Passes the Bechdel test
The Birdcage
1996. Directed by Mike Nichols, written by Jean Poiret and Francis Veber and Édouard Molinaro.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
14 women characters. 3 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 4 scenes out of 76. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 2 out of 3.
The film
Armand Goldman owns a popular drag nightclub in South Miami Beach. His long-time lover, Albert, stars there as Starina. "Their" son Val (actually Armand's by his one heterosexual fling 20 years before) comes home to announce his engagement to Barbara Keeley, daughter of Kevin Keeley, U.S. Senator and co-founder of the Committee for Moral Order. The senator and family descend upon South Beach to meet Val, his father and "mother." What ensues is comic chaos.
- Released
- 08 Mar 1996
- Genres
- Comedy
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.3 / 10
- Metascore
- 71 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 1 Oscar. 7 wins & 25 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Armand 276 lines, man
- Albert 161 lines, man
- Val 114 lines, man
- Senator Keeley 96 lines, man
- Mrs. Keeley 70 lines, woman
- Barbara 42 lines, woman
- Agador 39 lines, man
- Katharine 32 lines, woman
- Harry Radman 13 lines, man
- Cyril 6 lines
Full cast, 72 people
- Robin Williams as Armand Goldman
- Gene Hackman as Senator Kevin Keeley
- Nathan Lane as Albert
- Dianne Wiest as Louise Keeley
- Dan Futterman as Val Goldman
- Calista Flockhart as Barbara Keeley
- Hank Azaria as Agador
- Christine Baranski as Katharine Archer
- Tom McGowan as Harry Radman
- Grant Heslov as Photographer - National Enquirer
- Kirby Mitchell as Chauffeur
- James Lally as Stage Manager
- Luca Tommassini as Celsius
- Luis Camacho as Goldman Girl
- Andre Fuentes as Goldman Girl
- Tony Gonzalez as Goldman Girl
- Dante Henderson as Goldman Girl
- Scott Kaske as Goldman Girl
- Kevin Alexander Stea as Goldman Girl
- Tim Kelleher as Waiter in Club
- Ann Cusack as TV Woman in Van
- Stanley DeSantis as TV Man in Van
- J. Roy Helland as Club Hostess
- Anthony Giaimo as Fishmonger (Mr. Lopez)
- Lee Delano as Bakery Man (Mr. Boynton)
- David Sage as Senator Eli Jackson
- Michael Kinsley as TV Host
- Tony Snow as TV Host
- Dorothy Constantine as Keeley's Maid (Bridget)
- Trina McGee as Black Girl on TV (Chocolate)
- Barry Nolan as TV Reporter
- Amy Powell as TV Reporter
- Ron Pitts as TV Reporter
- James Hill as TV Reporter
- Mary Major as TV Reporter
- Steven Porfido as State Trooper
- John Pontrelli as Waiter in Cafe (Rodrigo)
- Herschel Sparber as Big Guy in Park
- Francesca Cruz as Katharine's Secretary (Imelda)
- Brian Reddy as TV Editor
- Jim Jansen as TV Editor
- Al Rodrigo as Latino Man in Club
- Marjorie Lovett as Matron
- Sylvia Short as Matron
- James H. Morrison as Pastor
- Rabbi Robert K. Baruch as Rabbi
- Jay Leno as Jay Leno (uncredited)
- Kenneth Stephens as Chuck (uncredited)
- Rayder Woods as Drag Queen (uncredited)
- Kevin Loreque as Drag Queen (uncredited)
- Jody Millard as Drag Queen Dancer (uncredited)
- Scott Burkholder as Executive Producer (Uncredited)
- Patrizia Barretto as Bikini Girl on Roller Blades (Uncredited)
- Elisa Bridges as Bikini Girl on Beach (Uncredited)
- David Christopher as Hot Guy (Uncredited)
- Nina Dolci as Shopping Person (Uncredited)
- Justin Goudreau as Restaurant Patron (Uncredited)
- Jordan Werner as Pool Waiter (uncredited)
- Dave Knight as Broad Causeway Commuter (Uncredited)
- Claudio Sad as Driver (uncredited)
- Rene Teboe as South Beach Tourist (Uncredited)
- Bodo Goerisch as Tourist (Uncredited)
- Thelma Gutiérrez as Bartender (uncredited)
- Louis Campos as Gay Bar Patron (Uncredited)
- Lisa Rhyne as Nightclub Dancer (Uncredited)
- Jan Citron as Clubgoer (Uncredited)
