Passes the Bechdel test
The Sun Is Also a Star
2019. Directed by Ry Russo-Young, written by Tracy Oliver and Nicola Yoon.
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 103. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.
The film
Natasha believes in science and facts. Not fate. Not destiny. Or dreams that will never come true. She is not the type of girl who meets a cute boy on a crowded New York City street and falls in love with him. Not when her family is 12 hours away from being deported. Falling in love with him will not be her story. Daniel has always been the good son, the good student, living up to his parents' high expectations. Never a poet. Or a dreamer. But when he sees Natasha, he forgets all that. Something about her makes him think that fate has something much more extraordinary in store--for both of them. Every moment has brought them to this single moment. A million futures lie before them. Which one will come true?
- Released
- 17 May 2019
- Genres
- Drama, Music, Romance
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 5.9 / 10
- Metascore
- 52 / 100
- Awards
- 2 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Natasha 367 lines, woman
- Daniel 362 lines, man
- Fitzgerald 35 lines, man
- Omar 34 lines, man
- Charlie 26 lines, man
- Bev 19 lines, woman
- Hannah 16 lines, woman
- Mrs. Kingsley 15 lines, woman
- Dae 14 lines, man
- Mr. Kingsley 14 lines, man
Full cast, 16 people
- Yara Shahidi as Natasha Kingsley
- Charles Melton as Daniel Jae Ho Bae
- Hill Harper as Lester Barnes
- Gbenga Akinnagbe as Samuel Kingsley
- Jake Choi as Charlie Bae
- John Leguizamo as Jeremy Martinez
- Anais Lee as Young Natasha
- Miriam A. Hyman as Patricia Kingsley
- Jordan Williams as Peter Kingsley
- Keong Sim as Dae Hyun Bae
- Cathy Shim as Min Soo Bae
- Shamika Cotton as Hannah
- Camrus Johnson as Omar Hassabala
- Harry Chambarry as Angry Passenger
- Tash Neal as Guitarist
- Donna Hayes as Jamaican Market Woman
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 5% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 103
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 | 3 | 0 |
| 7 to 9 | 2 | 0 |
| 10 to 12 | 23 | 6 |
| 13 to 15 | 1 | 3 |
| 16 to 18 | 13 | 11 |
| 19 to 21 | 17 | 22 |
| 22 to 24 | 12 | 12 |
| 25 to 27 | 20 | 44 |
| 28 to 30 | 57 | 68 |
| 31 to 33 | 16 | 12 |
| 34 to 36 | 54 | 9 |
| 37 to 39 | 3 | 12 |
| 40 to 42 | 27 | 52 |
| 43 to 45 | 8 | 9 |
| 46 to 48 | 33 | 29 |
| 49 to 51 | 13 | 34 |
| 52 to 54 | 9 | 5 |
| 55 to 57 | 5 | 1 |
| 58 to 60 | 9 | 19 |
| 61 to 63 | 7 | 5 |
| 64 to 66 | 9 | 9 |
| 67 to 69 | 11 | 16 |
| 70 to 72 | 2 | 56 |
| 73 to 75 | 33 | 26 |
| 76 to 78 | 23 | 19 |
| 79 to 81 | 1 | 3 |
| 82 to 84 | 0 | 0 |
| 85 to 87 | 9 | 5 |
| 88 to 90 | 0 | 4 |
| 91 to 93 | 1 | 2 |
| 94 to 96 | 2 | 1 |
| 97 to 99 | 1 | 3 |
| 100 to 102 | 2 | 3 |
| 103 to 103 | 9 | 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.
MRS. KINGSLEY: Tasha. How many times I’m gonna have to tell you to clean the dishes before I come home? NATASHA: You haven’t even closed the door yet and you’re already yelling-- MRS. KINGSLEY: It’s not enough to pick up dirty plates at work? I come home to pick up dirty plates too?! NATASHA: Mom, please. I’ll do it now.
NATASHA: I’ll be back later. MRS. KINGSLEY: You have a lot to finish here. I still see open boxes in your room. NATASHA: Mom, I really gotta go.
NATASHA: I heard what you told mom after the play-- MRS. KINGSLEY: Baby. There’s no point in rehashing all this now.
BEV: I’m booking my flight now! Christmas in Jamaica is a thing, right? NATASHA: Yes, I believe so. I’m so sorry, Bev. It all happened so fast. NATASHA: I have to go. I’ll call you soon as I land. Love you.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 47 are women's.
437 lines from women, 502 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
6 women and 9 men in the cast. 4 women and 6 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 52 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 49% of the words (5,002), men 51% (5,250). Women have 47% 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
13
Two men
19
Exhibit F: behind the camera
5 of the 8 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 60% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Ry Russo-Young (woman)
- Written by
- Tracy Oliver (woman)
- Produced by
- Leslie Morgenstein (man), Elysa Koplovitz Dutton (woman)
- Shot by
- Autumn Durald Arkapaw (woman)
- Edited by
- Joe Landauer (man)
- Music by
- Herdís Stefánsdóttir (woman)
- Production design by
- Wynn Thomas (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Art
1 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Camera
1 women, 1 men
-
Editing
1 women, 1 men
-
Production
1 women, 1 men
-
Writing
2 women, 0 men
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 0 men
-
Other crew
0 women, 1 men
-
Directing
1 women, 0 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 24 on average. Men: 43 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Anais Lee 12, Yara Shahidi 19, Miriam A. Hyman 41
Men
Charles Melton 28, Jake Choi 31, Gbenga Akinnagbe 40, Keong Sim 50, Hill Harper 52, John Leguizamo 58
Exhibit H: the money
It made 76% of what it cost.
- Budget
- $9 million
- Box office
- $6.8 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 103 scenes and 986 lines of dialogue. How the test works
