Passes the Bechdel test

The Menu

Name: The Menu
Released: 2022

2022. Directed by Mark Mylod, written by Seth Reiss and Will Tracy.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
9 women characters. 7 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 12 scenes out of 59.
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

Expecting nothing less than the best of everything haute cuisine has to offer, a group of ultra-wealthy gastronomes with a demanding palate arrive at the Hawthorn: an exclusive culinary temple run by highly regarded gourmet chef Julian Slowik. And prepared for an exquisite multiple-course meal and the experience of a lifetime, obsessive epicurean Tyler and his unimpressed plus-one Margot enter the private minimalist restaurant. At last, the long wait is over. However, no one knows that the cryptic genius in the kitchen has big plans for tonight. After all, the imperious culinary artist has been stretching the boundaries of taste and fine dining for decades. Now, the host can finally unveil his magnum opus. But is the blasé clientele ready for Julian's creative madness?

Released: 18 Nov 2022
Genres: Comedy, Horror, Thriller
Rated: R
IMDb: 7.1 / 10
Metascore: 71 / 100
Awards: 2 wins & 68 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Chef Slowik 224 lines, man
Margot 175 lines, woman
Tyler 131 lines, man
Elsa 75 lines, woman
Movie Star 59 lines, man
Lillian Bloom 45 lines, woman
Bryce 41 lines, man
Felicity 35 lines, woman
Anne 31 lines, woman
Richard 31 lines, man

Full cast, 34 people

Anya Taylor-Joy as Margot
Ralph Fiennes as Chef Slowik
Nicholas Hoult as Tyler
Janet McTeer as Lillian
Paul Adelstein as Ted
Rob Yang as Bryce
Aimee Carrero as Felicity
John Leguizamo as Movie Star
Arturo Castro as Soren
Reed Birney as Richard
Hong Chau as Elsa
Judith Light as Anne
Mark St. Cyr as Dave
Rebecca Koon as Linda
Peter Grosz as Sommelier
Christina Brucato as Katherine
Adam Aalderks as Jeremy
Jon Paul Allyn as Boat Waiter
Mel Fair as Boatman
Cristian Gonzalez as Server 1
Matthew Cornwell as Dale / Coast Guard Officer
John Wilkins III as Server 2
John Cola as Chef (uncredited)
Michael A. Dean as Chef (uncredited)
Marcus Aveons Duncan as Chef (uncredited)
Alexander Goldstein as Chef (uncredited)
Grant Henley as Chef (uncredited)
Rachel Trautmann as Chef (uncredited)
Victor Zheng as Chef (uncredited)
Michael Neal as Doug Verrick (uncredited)
Brandon Herron as Front of House (uncredited)
Jay Shadix as Front of House (uncredited)
Melisa Lopez as Police Officer (uncredited)
Elbert Kim as Police Officer (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 2% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 59

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	18	24
3 to 4	8	18
5 to 6	19	19
7 to 8	13	11
9 to 10	4	3
11 to 12	8	2
13 to 14	12	3
15 to 16	12	8
17 to 18	31	70
19 to 20	0	1
21 to 22	32	35
23 to 24	36	45
25 to 26	15	10
27 to 28	40	68
29 to 30	25	75
31 to 32	9	18
33 to 34	4	1
35 to 36	5	1
37 to 38	12	0
39 to 40	0	0
41 to 42	11	44
43 to 44	14	32
45 to 46	0	0
47 to 48	2	17
49 to 50	1	0
51 to 52	9	0
53 to 54	8	6
55 to 56	32	82
57 to 58	1	4
59 to 59	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.

MARGOT: I'm Margot. Nice to meet you. ELSA: Margot. Welcome. We'll endeavor to make your evening as pleasant as possible. Right this way.

ANNE: We've seen it. Many times. ELSA: Yes, you have, haven't you? The Liebrandts are very loyal customers.

ELSA: Writing good things, I hope, Ms. Bloom. Not like what you wrote about our friends at Mercia. LILLIAN BLOOM: Mercia? Be fair, I wrote a very kind review of Mercia. ELSA: Well not completely, Ms. Bloom.

LINDA: Hello. Welcome. ELSA: Miss...? MARGOT: Mills. ELSA: Miss Mills. You will be sitting in Miss Westervelt's seat. Enjoy.

MARGOT: Mmm. Longing and regret. My favorite. ANNE: She's staring again.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 39 are women's.

381 lines from women, 597 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

9 women and 23 men in the cast. 7 women and 15 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 2 of 1,001. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 35 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 35% of the words (3,583), men 65% (6,553). Women have 39% 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

Two men

Exhibit F: behind the camera

4 of the 16 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 37% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Mark Mylod (man)
Written by: Seth Reiss (man), Will Tracy (man)
Produced by: Adam McKay (man), Betsy Koch (gender not listed), Katie Goodson (woman), DanTram Nguyen (woman), Zahra Phillips (gender not listed), Will Ferrell (man)
Shot by: Peter Deming (man)
Edited by: Christopher Tellefsen (man)
Music by: Colin Stetson (man)
Production design by: Ethan Tobman (man)
Costumes by: Amy Westcott (woman)
Cast by: Mary Vernieu (woman), Bret Howe (man)