 6 |
| 85 to 87 | 5 | 2 |
| 88 to 90 | 2 | 14 |
| 91 to 93 | 2 | 1 |
| 94 to 96 | 3 | 25 |
| 97 to 99 | 12 | 19 |
| 100 to 102 | 1 | 6 |
| 103 to 105 | 6 | 9 |
| 106 to 108 | 12 | 13 |
| 109 to 111 | 10 | 12 |
| 112 to 114 | 27 | 23 |
| 115 to 117 | 0 | 10 |
| 118 to 120 | 0 | 3 |
| 121 to 123 | 0 | 9 |
| 124 to 126 | 15 | 15 |
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.
MABEL: I mean, not to drink, but yeah. Wanna go somewhere? RUBY: Hi. RUBY: I’m sorry, am I interrupting? MABEL: What’s going on?
GERTRUDE: Finally!!!! You’re here you’re here you’re here!!! RUBY: Hi, I’m Ruby! GERTRUDE: Ruby! It’s so great to finally meet you.
RUBY: Your garden is amazing. GERTRUDE: All the plants have medicinal purposes.
RUBY: What Women Want! GERTRUDE: Yes!!!
RUBY: Do you wanna get a drink? SASKIA: I’m on a juice fast.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 34 are women's.
345 lines from women, 663 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
15 women and 15 men in the cast. 10 women and 11 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 2 of 1,019.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 79 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 34% of the words (2,898), men 66% (5,737).
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
13
Two men
42
Exhibit F: behind the camera
7 of the 12 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 29% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Valerie Faris (woman), Jonathan Dayton (man)
- Written by
- Zoe Kazan (woman)
- Produced by
- Ron Yerxa (man), Albert Berger (man)
- Shot by
- Matthew Libatique (man)
- Edited by
- Pamela Martin (woman)
- Music by
- Nick Urata (man)
- Production design by
- Judy Becker (woman)
- Costumes by
- Nancy Steiner (woman)
- Cast by
- Kim Davis-Wagner (woman), Justine Arteta (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
2 women, 20 men, 1 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 11 men, 9 not listed
-
Production
5 women, 7 men, 6 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
6 women, 2 men, 3 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 5 men, 5 not listed
-
Art
4 women, 4 men, 1 not listed
-
Directing
2 women, 2 men, 3 not listed
-
Lighting
0 women, 0 men, 6 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 33 on average. Men: 47 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Alia Shawkat 23, Deborah Ann Woll 27, Zoe Kazan 28, Annette Bening 54
Men
Paul Dano 28, Chris Messina 37, Steve Coogan 46, Aasif Mandvi 46, Antonio Banderas 51, Elliott Gould 73
Exhibit H: the money
It made 1.2 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $8 million
- Box office
- $9.4 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 126 scenes and 1,019 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
