Passes the Bechdel test

Tully

Name: Tully
Released: 2018

2018. Directed by Jason Reitman, written by Diablo Cody.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
19 women characters. 15 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 26 scenes out of 92.
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, though someone marked that rating as dubious.

The film

The film is about Marlo, a mother of three, including a newborn. Marlo's brother gives her a night nanny as a gift. Hesitant with the extravagance at first, Marlo comes to form a unique bond with the thoughtful, surprising, and sometimes challenging young nanny named Tully.

Released: 04 May 2018
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Mystery
Rated: R
IMDb: 6.9 / 10
Metascore: 75 / 100
Awards: 4 wins & 31 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Marlo 350 lines, woman
Tully 173 lines, woman
Drew 79 lines, man
Craig 42 lines, man
Elyse 30 lines, woman
Jonah 28 lines, man
Sarah 27 lines, woman
Laurie 26 lines, woman
Violet 13 lines, woman
Dr. Smythe 11 lines, woman

Full cast, 31 people

Charlize Theron as Marlo Moreau
Mackenzie Davis as Tully
Ron Livingston as Drew Moreau
Mark Duplass as Craig
Asher Miles Fallica as Jonah Moreau
Lia Frankland as Sarah Moreau
Elaine Tan as Elyse
Gameela Wright as Laurie
Tattiawna Jones as Violet
Stormy Ent as Shasta
Maddie Dixon-Poirier as Emmy
Bella Star Choy as Greta
Dominic Good as Dash
Joshua Pak as Dallas
Colleen Wheeler as Dr. Smythe
Em Haine as Barista
Marceline Hugot as Coffee Shop Customer
Jess Tolon as Princess
Katie Hayashida as Running Girl
Steven Roberts as Teacher
Elfina Luk as Hospital Employee
Xantha Radley as Mrs. Marvish
Michael Patrick Lane as Hot Bartender
John Shaw as Doctor
Candus Churchill as Nurse
Jennifer March as Delivery Room Nurse
Anne-Marie Madden as Anesthesiologist
Kiff VandenHeuvel as Weather Man
Trish Allen as Distant Relative
Kitty Crystal as Bartender (uncredited)
Shade Rupe as Bar Patron (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 92

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	5	1
3 to 4	14	6
5 to 6	10	5
7 to 8	1	0
9 to 10	40	0
11 to 12	26	4
13 to 14	17	5
15 to 16	17	11
17 to 18	14	21
19 to 20	6	6
21 to 22	0	0
23 to 24	0	0
25 to 26	5	4
27 to 28	9	4
29 to 30	2	0
31 to 32	29	0
33 to 34	46	8
35 to 36	7	5
37 to 38	2	0
39 to 40	33	7
41 to 42	0	0
43 to 44	49	2
45 to 46	15	1
47 to 48	7	4
49 to 50	0	0
51 to 52	0	0
53 to 54	0	0
55 to 56	0	0
57 to 58	0	0
59 to 60	18	8
61 to 62	7	5
63 to 64	37	0
65 to 66	19	3
67 to 68	9	8
69 to 70	25	0
71 to 72	9	0
73 to 74	19	2
75 to 76	12	0
77 to 78	37	0
79 to 80	28	0
81 to 82	17	0
83 to 84	13	2
85 to 86	9	9
87 to 88	18	5
89 to 90	9	9
91 to 92	9	8

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.

BARISTA: You still want it? MARLO: Yeah, yeah.

MARLO: I want to kill myself. SARAH: What?

MARLO: Yeah, like five kids died in one last week. It burst into flames while they were on their way to see the Easter Bunny at Monmouth Mall. SARAH: You’re lying! MARLO: Don’t get too close to it.

EMMY: Yeah, we got a karaoke machine. SARAH: Cool! ELYSE: Shasta’s so awesome. She has a masters degree in Early Childhood Education. I feel like she should be telling me what to do. Marlo, you are … MARLO: Really? I feel like an abandoned trash barge.

ELYSE: When is your due date again? MARLO: Monday.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 81 are women's.

649 lines from women, 153 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

19 women and 10 men in the cast. 15 women and 6 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 2 of 815. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 4 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 82% of the words (6,481), men 18% (1,407). Women have 81% 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

Two men

Exhibit F: behind the camera

9 of the 17 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 37% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Jason Reitman (man)
Written by: Diablo Cody (woman)
Produced by: Jason Reitman (man), Mason Novick (man), Diablo Cody (woman), Aaron L. Gilbert (man), A.J. Dix (gender not listed), Charlize Theron (woman) and 2 more
Shot by: Eric Steelberg (man)
Edited by: Stefan Grube (man)
Music by: Rob Simonsen (man)
Production design by: Anastasia Masaro (woman)
Costumes by: Aieisha Li (woman)
Cast by: Corinne Clark (woman), Jennifer Page (woman)