Passes the Bechdel test
The Sessions
2012. Directed by Ben Lewin, written by Ben Lewin and Mark O'Brien.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
8 women characters. 7 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 5 scenes out of 152. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 2 out of 3.
The film
At the age of 38, Mark O'Brien, a man who uses an iron lung, decides he no longer wishes to be a virgin. With the help of his therapist and his priest, he contacts Cheryl Cohen Greene, a professional sex surrogate and a typical soccer mom with a house, a mortgage and a husband. Inspired by a true story, The Sessions, follows the fascinating relationship which evolves between Cheryl and Mark as she takes him on his journey to manhood.
- Released
- 16 Nov 2012
- Genres
- Biography, Comedy, Drama
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.2 / 10
- Metascore
- 79 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 1 Oscar. 19 wins & 64 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Mark 332 lines, man
- Cheryl 183 lines, woman
- Father Brendan 69 lines, man
- Vera 61 lines, woman
- Laura 24 lines, woman
- Clerk 23 lines, man
- Josh 17 lines, man
- Susan 17 lines, woman
- Amanda 15 lines, woman
- Carmen 14 lines, woman
Full cast, 24 people
- John Hawkes as Mark
- Helen Hunt as Cheryl
- William H. Macy as Father Brendan
- Moon Bloodgood as Vera
- Annika Marks as Amanda
- Adam Arkin as Josh
- Rhea Perlman as Mikvah Lady
- W. Earl Brown as Rod
- Robin Weigert as Susan
- Blake Lindsley as Dr. Laura White
- Ming Lo as Clerk
- Rusty Schwimmer as Joan
- Jennifer Kumiyama as Carmen
- Tobias Forrest as Greg
- Jarrod Bailey as Tony
- James Martinez as Matt
- Paul MacLean as Young Mark
- Phoebe Lewin as Girl on Beach
- Jonathan Hanrahan as Unicyclist
- Jason Jack Edwards as Waiter
- J. Teddy Garces as Man in Elevator
- Daniel Quinn as E.R. Doctor
- B.J. Clinkscales as Ambulance Driver
- RayVeness as Pill Nurse
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 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 152
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 4 | 0 | 1 |
| 5 to 8 | 3 | 10 |
| 9 to 12 | 0 | 31 |
| 13 to 16 | 2 | 6 |
| 17 to 20 | 6 | 10 |
| 21 to 24 | 5 | 18 |
| 25 to 28 | 7 | 5 |
| 29 to 32 | 5 | 4 |
| 33 to 36 | 21 | 21 |
| 37 to 40 | 3 | 47 |
| 41 to 44 | 14 | 14 |
| 45 to 48 | 4 | 6 |
| 49 to 52 | 38 | 30 |
| 53 to 56 | 29 | 25 |
| 57 to 60 | 4 | 4 |
| 61 to 64 | 11 | 17 |
| 65 to 68 | 3 | 1 |
| 69 to 72 | 7 | 9 |
| 73 to 76 | 8 | 4 |
| 77 to 80 | 13 | 18 |
| 81 to 84 | 6 | 7 |
| 85 to 88 | 27 | 22 |
| 89 to 92 | 5 | 0 |
| 93 to 96 | 4 | 15 |
| 97 to 100 | 3 | 2 |
| 101 to 104 | 13 | 25 |
| 105 to 108 | 6 | 5 |
| 109 to 112 | 7 | 9 |
| 113 to 116 | 11 | 12 |
| 117 to 120 | 0 | 3 |
| 121 to 124 | 2 | 3 |
| 125 to 128 | 4 | 4 |
| 129 to 132 | 26 | 19 |
| 133 to 136 | 0 | 5 |
| 137 to 140 | 16 | 4 |
| 141 to 144 | 14 | 18 |
| 145 to 148 | 0 | 29 |
| 149 to 152 | 3 | 6 |
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.
CHERYL: I'm not your girlfriend. When someone calls, particularly someone you don't know, you can use the word 'Mom'. CHERYL: Hullo, this is Cheryl. LAURA: Hi, it's Laura. CHERYL: I haven't heard from you in a while. How are you?
CARMEN: Okay, I'm going. I'll be back some time after one. If I'm not here, just let yourselves out. VERA: Bye.
CHERYL: Hi, I'm Cheryl. I'm sorry I'm late. VERA: No, that's fine. Come in. I'm Vera, I'm one of Mark's helpers. CHERYL: Hi, Mark O'Brien.
VERA: I'll be back, say, in two hours? CHERYL: Yes, two hours, that would be perfect. CHERYL: So...
VERA: She was very apologetic. CHERYL: Look, it may not be exactly what we had in mind, but I noticed there's quite a nice motel just a couple of blocks from here. Maybe it's wort…
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 41 are women's.
330 lines from women, 469 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
8 women and 11 men in the cast. 7 women and 9 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 12 of 812.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 44 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 43% of the words (3,705), men 57% (4,983). Women have 41% 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
11
Two men
16
Exhibit F: behind the camera
4 of the 11 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 38% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Ben Lewin (man)
- Written by
- Ben Lewin (man)
- Produced by
- Judi Levine (woman), Ben Lewin (man), Stephen Nemeth (man)
- Shot by
- Geoffrey Simpson (man)
- Edited by
- Lisa Bromwell (woman)
- Music by
- Marco Beltrami (man)
- Production design by
- John Mott (man)
- Costumes by
- Justine Seymour (woman)
- Cast by
- Ronnie Yeskel (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
2 women, 4 men
-
Production
2 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 1 men
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 0 men
-
Directing
0 women, 1 men
-
Editing
1 women, 0 men
-
Writing
0 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 42 on average. Men: 54 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Annika Marks 25, Moon Bloodgood 36, Blake Lindsley 38, Robin Weigert 42, Helen Hunt 48, Rhea Perlman 64
Men
W. Earl Brown 48, John Hawkes 52, Adam Arkin 55, William H. Macy 62
Exhibit H: the money
It made 9.1 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $1 million
- Box office
- $9.1 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 152 scenes and 812 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
