Passes the Bechdel test
The Devil Wears Prada
2006. Directed by David Frankel, written by Aline Brosh McKenna and Lauren Weisberger.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
25 women characters. 13 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 35 scenes out of 191. -
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
After graduating from college, Andrea "Andy" Sachs (Anne Hathaway) lands the dream job that "a million girls would kill for": assistant to Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) - the chief editor of Runway, the top-selling fashion magazine in the industry. It is a job set to fast track her career in journalism if she can survive a year working for Miranda. From here, Andy, with no sense of fashion at all, begins a fish-out-of-water drama as she is thrown into a lifestyle full of the fast-paced, three-inch-minimum heel height, diet Coke and coffee substance abuse. Andy works really hard to deal with Miranda's endless unimaginable demands. She even becomes trendy and classy. However, she gradually finds she is working 24/7, and soon her life with boyfriend, Nate (Adrian Grenier), and best friend, Lily (Tracie Thoms), is slipping away from her. Then, she realizes that she is losing what really matters. She does not want to lose herself no matter how many pairs of Monolos and Jimmy Choos she can score along the way.
- Released
- 30 Jun 2006
- Genres
- Comedy, Drama
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 7 / 10
- Metascore
- 62 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 2 Oscars. 21 wins & 53 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Andy 327 lines, woman
- Miranda 153 lines, woman
- Emily 102 lines, woman
- Nigel 69 lines, man
- Nate 56 lines, man
- Christian 47 lines, man
- Lily 16 lines, woman
- James 12 lines, man
- Doug 11 lines, man
- Richard 9 lines, man
Full cast, 56 people
- Meryl Streep as Miranda Priestly
- Anne Hathaway as Andy Sachs
- Emily Blunt as Emily
- Stanley Tucci as Nigel
- Simon Baker as Christian Thompson
- Adrian Grenier as Nate
- Tracie Thoms as Lily
- Rich Sommer as Doug
- Daniel Sunjata as James Holt
- David Marshall Grant as Richard Sachs
- James Naughton as Stephen
- Tibor Feldman as Irv Ravitz
- Rebecca Mader as Jocelyn
- Jimena Hoyos as Lucia
- Gisele Bündchen as Serena
- George C. Wolfe as Paul
- John Rothman as Editor
- Stephanie Szostak as Jacqueline Follet
- Colleen Dengel as Caroline
- Suzanne Dengel as Cassidy
- Heidi Klum as Heidi Klum
- Valentino as Valentino Garavani
- Bridget Hall as Bridget Hall
- Ines Rivero as Clacker in Elevator
- Alyssa Sutherland as Clacker
- Robert Verdi as Fashion Reporter
- Paul Keany as St. Regis Butler
- David Callegati as Massimo
- Rori Cannon as Girl at Party
- Stan Newman as John Folger
- James Cronin as Ambassador
- Eric Seltzer as Roy
- Lindsay Brice as PR Woman
- Steve Benisty as Fashion Photographer
- John Graham as Book Guy
- Wells Dixon as Miranda's Driver
- Ilona Alexandra as Red Carpet Celebrity (uncredited)
- Frank Anello as Security (uncredited)
- Alexander Blaise as French Bellhop (uncredited)
- Carl Burrows as Businessman (uncredited)
- Guy A. Fortt as Security (uncredited)
- Alexie Gilmore as Clacker (uncredited)
- Toree Hill as Guest (uncredited)
- Tim Krueger as Fund Raiser (uncredited)
- Hector Lincoln as Hector Lincoln (uncredited)
- Nina Lisandrello as Clacker (uncredited)
- Zev McAllister as Runway Editor (uncredited)
- Matt Murray as Paparazzo (uncredited)
- Ingrid Sophie Schram as Clacker (uncredited)
- Bobby Shue as Runway Staff (uncredited)
- Brandhyze Stanley as Waitress (uncredited)
- Jen Taylor as Lou - Dowager (uncredited)
- Taylor Treadwell as Miranda's New Assistant (uncredited)
- Donatella Versace as Donatella Versace (uncredited)
- Lauren Weisberger as The Twins' Nanny (uncredited)
- Laura D. Williams as Runway Magazine Model / Party Guest (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 1% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 191
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 | 2 | 0 |
