Passes the Bechdel test
Soul
2020. Directed by Pete Docter and Kemp Powers, written by Pete Docter and Mike Jones and Kemp Powers.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
17 women characters. 18 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 4 scenes out of 90. -
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
Joe is a middle-school band teacher whose life hasn't quite gone the way he expected. His true passion is jazz and he's good. But when he travels to another realm to help someone find their passion, he soon discovers what it means to have soul.
- Released
- 25 Dec 2020
- Genres
- Animation, Adventure, Comedy
- Rated
- PG
- IMDb
- 8 / 10
- Metascore
- 83 / 100
- Awards
- Won 2 Oscars. 125 wins & 91 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Joe 379 lines, man
- Moonwind 53 lines, man
- Terry 49 lines, woman
- Counselor Jerry B 44 lines
- Counselor Jerry A 42 lines
- Libba 34 lines, woman
- Dez 26 lines, man
- Curley 17 lines, man
- Dorothea 17 lines, woman
- Connie 15 lines, woman
Full cast, 30 people
- Jamie Foxx as Joe Gardner (voice)
- Tina Fey as 22 (voice)
- Graham Norton as Moonwind (voice)
- Rachel House as Terry (voice)
- Alice Braga as Counselor Jerry (voice)
- Richard Ayoade as Counselor Jerry (voice)
- Phylicia Rashād as Libba Gardner (voice)
- Donnell Rawlings as Dez (voice)
- Questlove as Curly (voice)
- Angela Bassett as Dorothea (voice)
- Cora Champommier as Connie (voice)
- Margo Hall as Melba (voice)
- Daveed Diggs as Paul (voice)
- Rhodessa Jones as Lulu (voice)
- Wes Studi as Counselor Jerry (voice)
- Sakina Jaffrey as Doctor (voice)
- Fortune Feimster as Counselor Jerry (voice)
- Calum Grant as Hedge Fund Manager (voice)
- Laura Mooney as Therapy Cat Lady (voice)
- Zenobia Shroff as Counselor Jerry (voice)
- June Squibb as Gerel (voice)
- Ochuwa Oghie as Dancerstar (voice)
- Jeannie Tirado as Principal Arroyo (voice)
- Cathy Cavadini as Dreamerwind (voice)
- Dorian Lockett as Dorian (voice)
- Doris Burke as Basketball Announcer (voice)
- Ronnie del Carmen as Windstar (voice)
- Esther K. Chae as Miho (voice)
- Élisapie as Miali (voice)
- Marcus Shelby as Ray Gardner (voice)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 21% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 90
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 | 1 | 11 |
| 3 to 4 | 16 | 17 |
| 5 to 6 | 5 | 13 |
| 7 to 8 | 0 | 8 |
| 9 to 10 | 6 | 26 |
| 11 to 12 | 3 | 2 |
| 13 to 14 | 8 | 3 |
| 15 to 16 | 1 | 22 |
| 17 to 18 | 1 | 7 |
| 19 to 20 | 0 | 10 |
| 21 to 22 | 0 | 3 |
| 23 to 24 | 0 | 8 |
| 25 to 26 | 1 | 15 |
| 27 to 28 | 1 | 15 |
| 29 to 30 | 0 | 26 |
| 31 to 32 | 12 | 26 |
| 33 to 34 | 0 | 10 |
| 35 to 36 | 0 | 5 |
| 37 to 38 | 0 | 1 |
| 39 to 40 | 0 | 6 |
| 41 to 42 | 0 | 20 |
| 43 to 44 | 3 | 5 |
| 45 to 46 | 4 | 21 |
| 47 to 48 | 17 | 15 |
| 49 to 50 | 0 | 7 |
| 51 to 52 | 0 | 37 |
| 53 to 54 | 0 | 2 |
| 55 to 56 | 0 | 0 |
| 57 to 58 | 6 | 2 |
| 59 to 60 | 4 | 18 |
| 61 to 62 | 0 | 10 |
| 63 to 64 | 27 | 22 |
| 65 to 66 | 0 | 20 |
| 67 to 68 | 1 | 3 |
| 69 to 70 | 11 | 6 |
| 71 to 72 | 0 | 9 |
| 73 to 74 | 0 | 5 |
| 75 to 76 | 8 | 4 |
| 77 to 78 | 9 | 5 |
| 79 to 80 | 0 | 9 |
| 81 to 82 | 0 | 15 |
| 83 to 84 | 3 | 4 |
| 85 to 86 | 1 | 9 |
| 87 to 88 | 0 | 8 |
| 89 to 90 | 4 | 3 |
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.
LIBBA: ...for when your plan falls through. MELBA: A back up plan never hurt.
MELBA: I’ll take another kiss when you get back, Joey! LIBBA: So much for being done chasing after gigs, huh? LIBBA: I hope that cat isn’t supposed to be some kind of peace offering.
LIBBA: Lulu! Melba! Bring your good scissors in here. We got work to do! LULU AND MELBA: You look marvelous! This fits perfectly! Just handsome! Mhmm. LIBBA: That is one fine wool suit, if I do say so myself. LIBBA: Of course you can.
DOROTHEA: Welcome to the quartet, Teach! MELBA AND LULU: Woohoo! LIBBA: That’s my Joey!
MELBA AND LULU: You did great! We love you! LIBBA: I’m so proud of you Joey! LIBBA: Gotta get to bed. We old! DOROTHEA: You play a hundred shows, and one of them is killer. You don’t get many like tonight.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 24 are women's.
153 lines from women, 493 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
17 women and 10 men in the cast. 18 women and 9 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 13 of 822.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 60 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 23% of the words (1,336), men 77% (4,574). Women have 24% 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
8
Two men
24
Exhibit F: behind the camera
2 of the 17 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 35% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Pete Docter (man)
- Written by
- Pete Docter (man), Mike Jones (man), Kemp Powers (man)
- Story by
- Kemp Powers (man), Pete Docter (man), Mike Jones (man)
- Produced by
- Dana Murray (woman)
- Shot by
- Matt Aspbury (man), Ian Megibben (man)
- Edited by
- Kevin Nolting (man)
- Music by
- Jon Batiste (man), Atticus Ross (man), Trent Reznor (man)
- Production design by
- Steve Pilcher (man)
- Cast by
- Kevin Reher (man), Natalie Lyon (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
5 women, 16 men, 3 not listed
-
Writing
4 women, 9 men
-
Production
5 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Visual Effects
1 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
-
Art
2 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Directing
2 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Lighting
2 women, 0 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 54 on average. Men: 51 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Alice Braga 37, Rachel House 49, Tina Fey 50, Angela Bassett 62, Phylicia Rashād 72
Men
Richard Ayoade 43, Questlove 49, Donnell Rawlings 52, Jamie Foxx 53, Graham Norton 57
Exhibit H: the money
It made 81% of what it cost.
- Budget
- $150 million
- Box office
- $122 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 90 scenes and 822 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
