Passes the Bechdel test
The Royal Tenenbaums
2002. Directed by Wes Anderson, written by Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
6 women characters. 4 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 3 scenes out of 134. -
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
Three grown prodigies, all with a unique genius of some kind, and their mother are staying at the family household. Their father, Royal had left them long ago, and comes back to make things right with his family.
- Released
- 04 Jan 2002
- Genres
- Comedy, Drama
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.6 / 10
- Metascore
- 76 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 1 Oscar. 11 wins & 46 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Royal 267 lines, man
- Margot 118 lines, woman
- Richie 116 lines, man
- Etheline 100 lines, woman
- Chas 86 lines, man
- Eli 67 lines, man
- Narrator 55 lines, man
- Henry 49 lines, man
- Raleigh 43 lines, man
- Ari 20 lines, man
Full cast, 63 people
- Gene Hackman as Royal Tenenbaum
- Anjelica Huston as Etheline Tenenbaum
- Ben Stiller as Chas Tenenbaum
- Gwyneth Paltrow as Margot Tenenbaum
- Luke Wilson as Richie Tenenbaum
- Owen Wilson as Eli Cash
- Bill Murray as Raleigh St. Clair
- Danny Glover as Henry Sherman
- Seymour Cassel as Dusty
- Kumar Pallana as Pagoda
- Alec Baldwin as Narrator (voice)
- Grant Rosenmeyer as Ari Tenenbaum
- Jonah Meyerson as Uzi Tenenbaum
- Aram Aslanian-Persico as Young Chas Tenenbaum
- Irina Gorovaia as Young Margot Tenenbaum
- Arianna Turturro as Young Richie Tenenbaum
- Stephen Lea Sheppard as Dudley Heinsbergen
- James Fitzgerald as Young Eli Cash
- Larry Pine as Peter Bradley
- Don McKinnon as Detective
- Frank Wood as Hotel Manager
- Al Thompson as Walter Sherman
- Jennifer Wachtell as Rachael Tenenbaum
- Donal Lardner Ward as Hotel Clerk
- Andrew Wilson as Farmer Father / Tex Hayward
- Dipak Pallana as Doctor
- Sanjay Mathew as Sanjay Gandhi
- Mary Wigmore as Chas' Secretary
- Sonam Wangmo as Sing-Sang
- Gita Gabriel as Facialist
- Pawel Wdowczak as Neville Smythe-Dorleac
- Peter Leung as Yasuo Oshima
- William Sturgis as Franklin Benedict
- Liam Craig as Reporter in Blue Cardigan
- Sheelagh Tellerday as Eli's Aunt
- Max Faugno as Cote d'Ivoire Attendant
- Guido Venitucci as Cote d'Ivoire Radio Operator
- Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Frederick - Bellboy
- Brian Smiar as Elderly 'Baumer' Fan #1
- Jan Austell as Elderly 'Baumer' Fan #2
- Rony Clanton as Cemetery Maintenance Man
- Salim Malik as Anwar
- Tom Lacy as Judge
- Keith Charles as Royal's Lawyer
- Greg Goossen as Gypsy Cab Driver
- Saidah Arrika Ekulona as Nurse
- Vic Mata as Sanchez
- Michael Conti as Irish Longshoreman
- Tatiana Abbey as Parisian Girl
- Kalani Queypo as New Guinea Tribesman
- Mel Cannon as Punk Rocker
- Leo Manuelian as Eli's Egyptian Friend
- Amir Raissi as Eli's Egyptian Friend
- Roger Shamas as Eli's Egyptian Friend
- Philip Denning as Father Petersen
- Rex Robbins as Mr. Levinson
- Nova Landaeus-Skinnar as Elaine Levinson
- Sam Hoffman as Paramedic
- Brian Tenenbaum as Paramedic
- Stephen Dignan as Paramedic
- Eric Chase Anderson as Medical Student
- Wes Anderson as Tennis Match Commentator #1 (voice) (uncredited)
- Gary Evans as Police Officer (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 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 134
