Passes the Bechdel test

The Farewell

Name: The Farewell
Released: 2019

2019. Directed by Lulu Wang, written by Lulu Wang.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
12 women characters. 11 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 27 scenes out of 112.
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 headstrong Chinese-American woman returns to China when her beloved grandmother is diagnosed with terminal cancer. Billi struggles with her family's decision to keep grandma in the dark about her own illness as they all stage an impromptu wedding to see grandma one last time.

Released: 09 Aug 2019
Genres: Comedy, Drama
Rated: PG
IMDb: 7.5 / 10
Metascore: 89 / 100
Awards: Nominated for 1 BAFTA Award37 wins & 194 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Billi 201 lines, woman
Nai Nai 177 lines, woman
Jian 77 lines, woman
Haiyan 65 lines, man
Uncle Haibin 44 lines, man
Gu Gu 38 lines, woman
Little Nai Nai 37 lines, woman
Michael 16 lines, man
Doctor Song 15 lines, man
Auntie Ling 7 lines, woman

Full cast, 38 people

Awkwafina as Billi
Zhao Shuzhen as Nai Nai
Hong Lu as Little Nai Nai
Hong Lin as Doctor Wu
Tzi Ma as Haiyan
Lin Xiaojie as Lu Jian
Yang Xuejian as Mr. Li
Becca Khalil as Shirley
Jiang Yongbo as Uncle Haibin
Chen Han as Hao Hao
Aoi Mizuhara as Aiko
Li Xiang as Aunty Ling
Hongli Liu as Aunty Gao
Zhang Shimin as Michael
Zhang Jing as Gu Gu
Jinhang Liu as Bao
Xi Lin as Wedding Coordinator
Shi Lichen as Big Chef
Lin Wang as Reception at Massage Parlor
Yue Xin as Masseuse #1
Xiaoxiao Sun as Masseuse #2
Dong Li as Gu Fu
Puxia Qin as Little Gu Gu
Ruiqi Wang as Little Gu Fu
Jim Liu as Doctor Song
Yuqiu Geng as Funeral Cryer
Yuzhuo Wang as Ye Ye
Shouchang Xiao as General Ma
Yonghua Zhao as General Fu
Zuohai Jiang as General Zhu
Xinyang Lv as Teenage Girl #1
Jing Chen as Teenage Girl #2
Weifeng Sun as Copy Center Boss
Ines Laimins as Kathy (uncredited)
Gil Perez-Abraham as Tony (uncredited)
Johnny Michaels as Party Goer (uncredited)
Diane Dehn as Birthday Singer (uncredited)
X Mayo as Suze

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 4% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 112

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	28	0
4 to 6	1	0
7 to 9	12	6
10 to 12	12	0
13 to 15	9	0
16 to 18	28	0
19 to 21	28	7
22 to 24	0	0
25 to 27	0	0
28 to 30	28	5
31 to 33	14	4
34 to 36	14	18
37 to 39	12	14
40 to 42	7	0
43 to 45	38	5
46 to 48	17	12
49 to 51	30	2
52 to 54	18	0
55 to 57	39	13
58 to 60	3	5
61 to 63	29	18
64 to 66	11	5
67 to 69	9	4
70 to 72	30	7
73 to 75	20	2
76 to 78	10	13
79 to 81	13	1
82 to 84	7	8
85 to 87	1	0
88 to 90	12	1
91 to 93	6	0
94 to 96	13	2
97 to 99	8	0
100 to 102	3	0
103 to 105	23	1
106 to 108	21	1
109 to 111	1	0
112 to 112	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.

NAI NAI: [Hello?] BILLI: [Nai Nai. Hi!] NAI NAI: [Billi! It’s the middle of the night there, why aren’t you sleeping?] BILLI: [Middle of the night? It’s seven...]

BILLI: I quit! Cuz I was about to get fired! BILLI: [Sorry, Nai Nai.] NAI NAI: [What was that?] BILLI: [Nothing. Just um... a friend...]

LITTLE NAI NAI: [OK, let's go.] NAI NAI: [Did you talk to the doctor?] LITTLE NAI NAI: [Yep. You're in full health.] NAI NAI: [Really? What about the CT scan? What about the spots they saw before?]

BILLI: How'd you get in here? NAI NAI: [Hi Billi. Sorry I hung up earlier.] BILLI: [That’s OK. What’s going on?]

NAI NAI: [Billi? Is everything OK?] BILLI: [I’m fine. I’m uh... I’m just tired.] NAI NAI: [If you’re tired, go to bed!]

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 78 are women's.

555 lines from women, 154 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

12 women and 9 men in the cast. 11 women and 7 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

A woman speaks the first line. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 8 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 79% of the words (6,415), men 21% (1,662). Women have 78% 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

9 of the 18 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 36% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Lulu Wang (woman)
Written by: Lulu Wang (woman)
Produced by: Marc Turtletaub (man), Lulu Wang (woman), Peter Saraf (man), Daniele Tate Melia (woman), Andrew Miano (man), Jane Zheng (woman) and 2 more
Shot by: Anna Franquesa Solano (woman)
Edited by: Matthew Friedman (man), Michael Taylor (man)
Music by: Alex Weston (man)
Production design by: Lee Yong-ok (woman)
Costumes by: Athena Wang (woman)
Cast by: Anne Kang (gender not listed), Leslie Woo (woman)