Passes the Bechdel test
Vox Lux
2018. Directed by Brady Corbet, written by Brady Corbet and Mona Fastvold.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
24 women characters. 7 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 11 scenes out of 73. -
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
Vox Lux follows the rise of Celeste from the ashes of a major national tragedy to pop super stardom. The film spans 18 years and traces important cultural moments through her eyes, starting in 1999 and concluding in 2017. In 1999, teenage Celeste (Raffey Cassidy) survives a violent tragedy. After singing at a memorial service, Celeste transforms into a burgeoning pop star with the help of her songwriter sister (Stacy Martin) and a talent manager (Jude Law). Celeste's meteoric rise to fame and concurrent loss of innocence dovetails with a shattering terrorist attack on the nation, elevating the young powerhouse to a new kind of celebrity: American icon, secular deity, global superstar. By 2017, adult Celeste (Natalie Portman) is mounting a comeback after a scandalous incident that derailed her career. Touring in support of her sixth album, a compendium of sci-fi anthems entitled Vox Lux, the indomitable, foul-mouthed pop savior must overcome her personal and familial struggles to navigate motherhood, madness and monolithic fame in the Age of Terror. In Brady Corbet's second feature, following his 2015 breakout debut The Childhood of a Leader - winner of the Best Director and Best Debut Film prizes at the Venice Film Festival - Celeste becomes a symbol of the cult of celebrity and the media machine in all its guts, grit and glory. Featuring original songs by Sia, an original score by Scott Walker, and a transcendent performance by Natalie Portman, personifying and pummeling the zeitgeist, Vox Lux is an origin story about the forces that shape us, as individuals, nations, and gods.
- Released
- 20 Dec 2018
- Genres
- Drama, Music
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 5.8 / 10
- Metascore
- 67 / 100
- Awards
- 1 win & 11 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Celeste 321 lines, woman
- The Manager 85 lines, man
- Albertine 53 lines, woman
- Eleanor 52 lines, woman
- Musician 28 lines, man
- Narrator 18 lines, man
- Ms. Dwyer 14 lines, woman
- Sfx 13 lines
- Journalist 12 lines, man
- Restaurant Manager 12 lines, man
Full cast, 65 people
- Natalie Portman as Celeste Montgomery
- Raffey Cassidy as Young Celeste / Albertine
- Jude Law as Manager
- Stacy Martin as Eleanor "Ellie" Montgomery
- Jennifer Ehle as Josie
- Christopher Abbott as Journalist
- Logan Riley Bruner as Cullen Active
- Maria Dizzia as Ms. Dwyer
- Meg Gibson as Mrs. Montgomery
- Daniel London as Father Cliff
- Sahr Ngaujah
- Micheál Richardson as Musician
- Matt Servitto as Mr. Montgomery
- Leslie Silva as Stylist
- Allison Winn as Therese
- Max Born
- Nikki Brower
- Fred Hechinger as Aidan
- Sasha Eden as Waitress
- Dejay Roestenberg
- Antonio Ortiz
- Angel Dillemuth as Bartender
- Ben Rezendes
- Christopher Dylan White
- Lya Yanne as Translator
- Alexa Marcigliano
- David Cale as Laser Director
- Anna Mikami as Yanmei
- Erik King
- Nastasha Strang as Press
- Jason Ng
- Jesse Marchant
- Henry Storrs as The Moderator
- Stephen Izzi
- Sophie Lane Curtis as Tony
- Anthony Mazza
- Scott Burik
- Celia Rowlson-Hall as Choreographer
- Kathryn Avery
- Mariusz Kubicki
- Madeleine Plener
- Elizabeth Chestang
- Nitasha Bhambree
- Jordan Friedman as Celeste (Child)
- Deijah Robinson
- Adam Wood
- Maceo Oliver as Paramedic
- Aaliyah Murphy
- Stephen A. Pope
- Mona Fastvold
- Amandy Fernandez
- Aaron Vexler
- Susanna Guzman as Guest Star
- Nella Cole
- Luis Moco
- Andy Lucien as Photographer
- Najla Gilliam
- Jenna Hellmuth
- Chelsea Thedinga
- Willem Dafoe as Narrator (voice)
- Candace M. Smith as Celeste's Wardrobe Assistant (uncredited)
- Chris Banks as Swede (uncredited)
- Christopher McLinden as Radio Announcer (uncredited)
- Annie Pisapia as Woman on Beach (uncredited)
- Natasha Romanova as Reporter (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 11% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 73
