Passes the Bechdel test
The Kids Are All Right
2010. Directed by Lisa Cholodenko, written by Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
8 women characters. 8 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 21 scenes out of 109. -
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
Nic and Jules are in a long term, committed, loving but by no means perfect same-sex relationship. Nic, a physician, needs to wield what she believes is control, whereas Jules, under that control, is less self-assured. During their relationship, Jules has floundered in her "nine to five" life, sometimes trying to start a business - always unsuccessfully - or being the stay-at-home mom. She is currently trying to start a landscape design business. They have two teen-aged children, Joni (conceived by Nic) and Laser (by Jules). Although not exact replicas, each offspring does more closely resemble his/her biological mother in temperament. Joni and Laser are also half-siblings, having the same unknown sperm donor father. Shortly after Joni's eighteenth birthday and shortly before she plans to leave the house and head off to college, Laser, only fifteen and underage to do so, pleads with her to try and contact their sperm donor father. Somewhat reluctantly, she does. He is late thirty-something Paul, a co-op farmer and restaurateur. Despite his seemingly successful businesses, Paul has always shirked responsibility, most specifically in his personal life. After Joni and Laser meet with Paul, Nic and Jules learn what their children have done and, although they don't want Paul infiltrating their lives, want to meet him - especially as Joni and Laser seem to want to maintain some sort of relationship with him. As Paul's relationship with the entire family grows (which includes his hiring Jules to design and construct his backyard), they have an effect on what he wants in life. In turn, he affects their family dynamic as well as each person's relationships outside of it.
- Released
- 30 Jul 2010
- Genres
- Comedy, Drama, Romance
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7 / 10
- Metascore
- 86 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 4 Oscars. 29 wins & 133 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Jules 203 lines, woman
- Paul 198 lines, man
- Nic 190 lines, woman
- Joni 105 lines, woman
- Laser 102 lines, man
- Tanya 23 lines, woman
- Clay 20 lines, man
- Sasha 19 lines, woman
- Luis 12 lines, man
- Jai 8 lines, man
Full cast, 20 people
- Julianne Moore as Jules
- Annette Bening as Nic
- Mark Ruffalo as Paul
- Mia Wasikowska as Joni
- Josh Hutcherson as Laser
- Yaya DaCosta as Tanya
- Kunal Sharma as Jai
- Eddie Hassell as Clay
- Zosia Mamet as Sasha
- Joaquín Garrido as Luis
- Rebecca Lawrence Levy as Brooke
- Lisa Eisner as Stella
- Eric Eisner as Joel
- Sasha Spielberg as Waify Girl
- James MacDonald as Clay's Dad
- Margo Victor as Bartender
- Stuart Blumberg as Sous-chef (uncredited)
- Diego Calderón as Waiter (uncredited)
- Amy Grabow as Pregnant Woman (uncredited)
- Nino Nava as Partygoer (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 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 109
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 | 0 | 3 |
| 4 to 6 | 6 | 8 |
| 7 to 9 | 35 | 10 |
| 10 to 12 | 19 | 2 |
| 13 to 15 | 4 | 0 |
| 16 to 18 | 5 | 9 |
| 19 to 21 | 4 | 3 |
| 22 to 24 | 13 | 20 |
| 25 to 27 | 14 | 36 |
| 28 to 30 | 26 | 16 |
| 31 to 33 | 1 | 2 |
| 34 to 36 | 34 | 15 |
| 37 to 39 | 15 | 5 |
| 40 to 42 | 50 | 30 |
| 43 to 45 | 16 | 18 |
| 46 to 48 | 23 | 24 |
| 49 to 51 | 26 | 16 |
| 52 to 54 | 5 | 22 |
| 55 to 57 | 16 | 4 |
| 58 to 60 | 12 | 8 |
| 61 to 63 | 19 | 18 |
| 64 to 66 | 43 | 16 |
| 67 to 69 | 9 | 8 |
| 70 to 72 | 10 | 7 |
| 73 to 75 | 8 | 0 |
| 76 to 78 | 31 | 19 |
| 79 to 81 | 20 | 3 |
| 82 to 84 | 9 | 0 |
| 85 to 87 | 6 | 5 |
| 88 to 90 | 17 | 9 |
| 91 to 93 | 20 | 0 |
| 94 to 96 | 9 | 3 |
| 97 to 99 | 12 | 6 |
| 100 to 102 | 0 | 0 |
| 103 to 105 | 0 | 0 |
| 106 to 108 | 8 | 2 |
| 109 to 109 | 2 | 2 |
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.
NIC: Hey, did you start on those thank- you notes for your birthday gifts? JONI: Not yet. But I will... NIC: I just think it's easier to knock them out when it's fresh. JONI: Yeah, I know, I'll do them tonight.
NIC: I just don't understand why you bought the truck now. JULES: Because if I'm starting this business I need something to haul my equipment in. NIC: Okay. It just seems a little cart before the horse. JULES: What does that mean?
NIC: Jesus Christ! NIC: The whole neighborhood heard that! JULES: No, they didn't. NIC: Well, that was a vibe kill.
JONI: Yeah... JULES: Where are you going? It's your turn.
BROOKE: Don't they look awesome? I thought you should have the first taste. TANYA: "I thought you should have the first taste...of my pussy."
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 61 are women's.
547 lines from women, 349 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
8 women and 9 men in the cast. 8 women and 7 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 5 of 906.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 29 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 67% of the words (4,972), men 33% (2,502). Women have 61% 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
55
Two men
19
Exhibit F: behind the camera
7 of the 15 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 62% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Lisa Cholodenko (woman)
- Written by
- Stuart Blumberg (man), Lisa Cholodenko (woman)
- Produced by
- Celine Rattray (woman), Gary Gilbert (man), Daniela Taplin Lundberg (woman), Jeffrey Kusama-Hinte (man), Phillippe Hellmann (gender not listed), Jordan Horowitz (man)
- Shot by
- Igor Jadue-Lillo (man)
- Edited by
- Jeffrey M. Werner (man)
- Music by
- Carter Burwell (man)
- Production design by
- Julie Berghoff (woman)
- Costumes by
- Mary Claire Hannan (woman)
- Cast by
- Laura Rosenthal (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
8 women, 5 men, 9 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
4 women, 0 men, 1 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
-
Other crew
2 women, 1 men
-
Editing
1 women, 1 men
-
Sound
0 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
-
Writing
1 women, 1 men
-
Camera
0 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 34 on average. Men: 32 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Mia Wasikowska 20, Zosia Mamet 22, Yaya DaCosta 27, Julianne Moore 49, Annette Bening 52
Men
Josh Hutcherson 17, Eddie Hassell 19, Kunal Sharma 22, Mark Ruffalo 42, Joaquín Garrido 58
Exhibit H: the money
It made 9.9 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $3.5 million
- Box office
- $34.7 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 109 scenes and 906 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
