Passes the Bechdel test

Still Alice

Name: Still Alice
Released: 2015

2015. Directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland, written by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland and Lisa Genova.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
16 women characters. 10 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 9 scenes out of 99.
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

Alice Howland is a renowned linguistics professor happily married with three grown children. All that begins to change when she strangely starts to forget words and then more. When her doctor diagnoses her with Early-onset Alzheimer's Disease, Alice and her family's lives face a harrowing challenge as this terminal degenerative neurological ailment slowly progresses to an inevitable conclusion they all dread. Along the way, Alice struggles to not only to fight the inner decay, but to make the most of her remaining time to find the love and peace to make simply living worthwhile.

Released: 20 Feb 2015
Genres: Drama
Rated: PG-13
IMDb: 7.5 / 10
Metascore: 72 / 100
Awards: Won 1 Oscar. 35 wins & 36 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Alice 341 lines, woman
John 139 lines, man
Lydia 106 lines, woman
Anna 73 lines, woman
Dr. Benjamin 31 lines, man
Tom 24 lines, man
Charlie 17 lines, man
Careworker 9 lines
Eric Wellman 7 lines, man
Elena 4 lines, woman

Full cast, 30 people

Julianne Moore as Alice Howland
Kate Bosworth as Anna Howland-Jones
Shane McRae as Charlie Howland-Jones
Hunter Parrish as Tom Howland
Alec Baldwin as John Howland
Seth Gilliam as Frederic Johnson
Kristen Stewart as Lydia Howland
Stephen Kunken as Dr. Benjamin
Erin Darke as Jenny
Daniel Gerroll as Eric Wellman
Quincy Tyler Bernstine as Nursing Home Administrator
Maxine Prescott as Nursing Home Resident
Orlagh Cassidy as Primary Care Doctor
Rosa Arredondo as Convention Facilitator
Zillah Glory as Masha (Three Sisters)
Caridad Montanez as Elena
Cal Freundlich as Young Musician
Charlotte Robson as Young Musician
Jean Burns as Olga (Three Sisters) (uncredited)
José Báez as Head Waiter (uncredited)
Victoria Cartagena as Prof. Hooper (uncredited)
Jeannette Gould as Alzheimer's Patient (uncredited)
Takako Haywood as Alzheimer's Conference Attendee (uncredited)
Diane Kimbrell as Alzheimer's Patient (uncredited)
Cat Lynch as Pinkberry Worker (uncredited)
Joanne Perica as Crying Woman (uncredited)
Jamie Lee Petronis as Pinkberry Worker (uncredited)
Nancy Ellen Shore as Nurse (uncredited)
Eha Urbsalu as Alice's Mother (uncredited)
Samantha Kelly as TV Reporter (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 6% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 99

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	28	13
4 to 6	8	1
7 to 9	36	0
10 to 12	2	0
13 to 15	12	11
16 to 18	29	17
19 to 21	47	8
22 to 24	4	5
25 to 27	14	17
28 to 30	18	11
31 to 33	17	0
34 to 36	9	7
37 to 39	13	11
40 to 42	9	0
43 to 45	3	0
46 to 48	3	0
49 to 51	11	12
52 to 54	9	9
55 to 57	18	3
58 to 60	28	5
61 to 63	59	17
64 to 66	13	1
67 to 69	44	14
70 to 72	8	8
73 to 75	8	7
76 to 78	14	8
79 to 81	10	11
82 to 84	26	6
85 to 87	3	0
88 to 90	2	0
91 to 93	6	9
94 to 96	6	8
97 to 99	17	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.

ANNA: Okay. Happy Birthday, Mom! Anna hands Alice a gift-wrapped bag. ALICE: Is that for me?

ANNA: Mom, have you spoken to Lydia? ALICE: Yes. She wanted to be here tonight, but she had a really important audition. ANNA: What for? ALICE: A guest spot on some TV thing. Something Enemy. Anna shakes her head.

ALICE: Yeah maybe. ANNA: Don’t hold your breath. Meow. ANNA: Stop it.

ALICE: It’s really nice to meet you. Well I think I deserve a glass of wine after all that, don’t you? LYDIA: You want white? ALICE: Yes. Thank you. Does everyone have a glass? ANNA: Yes, we do!

LYDIA: How far along are you? ANNA: Five weeks. I know it’s very early days, but...well the timing of things, how we found out, and when we did...well it really worked out in t… LYDIA: Great. That’s amazing. Alice smiles, not completely following.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 71 are women's.

534 lines from women, 219 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

16 women and 8 men in the cast. 10 women and 6 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 2 of 799. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 6 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 72% of the words (7,517), men 28% (2,970). Women have 71% of the lines, so their lines run longer 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 16 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 42% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Wash Westmoreland (man), Richard Glatzer (man)
Written by: Richard Glatzer (man), Wash Westmoreland (man)
From the novel by: Lisa Genova (woman)
Produced by: Pamela Koffler (woman), James Brown (man), Lex Lutzus (gender not listed)
Shot by: Denis Lenoir (man)
Edited by: Nicolas Chaudeurge (man)
Music by: Ilan Eshkeri (man)
Production design by: Tommaso Ortino (man)
Costumes by: Stacey Battat (woman)
Cast by: Kerry Barden (man), Allison Estrin (woman), Paul Schnee (man)