| 5 to 8 | 7 | 0 |
| 9 to 12 | 13 | 2 |
| 13 to 16 | 1 | 0 |
| 17 to 20 | 15 | 0 |
| 21 to 24 | 26 | 15 |
| 25 to 28 | 4 | 0 |
| 29 to 32 | 39 | 9 |
| 33 to 36 | 20 | 3 |
| 37 to 40 | 25 | 18 |
| 41 to 44 | 23 | 5 |
| 45 to 48 | 2 | 0 |
| 49 to 52 | 4 | 0 |
| 53 to 56 | 1 | 0 |
| 57 to 60 | 20 | 7 |
| 61 to 64 | 9 | 2 |
| 65 to 68 | 17 | 12 |
| 69 to 72 | 8 | 1 |
| 73 to 76 | 16 | 9 |
| 77 to 80 | 20 | 23 |
| 81 to 84 | 4 | 4 |
| 85 to 88 | 10 | 7 |
| 89 to 92 | 5 | 0 |
| 93 to 96 | 3 | 0 |
| 97 to 100 | 18 | 2 |
| 101 to 104 | 19 | 0 |
| 105 to 108 | 11 | 3 |
| 109 to 112 | 11 | 7 |
| 113 to 116 | 1 | 1 |
| 117 to 120 | 4 | 0 |
| 121 to 124 | 23 | 15 |
| 125 to 128 | 11 | 0 |
| 129 to 132 | 13 | 5 |
| 133 to 136 | 35 | 8 |
| 137 to 140 | 12 | 7 |
| 141 to 144 | 9 | 0 |
| 145 to 148 | 9 | 0 |
| 149 to 152 | 27 | 8 |
| 153 to 156 | 9 | 9 |
| 157 to 160 | 5 | 5 |
| 161 to 164 | 26 | 9 |
| 165 to 168 | 11 | 8 |
| 169 to 172 | 10 | 6 |
| 173 to 176 | 16 | 1 |
| 177 to 180 | 23 | 3 |
| 181 to 184 | 17 | 18 |
| 185 to 188 | 8 | 0 |
| 189 to 191 | 2 | 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.
ANDY: Hi, I have an appointment with Emily Charlton-- EMILY: Andrea Sachs? EMILY: Human Resources certainly has a bizarre sense of humor. Follow me.
EMILY: Oh no. You're still here. Go. EMILY: No, stay. I don't want you walking past her. Just sit there and I'll pray she doesn't notice you marring the area. ANDY: Wow, this is like self-esteem camp.
EMILY: Nobody. Human resources sent her up about the assistant job and I was pre- interviewing her for you, but-- MIRANDA: I'll do it. The last two you sent me were total disappointments. Send her in.
EMILY: Where are you? ANDY: I'm almost there.
MIRANDA: Are you there? ANDY: I'm about to walk in. I'll call you as soon as-- EMILY: While you're out... Miranda needs you to go to Hermes and pick up twenty five scarves we ordered for her. Cassidy forgot her homework at Dal…
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 73 are women's.
624 lines from women, 232 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
25 women and 23 men in the cast. 13 women and 11 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 2 of 868.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 13 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 70% of the words (7,225), men 30% (3,073). Women have 73% of the lines, so their lines run shorter than men's.
Exhibit E: the test the other way
Run the other way, for men, the film scores 2 out of 3.
Conversations between two named characters
Two women
57
Two men
4
Exhibit F: behind the camera
6 of the 11 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 38% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- David Frankel (man)
- Written by
- Aline Brosh McKenna (woman)
- From the novel by
- Lauren Weisberger (woman)
- Produced by
- Wendy Finerman (woman)
- Shot by
- Florian Ballhaus (man)
- Edited by
- Mark Livolsi (man)
- Music by
- Theodore Shapiro (man)
- Production design by
- Jess Gonchor (man)
- Costumes by
- Molly Rogers (woman), Patricia Field (woman)
- Cast by
- Ellen Lewis (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
2 women, 12 men, 4 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
8 women, 1 men, 8 not listed
-
Camera
2 women, 7 men, 4 not listed
-
Other crew
4 women, 6 men, 2 not listed
-
Production
3 women, 2 men, 3 not listed
-
Art
2 women, 4 men
-
Directing
0 women, 4 men, 2 not listed
-
Lighting
0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 33 on average. Men: 37 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Anne Hathaway 23, Emily Blunt 23, Tracie Thoms 30, Meryl Streep 57
Men
Rich Sommer 28, Adrian Grenier 29, Daniel Sunjata 34, Simon Baker 36, Stanley Tucci 45, David Marshall Grant 51
Exhibit H: the money
It made 9.3 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $35 million
- Box office
- $327 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 191 scenes and 868 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
