Passes the Bechdel test

Sex and the City

Name: Sex and the City
Released: 2008

2008. Directed by Michael Patrick King, written by Michael Patrick King and Candace Bushnell and Darren Star.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
35 women characters. 18 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 46 scenes out of 255.
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

After moving in together in an impossibly beautiful New York apartment, Carrie Bradshaw and Mr. Big make a rather arbitrary decision to get married. The wedding itself proves to be anything but a hasty affair--the guest list quickly blooms from 75 to 200 guests, and Carrie's simple, label-less wedding gown gives way to an enormous creation that makes her look like a gigantic cream puff. An upcoming photo spread in Vogue puts the event--which will take place at the New York Public Library--squarely in the public eye. Meanwhile, Carrie's girlfriends--Samantha, the sexpot; Charlotte, the sweet naïf; and Miranda, the rigid perfectionist--could not be happier. At least, they couldn't be happier for Carrie. Charlotte still has the unrealized hope of getting pregnant. Samantha is finding a loving, committed relationship more grueling than she could have imagined. Miranda unwittingly lets her own unhappiness--created when Steve admits to cheating on her just once--spoil Carrie's. After a heated encounter with Steve, she happens to spot Mr. Big and tells him he's crazy to get married. She's really only thinking of her own marriage. But her angry remark gets Mr. Big to thinking.

Released: 30 May 2008
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Rated: R
IMDb: 5.7 / 10
Metascore: 53 / 100
Awards: 2 wins & 12 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Carrie 518 lines, woman
Miranda 183 lines, woman
Samantha 181 lines, woman
Big 119 lines, man
Charlotte 113 lines, woman
Louise 58 lines, woman
Steve 31 lines, man
Smith 30 lines, man
Anthony 19 lines, man
Harry 16 lines, man

Full cast, 65 people

Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie Bradshaw
Kim Cattrall as Samantha Jones
Kristin Davis as Charlotte York
Cynthia Nixon as Miranda Hobbes
Chris Noth as Mr. Big
Candice Bergen as Enid Frick
Jennifer Hudson as Louise
David Eigenberg as Steve Brady
Evan Handler as Harry Goldenblatt
Jason Lewis as Smith Jerrod
Mario Cantone as Anthony Marentino
Lynn Cohen as Magda
Willie Garson as Stanford Blatch
Joanna Gleason as Therapist
Joseph Pupo as Brady Hobbes
Alexandra Fong as Lily York Goldenblatt
Parker Fong as Lily York Goldenblatt
Kerry Bishé as Twenty-Something Girl Dreaming
Polina Frantsena as Twenty-Something Girl #1
Kate Rockwell as Twenty-Something Girl #2
Amy Flanagan as Twenty-Something Girl #3
Lena Hall as Twenty-Something Girl #4
Amanda Setton as Girl Slapping Guy
Ching Valdes-Aran as Real Estate Agent
Malcolm Gets as Building Agent
Lorna Kelly as Auctioneer
Daphne Rubin-Vega as Baby Voiced Woman
Patrick DeMarchelier as Vogue Fashion Photographer
André Leon Talley as Vogue Executive
Plum Sykes as Vogue Writer
Lawren Howell as Vogue Fashion Editor
Gucci Westman as Vogue Makeup Artist
Serge Normant as Vogue Hairstylist
Mary Howard as Vogue Set Dresser
Dave Bradford as Flower Delivery Guy
Gilles Marini as Dante
Monica Mayhem as Dante's Girl #1
Gilbert Cruz as Raoul
Damian Young as Karl
Rick Aiello as Angry Driver
Rogelio T. Ramos as Paulo
Rene L. Moreno as Felix
Veanne Cox as Halloween Woman #1
Ricardo Molina as Resort Worker
Annaleigh Ashford as Spoiled Label Queen
Bridget Everett as Drunk Party Girl
Peter Y. Kim as Business Guy
Suzanne Cryer as Dog Rescue Woman
Joshua Henry as Will
Henriette Mantel as Activist #1
Nancy Shayne as Activist #2
Kim Shaw as Valentine's Night Waitress
Michelle M. Kim as Dante's Girl #2
Erica K. Evans as Dante's Girl #3
Roxy DeVille as Dante's Girl #4
Van Hughes as Cater Waiter
Sara Gettelfinger as Flight Attendant
Bridget Regan as Hostess
Dreama Walker as Upper East Side Waitress
Ruby E. Crawford as Louise's Sister
Henry Strozier as Judge
Lisa Kron as Junior's Waitress
Scott Burn as Gucci Salesman
Julie Halston as Bitsy von Muffling (uncredited)
Jessica Rotter as Jessica - Flower Vendor (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 6 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 255

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 6	7	0
7 to 12	7	0
13 to 18	20	10
19 to 24	62	16
25 to 30	49	6
31 to 36	61	20
37 to 42	15	19
43 to 48	25	12
49 to 54	32	2
55 to 60	15	2
61 to 66	19	7
67 to 72	32	17
73 to 78	23	13
79 to 84	34	14
85 to 90	4	15
91 to 96	16	11
97 to 102	35	7
103 to 108	11	2
109 to 114	44	1
115 to 120	49	1
121 to 126	8	2
127 to 132	22	1
133 to 138	18	0
139 to 144	19	7
145 to 150	22	0
151 to 156	44	1
157 to 162	29	0
163 to 168	32	4
169 to 174	44	10
175 to 180	19	4
181 to 186	0	0
187 to 192	13	0
193 to 198	42	0
199 to 204	42	0
205 to 210	13	6
211 to 216	38	3
217 to 222	6	2
223 to 228	23	2
229 to 234	51	4
235 to 240	27	15
241 to 246	28	1
247 to 252	14	15
253 to 255	11	0

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.

SAMANTHA: Bitch. CARRIE: And the gloves are off.

MIRANDA: She's bidding for someone on the phone. CHARLOTTE: That's not fair.

SAMANTHA: I think I was in shock. I mean, it's you getting married. This is not some random person -- it's you. CARRIE: I hear ya. SAMANTHA: And I guess, I thought that after that big mess with Aidan -- you'd never want to get married. CARRIE: I know.

CARRIE: Oh. I found the dress. CHARLOTTE: What?! When? CARRIE: The other day. I have it here.

CHARLOTTE: I'm so excited! CARRIE: Here it is. CARRIE: Well... that was the exact reaction I was aiming for. CHARLOTTE: No, it's pretty but it's so -- simple.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 82 are women's.

1125 lines from women, 252 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

35 women and 20 men in the cast. 18 women and 15 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 3 of 1,427. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 9 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 84% of the words (11,521), men 16% (2,268). Women have 82% of the lines, so their lines run longer than men's.

Exhibit E: the test the other way

Run the other way, for men, the film scores 2 out of 3.

Conversations between two named characters

Two women

103

Two men

Exhibit F: behind the camera

3 of the 15 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 20% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Michael Patrick King (man)
Written by: Michael Patrick King (man)
Produced by: Michael Patrick King (man), Eric M. Cyphers (man), John Melfi (man), Sarah Jessica Parker (woman), Darren Star (man)
Shot by: John Thomas (man)
Edited by: Michael Berenbaum (man)
Music by: Aaron Zigman (man)
Production design by: Jeremy Conway (man)
Costumes by: Patricia Field (woman), Molly Rogers (woman), Danny Santiago (man)
Cast by: Bernard Telsey (man)