Passes the Bechdel test
Synecdoche, New York
2009. Directed by Charlie Kaufman, written by Charlie Kaufman.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
23 women characters. 18 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 12 scenes out of 102. -
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, though someone marked that rating as dubious.
The film
Theater director Caden Cotard is mounting a new play. Fresh off of a successful production of "Death of a Salesman", he has traded in the suburban blue-hairs and regional theater of Schenectady for the cultured audiences and bright footlights of Broadway. Armed with a MacArthur grant and determined to create a piece of brutal realism and honesty, something into which he can put his whole self, he gathers an ensemble cast into a warehouse in Manhattan's theater r very He directs them in a celebration of the mundane, instructing each to live out their constructed lives in a small mock-up of the city outside. As the city inside the warehouse grows, Caden's own life veers wildly off the tracks. The shadow of his ex-wife Adele, a celebrated painter who left him years ago for Germany's art scene, sneers at him from every corner. Somewhere in Berlin, his daughter Olive is growing up under the questionable guidance of Adele's friend Maria. He's helplessly driving his marriage to actress Claire into the ground. Sammy Barnathan, the actor Caden has hired to play himself within the play, is a bit too perfect for the part, and is making it difficult for Caden to revive his relationship with the alluringly candid Hazel. Meanwhile, his therapist, Madeline Gravis, is better at plugging her best-seller than she is at counseling him. His second daughter, Ariel, is disabled. And a mysterious condition is systematically shutting down each of his autonomic functions, one by one. As the years rapidly pass, Caden buries himself deeper into his masterpiece. Populating the cast and crew with doppelgangers, he steadily blurs the line between the world of the play and that of his own deteriorating reality. As he pushes the limits of his relationships, both personally and professionally, a change in creative direction arrives in Millicent Weems, a celebrated theater actress who may offer Caden the break he needs.
- Released
- 05 Feb 2009
- Genres
- Drama
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.5 / 10
- Metascore
- 67 / 100
- Awards
- 8 wins & 29 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Caden 394 lines, man
- Hazel 161 lines, woman
- Claire 93 lines, woman
- Adele 53 lines, woman
- Olive 52 lines, woman
- Tammy 42 lines, woman
- Sammy 35 lines, man
- Millicent 29 lines, woman
- Madeline 20 lines
- Old Person #2 17 lines
Full cast, 56 people
- Philip Seymour Hoffman as Caden Cotard
- Samantha Morton as Hazel
- Michelle Williams as Claire Keen
- Catherine Keener as Adele Lack
- Emily Watson as Tammy
- Dianne Wiest as Ellen Bascomb / Millicent Weems
- Jennifer Jason Leigh as Maria
- Hope Davis as Madeleine Gravis
- Tom Noonan as Sammy Barnathan
- Sadie Goldstein as Olive (4 years old)
- Robin Weigert as Adult Olive
- Deirdre O'Connell as Ellen's Mother
- Alice Drummond as Actress Playing Frances
- Amy Wright as Burning House Realtor
- Elizabeth Marvel as Warehouse Realtor
- Christopher Evan Welch as Pastor
- Charles Techman as Like Clockwork Patient
- Tom Greer as Medic
- Josh Pais as Ophthalmologist
- Lynn Cohen as Caden's Mother
- Jerry Adler as Caden's Father
- Daisy Tahan as Ariel
- Frank Girardeau as Plumber
- Kristen Bush as Actress Playing Claire
- Stanley Krajewski as Actor as Caden
- Peter Friedman as Emergency Room Doctor
- Daniel London as Tom
- Robert Seay as David
- Stephen Adly Guirgis as Davis
- Joe Lisi as Maurice
- Michael Medeiros as Eric
- William Ryall as Jimmy
- Rosemary Murphy as Frances
- John Rothman as Dentist
- Paul Sparks as Derek
- Tim Guinee as Needleman Actor
- Michael Higgins as Actor Playing Man with Nose Bleed
- Barbara Haas as Warehouse Actress