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 | 4 | 17 |
| 4 to 6 | 0 | 12 |
| 7 to 9 | 1 | 10 |
| 10 to 12 | 1 | 13 |
| 13 to 15 | 0 | 18 |
| 16 to 18 | 4 | 15 |
| 19 to 21 | 0 | 10 |
| 22 to 24 | 4 | 12 |
| 25 to 27 | 0 | 7 |
| 28 to 30 | 0 | 7 |
| 31 to 33 | 9 | 10 |
| 34 to 36 | 18 | 2 |
| 37 to 39 | 20 | 20 |
| 40 to 42 | 3 | 16 |
| 43 to 45 | 4 | 1 |
| 46 to 48 | 5 | 32 |
| 49 to 51 | 9 | 18 |
| 52 to 54 | 9 | 25 |
| 55 to 57 | 8 | 57 |
| 58 to 60 | 0 | 31 |
| 61 to 63 | 7 | 40 |
| 64 to 66 | 4 | 24 |
| 67 to 69 | 5 | 10 |
| 70 to 72 | 8 | 24 |
| 73 to 75 | 2 | 8 |
| 76 to 78 | 0 | 12 |
| 79 to 81 | 8 | 13 |
| 82 to 84 | 1 | 31 |
| 85 to 87 | 16 | 41 |
| 88 to 90 | 6 | 24 |
| 91 to 93 | 0 | 10 |
| 94 to 96 | 15 | 23 |
| 97 to 99 | 3 | 10 |
| 100 to 102 | 0 | 18 |
| 103 to 105 | 24 | 18 |
| 106 to 108 | 6 | 38 |
| 109 to 111 | 3 | 13 |
| 112 to 114 | 7 | 13 |
| 115 to 117 | 3 | 1 |
| 118 to 120 | 0 | 11 |
| 121 to 123 | 0 | 11 |
| 124 to 126 | 6 | 31 |
| 127 to 129 | 0 | 8 |
| 130 to 132 | 0 | 8 |
| 133 to 134 | 0 | 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.
MARGOT: Who is it? ETHELINE: It's me, sweetie. MARGOT: {pause) You can come in.
ETHELINE: How long have you been a smoker? MARGOT: Twenty-two years. ETHELINE: Well, I think you should quit.
ETHELINE: What are you chewing on? MARGOT: My nicotine inhaler. It's supposed to help me quit. ETHELINE: Is it working? MARGOT: No.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 22 are women's.
223 lines from women, 775 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
6 women and 33 men in the cast. 4 women and 19 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 3 of 1,022.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 69 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 19% of the words (1,725), men 81% (7,204). Women have 22% 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
11
Two men
77
Exhibit F: behind the camera
1 of the 12 people in these jobs is a woman.
Across the whole crew, 25% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Wes Anderson (man)
- Written by
- Wes Anderson (man), Owen Wilson (man)
- Produced by
- Wes Anderson (man), Barry Mendel (man), Scott Rudin (man)
- Shot by
- Robert D. Yeoman (man)
- Edited by
- Dylan Tichenor (man)
- Music by
- Mark Mothersbaugh (man)
- Production design by
- David Wasco (man)
- Costumes by
- Karen Patch (woman)
- Cast by
- Douglas Aibel (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
5 women, 21 men, 10 not listed
-
Sound
4 women, 17 men, 2 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 4 men, 10 not listed
-
Production
4 women, 8 men, 2 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
6 women, 0 men, 7 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 5 men, 5 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 2 men, 2 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 40 on average. Men: 53 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Gwyneth Paltrow 29, Anjelica Huston 50
Men
Luke Wilson 30, Owen Wilson 32, Ben Stiller 35, Bill Murray 51, Danny Glover 55, Seymour Cassel 66, Gene Hackman 71, Kumar Pallana 82
Exhibit H: the money
It made 3.4 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $21 million
- Box office
- $71.4 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 134 scenes and 1,022 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
