Passes the Bechdel test

Sunset Boulevard

Name: Sunset Boulevard
Released: 1950

1950. Directed by Billy Wilder, written by Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder and D.M. Marshman Jr..

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
12 women characters. 3 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 1 scene out of 1.
Yes 3. About something besides a man
In that scene, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.

Second opinion

Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3.

The film

Desperate for cash, screenwriter Joe Gillis has a chance meeting with a faded silent film star. Norma Desmond lives in her crumbling Sunset Boulevard mansion with only her butler to keep her company. She has become a sad demented recluse convinced that the outside world is clamoring for her dramatic return. Enticing him with the prospect of script work she puts him up in her mansion and he becomes ever more involved and entangled in her life.

Released: 04 Aug 1950
Genres: Drama, Film-Noir
Rated: Approved
IMDb: 8.4 / 10
Metascore: 94 / 100
Awards: Won 3 Oscars. 21 wins & 20 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Gillis 310 lines, man
Norma 207 lines, woman
Betty 107 lines, woman
Max 68 lines, man
Artie 25 lines, man
Sheldrake 18 lines, man
De Mille 16 lines
Demille 13 lines, man
Gillis' Voice 9 lines, man
1st Assistant 8 lines, man

Full cast, 67 people

William Holden as Joe Gillis
Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond
Erich von Stroheim as Max von Mayerling
Nancy Olson as Betty Schaefer
Fred Clark as Sheldrake
Lloyd Gough as Morino
Jack Webb as Artie Green
Franklyn Farnum as Undertaker
Larry J. Blake as Finance Man #1
Charles Dayton as Finance Man #2
Cecil B. DeMille as Cecil B. DeMille
Hedda Hopper as Hedda Hopper
H.B. Warner as H.B. Warner
Buster Keaton as Buster Keaton
Ray Evans as Ray Evans
Anna Q. Nilsson as Anna Q. Nilsson
Jay Livingston as Jay Livingston
Fred Aldrich as Cop Dragging Body from Pool (uncredited)
Joel Allen as Prop Man #2 (uncredited)
Gertrude Astor as Courtier (uncredited)
Anne Bauchens as Editor (uncredited)
Edward Biby as Restaurant Patron (uncredited)
Danny Borzage as Accordionist (uncredited)
Ken Christy as Homicide Captain (uncredited)
Ruth Clifford as Sheldrake's Secretary (uncredited)
John Cortay as Mac (uncredited)
Archie R. Dalzell as Camera Operator (uncredited)
Eddie Dew as Assistant Coroner (uncredited)
Julia Faye as Hisham (uncredited)
Al Ferguson as Phone Standby (uncredited)
Gerry Ganzer as Connie (uncredited)
Rudy Germane as Detective (uncredited)
Kenneth Gibson as Salesman at Men's Shop (uncredited)
Creighton Hale as Creighton Hale (uncredited)
Chuck Hamilton as Grip on DeMille Set (uncredited)
Len Hendry as Police Sergeant (uncredited)
E. Mason Hopper as Doctor (uncredited)
Stan Johnson as First Assistant Director (uncredited)
Tiny Jones as Little Woman Outside Paramount Gate (uncredited)
Howard Joslin as Police Lieutenant (uncredited)
Arthur Lane as Camera Operator (uncredited)
Perc Launders as Violinist at New Year's Eve Party (uncredited)
William Meader as Party Guest (uncredited)
Gertrude Messinger as Hairdresser (uncredited)
Harold Miller as Man on Golf Course (uncredited)
Howard Negley as Police Captain (uncredited)
John 'Skins' Miller as Hog-Eye Electrician (uncredited)
Lee Miller as Party Guest / Studio Employee (uncredited)
Ralph Montgomery as Prop Man #1 (uncredited)
Bert Moorhouse as Gordon Cole (uncredited)
Jay Morley as Fat Man (uncredited)
Eva Novak as Courtier (uncredited)
Frank O'Connor as Courtier (uncredited)
Robert Emmett O'Connor as Jonesy (uncredited)
Jack Perrin as Detective (uncredited)
Sidney Skolsky as Sidney Skolsky (uncredited)
Emmett Smith as Black Man (uncredited)
Archie Twitchell as Salesman at Men's Shop (uncredited)
Yvette Vickers as Giggling Girl on Phone (uncredited)
Henry Wilcoxon as Actor on Samson & Delilah Set (uncredited)
James Hawley as Camera Assistant (uncredited)
Bernice Mosk as Bernice (uncredited)
Virginia L. Randolph as Courtier (uncredited)
Bill Sheehan as Second Assistant Director (uncredited)
Roy Thompson as Rudy (uncredited)
Jack Warden as Party Guest (uncredited)
Finn Zirzow as Actor on Samson & Delilah Set (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

We couldn't read who says what in this film's script, so there's no dialogue chart for it yet.

The evidence

Straight from the script
Counted from the script and the credits

Tap an exhibit to open it.

Exhibit A: the passing scene

The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.

BETTY: You did. NORMA: Is this Gladstone 0858? NORMA: Can I speak to Miss Betty Schaefer? She must be home by now.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 40 are women's.

321 lines from women, 488 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

12 women and 46 men in the cast. 3 women and 14 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 28 of 851. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 31 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 42% of the words (4,203), men 58% (5,704). Women have 40% 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

1 of the 9 people in these jobs is a woman. Across the whole crew, 9% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Billy Wilder (man)
Written by: Charles Brackett (man), D.M. Marshman Jr. (man), Billy Wilder (man)
Produced by: Charles Brackett (man)
Shot by: John F. Seitz (man)
Edited by: Arthur P. Schmidt (man)
Music by: Franz Waxman (man)
Costumes by: Edith Head (woman)