- Greg McFadden as Actor Playing Needleman Actor
- Alvin Epstein as Man with Nose Bleed
- Gerald Emerick as Man in Line
- Chris McGinn as Lady at Caden's Mom's
- Dan Ziskie as Leg Tremor Doctor
- Portia as Therapy Patient Actress
- Nicholas Wyman as Soap Actor Doctor
- Amy Spanger as Soap Actress Nurse
- Timothy Doyle as Michael
- Cliff Carpenter as Old Man
- Raymond Angelic Sr. as German Doctor
- Erica Fae as German Woman
- Mark Lotito as Minister
- Laura Odeh as Toystore Clerk
- Deanna Storey as Jazz Singer
- Frank Wood as Evaluative Services Doctor
- Amanda R. Phillips as Emergency Room Nurse
- Kat Peters as Ellen (10 years old)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 14% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 102
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 | 5 | 1 |
| 4 to 6 | 16 | 8 |
| 7 to 9 | 35 | 52 |
| 10 to 12 | 7 | 6 |
| 13 to 15 | 56 | 42 |
| 16 to 18 | 39 | 30 |
| 19 to 21 | 0 | 7 |
| 22 to 24 | 20 | 23 |
| 25 to 27 | 6 | 9 |
| 28 to 30 | 2 | 2 |
| 31 to 33 | 0 | 0 |
| 34 to 36 | 50 | 57 |
| 37 to 39 | 9 | 7 |
| 40 to 42 | 10 | 7 |
| 43 to 45 | 7 | 6 |
| 46 to 48 | 1 | 2 |
| 49 to 51 | 19 | 20 |
| 52 to 54 | 9 | 10 |
| 55 to 57 | 0 | 0 |
| 58 to 60 | 11 | 12 |
| 61 to 63 | 9 | 35 |
| 64 to 66 | 24 | 27 |
| 67 to 69 | 5 | 5 |
| 70 to 72 | 0 | 0 |
| 73 to 75 | 14 | 26 |
| 76 to 78 | 13 | 15 |
| 79 to 81 | 38 | 38 |
| 82 to 84 | 12 | 14 |
| 85 to 87 | 14 | 15 |
| 88 to 90 | 18 | 12 |
| 91 to 93 | 13 | 25 |
| 94 to 96 | 15 | 5 |
| 97 to 99 | 0 | 0 |
| 100 to 102 | 8 | 10 |
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.
ADELE: Ugh. Caden! That's weird. The phone stops ringing. OLIVE: Is something wrong with my poop?
OLIVE: I didn't! What's wrong with me?! A cellphone rings in the other room. ADELE: Honey, I have to get this. You're going to be fine. OLIVE: But, Mommy -- Adele runs into --
OLIVE: Is poop alive? ADELE: All right, baby. See you then. Adele clicks off her cellphone.
ADELE: What's wrong, baby? OLIVE: Every-single-where?
OLIVE: I don't want blood. I have blood? ADELE: What are you doing? Jesus.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 48 are women's.
485 lines from women, 528 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
23 women and 27 men in the cast. 18 women and 27 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 6 of 1,184.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 32 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 51% of the words (6,486), men 49% (6,269). Women have 48% 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
39
Two men
31
Exhibit F: behind the camera
2 of the 12 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 37% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Charlie Kaufman (man)
- Written by
- Charlie Kaufman (man)
- Produced by
- Anthony Bregman (man), Spike Jonze (man), Charlie Kaufman (man), Sidney Kimmel (man)
- Shot by
- Frederick Elmes (man)
- Edited by
- Robert Frazen (man)
- Music by
- Jon Brion (man)
- Production design by
- Mark Friedberg (man)
- Costumes by
- Melissa Toth (woman)
- Cast by
- Jeanne McCarthy (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
5 women, 16 men, 2 not listed
-
Production
7 women, 8 men, 1 not listed
-
Visual Effects
1 women, 4 men, 8 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
5 women, 0 men, 7 not listed
-
Art
4 women, 5 men
-
Other crew
1 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 2 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 38 on average. Men: 49 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Sadie Goldstein 6, Michelle Williams 28, Samantha Morton 31, Emily Watson 41, Hope Davis 44, Jennifer Jason Leigh 46, Catherine Keener 49, Dianne Wiest 60
Men
Philip Seymour Hoffman 41, Tom Noonan 57
Exhibit H: the money
It made 22% of what it cost.
- Budget
- $20 million
- Box office
- $4.4 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 102 scenes and 1,184 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
