Passes the Bechdel test

Sunshine Cleaning

Name: Sunshine Cleaning
Released: 2009

2009. Directed by Christine Jeffs, written by Megan Holley.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
9 women characters. 7 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 22 scenes out of 181.
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

A family. Rose and Norah, in Albuquerque, lost their mother when they were young. Rose is responsible - a housecleaner, raising her seven-year-old son Oscar. She's also having an affair with Mac, a married cop, her high-school sweetheart. Norah can't hold a job. Their dad, Joe, is quirky. When Oscar is expelled for odd behavior, Rose wants to earn enough to send him to private school. Mac suggests she clean up after crime scenes, suicides, and deaths that go undiscovered for awhile. Rose enlists Norah, and Sunshine Cleaners is born. Norah bonds with the dead, Rose finds out that it's a regulated business, and complications arise. Can a family marked by tragedy sort things out?

Released: 17 Apr 2009
Genres: Comedy, Drama
Rated: R
IMDb: 6.8 / 10
Metascore: 61 / 100
Awards: 2 wins & 6 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Rose 257 lines, woman
Norah 195 lines, woman
Joe 104 lines, man
Lynn 75 lines, woman
Oscar 58 lines, man
Mac 41 lines, man
Winston 35 lines, man
Carl 18 lines, man
Paula 18 lines, woman
Randy 13 lines, man

Full cast, 21 people

Amy Adams as Rose Lorkowski
Emily Blunt as Norah Lorkowski
Steve Zahn as Mac
Alan Arkin as Joe Lorkowski
Clifton Collins Jr. as Winston
Eric Christian Olsen as Randy
Kevin Chapman as Carl Swanson
Jason Spevack as Oscar Lorkowski
Mary Lynn Rajskub as Lynn
Paul Dooley as Sherm
Judith Jones as Paula Datzman-Mead
Amy Redford as Heather
Susie Yip as Mrs. Kim
Lois Geary as Mrs. Davis
McKenna Hutton as Young Rose
Mason Frank as Young Norah
Amber Midthunder as Candy Store Girl
Angelique Midthunder as Girl's Mother
Vic Browder as Gun Shop Owner
Ivan Brutsche as Above and Beyond Worker
Kathy Lamkin as Fair N Square Owner (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 5% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 181

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 4	0	0
5 to 8	2	6
9 to 12	0	8
13 to 16	8	10
17 to 20	23	14
21 to 24	43	0
25 to 28	2	0
29 to 32	7	18
33 to 36	9	5
37 to 40	2	0
41 to 44	0	9
45 to 48	15	2
49 to 52	6	0
53 to 56	7	12
57 to 60	11	11
61 to 64	21	12
65 to 68	20	4
69 to 72	31	0
73 to 76	5	4
77 to 80	17	28
81 to 84	16	7
85 to 88	6	2
89 to 92	16	13
93 to 96	14	0
97 to 100	6	22
101 to 104	44	2
105 to 108	10	1
109 to 112	9	7
113 to 116	12	4
117 to 120	12	11
121 to 124	0	0
125 to 128	29	1
129 to 132	7	0
133 to 136	22	0
137 to 140	16	7
141 to 144	13	9
145 to 148	0	10
149 to 152	13	0
153 to 156	9	0
157 to 160	24	7
161 to 164	7	11
165 to 168	11	5
169 to 172	26	19
173 to 176	5	0
177 to 180	10	8
181 to 181	0	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.

NORAH: Hello. ROSE: You haven't left yet? Damn it Norah, my class starts in fifteen minutes. NORAH: I know, I know.

NORAH: Think they loved each other? ROSE: Yeah.

NORAH: You suck. ROSE: Money. NORAH: You still suck. ROSE: Apparently some crazy bag lady squatter person died and--

NORAH: How long is this gonna take? ROSE: All we have to do is go in and throw everything away. Cake.

ROSE: Where are you going? NORAH: There is no way. ROSE: You said you would help me. NORAH: Maybe if you'd gotten me a coffee.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 66 are women's.

566 lines from women, 289 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

9 women and 9 men in the cast. 7 women and 8 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 11 of 903. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 18 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 61% of the words (4,277), men 39% (2,763). Women have 66% 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

Two men

Exhibit F: behind the camera

4 of the 12 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 57% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Christine Jeffs (woman)
Written by: Megan Holley (gender not listed)
Produced by: Marc Turtletaub (man), Peter Saraf (man), Jeb Brody (man), Glenn Williamson (man)
Shot by: John Toon (man)
Edited by: Heather Persons (woman)
Music by: Michael Penn (man)
Production design by: Joseph T. Garrity (man)
Costumes by: Alix Friedberg (woman)
Cast by: Avy Kaufman (woman)