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 | 3 | 4 |
| 3 to 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 to 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 to 8 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 to 10 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 to 12 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 to 14 | 23 | 8 |
| 15 to 16 | 0 | 0 |
| 17 to 18 | 6 | 2 |
| 19 to 20 | 1 | 0 |
| 21 to 22 | 10 | 1 |
| 23 to 24 | 3 | 0 |
| 25 to 26 | 9 | 5 |
| 27 to 28 | 3 | 8 |
| 29 to 30 | 5 | 1 |
| 31 to 32 | 8 | 8 |
| 33 to 34 | 12 | 6 |
| 35 to 36 | 14 | 0 |
| 37 to 38 | 23 | 16 |
| 39 to 40 | 11 | 6 |
| 41 to 42 | 11 | 12 |
| 43 to 44 | 5 | 5 |
| 45 to 46 | 13 | 11 |
| 47 to 48 | 8 | 0 |
| 49 to 50 | 1 | 0 |
| 51 to 52 | 22 | 19 |
| 53 to 54 | 57 | 14 |
| 55 to 56 | 91 | 19 |
| 57 to 58 | 22 | 0 |
| 59 to 60 | 9 | 1 |
| 61 to 62 | 23 | 19 |
| 63 to 64 | 19 | 4 |
| 65 to 66 | 3 | 3 |
| 67 to 68 | 5 | 0 |
| 69 to 70 | 7 | 3 |
| 71 to 72 | 31 | 25 |
| 73 to 73 | 12 | 3 |
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.
ELEANOR: I’m so sorry I was sick. I should have been there for you. I’m so grateful you’re alive. I think I would have died - or just killed myself. … CELESTE: Oh, God, Ellie. I think I’ve done something terrible. ELEANOR: It’s not your fault. What more could you have done? You’re safe with me.
CELESTE: I don’t want anyone to see me like this. ELEANOR: You look fine. CELESTE: Can you talk to them? ELEANOR: Me? What am I supposed to say? I wasn’t there.
ELEANOR: Yes, the hotel’s very nice. CELESTE: Yes, it’s great. So, what’s next?
CELESTE: I like it. ELEANOR: I like it too.
CHOREOGRAPHER: Keep your abdominal muscles as stiff as you can. CHOREOGRAPHER: Okay, almost, and again. CHOREOGRAPHER: Better. Try again. CHOREOGRAPHER: Are you all right? We can take a break.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 70 are women's.
470 lines from women, 203 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
24 women and 27 men in the cast. 7 women and 11 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 2 of 755.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 14 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 63% of the words (5,750), men 37% (3,406). Women have 70% of the lines, so their lines run shorter than men's.
Exhibit E: the test the other way
Run the other way, for men, the film scores 1 out of 3.
Conversations between two named characters
Two women
28
Two men
0
Exhibit F: behind the camera
5 of the 20 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 40% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Brady Corbet (man)
- Written by
- Brady Corbet (man)
- Story by
- Mona Fastvold (woman), Brady Corbet (man)
- Produced by
- Svetlana Metkina (woman), Andrew Lauren (man), D.J. Gugenheim (man), David Hinojosa (man), David Litvak (man), Michel Litvak (man) and 4 more
- Shot by
- Lol Crawley (man)
- Edited by
- Matthew Hannam (man)
- Music by
- Scott Walker (man)
- Production design by
- Sam Lisenco (man)
- Costumes by
- Keri Langerman (woman)
- Cast by
- Cassandra Kulukundis (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
7 women, 15 men, 2 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
4 women, 1 men, 14 not listed
-
Art
4 women, 2 men, 12 not listed
-
Sound
6 women, 7 men, 1 not listed
-
Other crew
4 women, 5 men, 2 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 4 men, 1 not listed
-
Visual Effects
1 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 1 men, 2 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 39 on average. Men: 36 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Raffey Cassidy 16, Stacy Martin 28, Natalie Portman 37, Maria Dizzia 43, Jennifer Ehle 48, Meg Gibson 63
Men
Logan Riley Bruner 21, Christopher Abbott 32, Jude Law 45, Daniel London 45
Exhibit H: the money
It made 19% of what it cost.
- Budget
- $7 million
- Box office
- $1.3 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 73 scenes and 755 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