- Orlando Delbert as Man in Club (Uncredited)
- Michael Thomas Daniel as Guy in Street (Uncredited)
- Don LaFontaine as Radio Newscaster (voice) (uncredited)
- James MacDonald as Crewman (Uncredited)
- Sal Pacino as Wedding Guest (Uncredited)
- Jordan Ancel as Wedding Guest (Uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 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 76
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 | 0 | 9 |
| 3 to 4 | 0 | 40 |
| 5 to 6 | 0 | 32 |
| 7 to 8 | 12 | 38 |
| 9 to 10 | 8 | 8 |
| 11 to 12 | 0 | 31 |
| 13 to 14 | 10 | 24 |
| 15 to 16 | 19 | 35 |
| 17 to 18 | 3 | 40 |
| 19 to 20 | 1 | 15 |
| 21 to 22 | 2 | 26 |
| 23 to 24 | 0 | 70 |
| 25 to 26 | 1 | 19 |
| 27 to 28 | 0 | 1 |
| 29 to 30 | 7 | 6 |
| 31 to 32 | 8 | 10 |
| 33 to 34 | 0 | 1 |
| 35 to 36 | 3 | 31 |
| 37 to 38 | 0 | 18 |
| 39 to 40 | 0 | 1 |
| 41 to 42 | 5 | 26 |
| 43 to 44 | 10 | 32 |
| 45 to 46 | 10 | 26 |
| 47 to 48 | 3 | 38 |
| 49 to 50 | 0 | 11 |
| 51 to 52 | 6 | 18 |
| 53 to 54 | 1 | 10 |
| 55 to 56 | 1 | 12 |
| 57 to 58 | 0 | 4 |
| 59 to 60 | 15 | 33 |
| 61 to 62 | 22 | 35 |
| 63 to 64 | 0 | 5 |
| 65 to 66 | 5 | 15 |
| 67 to 68 | 1 | 7 |
| 69 to 70 | 1 | 11 |
| 71 to 72 | 2 | 2 |
| 73 to 74 | 3 | 2 |
| 75 to 76 | 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.
BARBARA: Now wait a minute ••• MRS. KEELEY: Listen, Barbara, you have three and a half years till you're twenty-one and you want to get married now. Don't be a nitwit.
MRS. KEELEY: Barbara's wedding will disassociate us fr0111 all this. Really. The colemans are a perfect family. They've never even been divorced, have th… BARBARA: {in a small voice) No.
MRS. KEELEY: This is less like Palm Beach than I imagined. BARBARA: It was .•. all sand when they bought here. This ••• just ••• grew up around them while they were in Greece.
BARBARA: And this is such a great dish. Don't you think so, mom? MRS. KEELEY: Yes. Wbat ••• what gives the soup greens that sweetish taste.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 18 are women's.
159 lines from women, 742 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
14 women and 39 men in the cast. 3 women and 17 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 129 of 962.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 128 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 16% of the words (2,141), men 84% (11,591). Women have 18% 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
19
Two men
83
Exhibit F: behind the camera
3 of the 9 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 28% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Mike Nichols (man)
- Written by
- Elaine May (woman)
- Produced by
- Mike Nichols (man)
- Shot by
- Emmanuel Lubezki (man)
- Edited by
- Arthur Schmidt (man)
- Music by
- Jonathan Tunick (man)
- Production design by
- Bo Welch (man)
- Cast by
- Ellen Lewis (woman), Juliet Taylor (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
11 women, 6 men, 17 not listed
-
Sound
6 women, 18 men, 9 not listed
-
Other crew
1 women, 13 men, 15 not listed
-
Art
2 women, 10 men, 11 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
5 women, 6 men, 11 not listed
-
Camera
1 women, 8 men, 9 not listed
-
Lighting
0 women, 2 men, 12 not listed
-
Visual Effects
0 women, 5 men, 8 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 40 on average. Men: 40 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Calista Flockhart 31, Christine Baranski 43, Dianne Wiest 47
Men
Dan Futterman 28, Hank Azaria 31, Grant Heslov 32, Tom McGowan 36, Nathan Lane 40, Robin Williams 44, Gene Hackman 66
Exhibit H: the money
It made 6.0 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $31 million
- Box office
- $185 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 76 scenes and 962 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
