Passes the Bechdel test
The Meddler
2016. Directed by Lorene Scafaria, written by Lorene Scafaria.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
13 women characters. 13 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 13 scenes out of 131. -
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
An aging widow from New York City follows her daughter to Los Angeles in hopes of starting a new life after her husband passes away.
- Released
- 03 Jun 2016
- Genres
- Comedy, Drama, Romance
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 6.3 / 10
- Metascore
- 68 / 100
- Awards
- 6 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Marnie 381 lines, woman
- Lori 118 lines, woman
- Zipper 66 lines, man
- Freddy 34 lines, man
- Jillian 33 lines, woman
- Mark 20 lines, man
- Emily 16 lines, woman
- Fredo 13 lines, man
- Ben 12 lines, man
- Diane 8 lines, woman
Full cast, 30 people
- Susan Sarandon as Marnie Minervini
- Rose Byrne as Lori Minervini
- J.K. Simmons as Randall Zipper
- Cecily Strong as Jillian
- Jerrod Carmichael as Freddy / Fredo
- Michael McKean as Mark
- Jason Ritter as Jacob
- Billy Magnussen as Ben
- Lucy Punch as Emily
- Sarah Baker as Elaine
- Amy Landecker as Diane
- Casey Wilson as Trish
- Harry Hamlin as TV Dad
- Laura San Giacomo as TV Mom
- Megalyn Echikunwoke as Elise
- Lou Volpe as Dom
- Tony Amendola as Tony
- Robert Picardo as Cos
- Irina Maleeva as Angie
- Tehya Santos as Tehya
- Rebecca Drysdale as Dani
- Randall Park as Officer Lee
- Bill Fagerbakke as Officer Davis
- Marques Ray as Officer Bernie
- Corey Reynolds as Officer Wells
- Shiri Appleby as TV Daughter
- Daniel Maurio as TV Director
- Beverly Mitchell as Tina
- Despina Demetriou as Pina
- Luanne Crawford as Emily's Mom
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 131
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 | 2 | 0 |
| 4 to 6 | 13 | 0 |
| 7 to 9 | 34 | 0 |
| 10 to 12 | 10 | 7 |
| 13 to 15 | 33 | 9 |
| 16 to 18 | 31 | 0 |
| 19 to 21 | 38 | 4 |
| 22 to 24 | 22 | 0 |
| 25 to 27 | 3 | 0 |
| 28 to 30 | 34 | 0 |
| 31 to 33 | 12 | 9 |
| 34 to 36 | 8 | 7 |
| 37 to 39 | 5 | 1 |
| 40 to 42 | 23 | 8 |
| 43 to 45 | 5 | 5 |
| 46 to 48 | 24 | 0 |
| 49 to 51 | 6 | 0 |
| 52 to 54 | 12 | 0 |
| 55 to 57 | 0 | 0 |
| 58 to 60 | 10 | 18 |
| 61 to 63 | 11 | 7 |
| 64 to 66 | 0 | 0 |
| 67 to 69 | 19 | 22 |
| 70 to 72 | 12 | 18 |
| 73 to 75 | 13 | 13 |
| 76 to 78 | 2 | 0 |
| 79 to 81 | 3 | 0 |
| 82 to 84 | 29 | 20 |
| 85 to 87 | 24 | 1 |
| 88 to 90 | 18 | 11 |
| 91 to 93 | 0 | 2 |
| 94 to 96 | 8 | 12 |
| 97 to 99 | 8 | 0 |
| 100 to 102 | 12 | 7 |
| 103 to 105 | 15 | 8 |
| 106 to 108 | 0 | 0 |
| 109 to 111 | 32 | 0 |
| 112 to 114 | 38 | 0 |
| 115 to 117 | 3 | 2 |
| 118 to 120 | 0 | 2 |
| 121 to 123 | 4 | 0 |
| 124 to 126 | 5 | 5 |
| 127 to 129 | 19 | 0 |
| 130 to 131 | 5 | 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.
LORI: Oh no it’s fine. We’re just doing a drive-by before I head out later. I just didn’t want her to have to spend Valentine’s Day alone. MARNIE: And I didn’t want her to be alone. LORI: I’m not alone. MARNIE: That’s right. We’re here together.
MARNIE: Do you have everything? LORI: I have no idea.
BRUNETTE/JILLIAN: Marnie? What are you doing here? MARNIE: You said you needed a baby-sitter. MARNIE: I brought bagels.
MARNIE: She seems really excited and loves all my ideas... MARNIE JILLIAN: Definitely the chocolate. The coconut. MARNIE: That’s true. A lot of people are allergic to chocolate.
JILLIAN: Unless you want like to spend a million bucks, bands suck. They just suck. ELAINE: My sister had this Police cover band for her wedding. It had a lady singer. JILLIAN: She’s too pretty. MARNIE: Maybe a DJ is more fun cause then you get to hear the real people sing the songs. Or what if you got a karaoke machine and then everybody ju…
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 75 are women's.
605 lines from women, 198 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
13 women and 14 men in the cast. 13 women and 14 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 9 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 77% of the words (7,979), men 23% (2,433). Women have 75% 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
35
Two men
7
Exhibit F: behind the camera
7 of the 10 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 58% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Lorene Scafaria (woman)
- Written by
- Lorene Scafaria (woman)
- Produced by
- Joy Gorman Wettels (woman)
- Shot by
- Brett Pawlak (man)
- Edited by
- Kayla Emter (woman)
- Music by
- Jonathan Sadoff (man)
- Production design by
- Chris L. Spellman (man)
- Costumes by
- Annie Bloom (woman)
- Cast by
- Jeanne McCarthy (woman), Nicole Abellera Hallman (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Costume & Make-Up
4 women, 2 men, 6 not listed
-
Production
5 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Other crew
1 women, 2 men
-
Art
1 women, 1 men
-
Camera
0 women, 2 men
-
Sound
1 women, 1 men
-
Directing
1 women, 0 men
-
Editing
1 women, 0 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 40 on average. Men: 45 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Sarah Baker 25, Cecily Strong 32, Rose Byrne 36, Lucy Punch 38, Susan Sarandon 69
Men
Jerrod Carmichael 28, Billy Magnussen 30, Jason Ritter 36, J.K. Simmons 61, Michael McKean 68
Exhibit H: the money
It made 1.3 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $3.2 million
- Box office
- $4.3 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 131 scenes and 840 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
