Passes the Bechdel test
White Noise
2022. Directed by Noah Baumbach, written by Noah Baumbach and Don DeLillo.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
14 women characters. 14 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 13 scenes out of 58. -
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
At once hilarious and horrifying, lyrical and absurd, ordinary and apocalyptic, "White Noise" dramatizes a contemporary American family's attempts to deal with the mundane conflicts of everyday life while grappling with the universal mysteries of love, death, and the possibility of happiness in an uncertain world.
- Released
- 30 Dec 2022
- Genres
- Comedy, Drama, Horror
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 5.7 / 10
- Metascore
- 66 / 100
- Awards
- 2 wins & 25 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Jack 395 lines, man
- Babette 174 lines, woman
- Denise 97 lines, woman
- Heinrich 72 lines, man
- Murray 69 lines, man
- Steffie 51 lines, woman
- Mr. Gray 35 lines, man
- Technician 17 lines
- Winnie 15 lines, woman
- Nun 13 lines, woman
Full cast, 71 people
- Adam Driver as Jack Gladney
- Greta Gerwig as Babette Gladney
- Don Cheadle as Murray Siskind
- Raffey Cassidy as Denise Gladney
- Sam Nivola as Heinrich Gladney
- May Nivola as Steffie Gladney
- Jodie Turner-Smith as Winnie Richards
- André 3000 as Elliot Lasher
- Sam Gold as Alfonse
- Carlos Jacott as Grappa
- Lars Eidinger as Arlo Shell
- Bill Camp as Man With TV
- Barbara Sukowa as Sister Hermann Marie
- Francis Jue as Dr. Lu
- J. David Hinze as Herr Dokter
- Gideon Glick as Simuvac Technician
- Madison Gaughan as College on the Hill
- Douglas Brodax as College on the Hill
- Carly Brodax as College on the Hill
- Jill Brodax as College on the Hill
- Wickham Bermingham as College on the Hill
- Michael Chopra as College on the Hill
- Santu Chopra as College on the Hill
- Danielle Williams as College on the Hill
- Matthew Williams as College on the Hill
- Henry Moore as Wilder
- Dean Moore as Wilder
- Jacob Weinheimer as Student in Jack's Class
- Danny Wolohan as German Teacher
- Randall L. Johnson as Boarding House Tenant
- David Neumann as Supermarket Announcer
- Starlett Sabo as Cashier
- Erik Moth as Store Manager
- Gavin Ditz as Stock Boy
- George Drakoulias as Cotsakis
- James DeForest Parker as Truck Driver
- Andrew Barth Feldman as Student
- Annie Fitzpatrick as Neighbor
- Brooke Bloom as Evacuee with Theory
- Quincy Tyler Bernstine as Evacuee with Theory
- Jennifer Tober as Evacuee with Theory
- David Myers Gregory as Evacuee with Theory
- Aaron Marcus as Evacuee with Theory
- Benjamin Sheeler as Evacuee with Theory
- Ted Weil as Evacuee with Theory
- Jeanne Madison as Evacuee with Theory
- Joey Nader as Evacuee With Theory
- C.C. Boler as Evacuee with Theory
- Maggie Lou Rader as Evacuee with Theory
- Alphaeus Green, Jr. as Evacuee with Theory
- Lauren Ashley Berry as Evacuee with Theory
- Hannah Neff as Evacuee with Theory
- Dean Wareham as Boy Scout Camp Singer
- Britta Phillips as Boy Scout Camp Singer
- Chloe Fineman as Simuvac Technician
- Janette Torrico-Woo as Life Jacket Family
- Howard Y. Woo as Life Jacket Family
- Janellyn Woo as Life Jacket Family
- Jacquelyn Woo as Life Jacket Family
- Mei Woo as Life Jacket Family
- Chris Green as Puppeteer
- Samantha Russell as Karate Studio Evacuee
- Andy Knode as Karate Studio Evacuee
- Kenneth D. Early as Karate Studio Evacuee
- J. Barrett Cooper as Karate Studio Evacuee
- Sarah Eddy as Karate Studio Evacuee
- Matt Henderson as Karate Studio Volunteer
- Kenneth Lonergan as Dr. Hookstratten
- Meggie Loughran as Sister Hildegard
- Owen Nipper as Iron City Kid
- Nelia Rose Holley as Professor (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 6% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 58
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 | 1 | 8 |
| 3 to 4 | 37 | 36 |
| 5 to 6 | 0 | 4 |
| 7 to 8 | 0 | 8 |
| 9 to 10 | 38 | 39 |
| 11 to 12 | 3 | 4 |
| 13 to 14 | 16 | 18 |
| 15 to 16 | 4 | 34 |
| 17 to 18 | 0 | 21 |
| 19 to 20 | 0 | 12 |
| 21 to 22 | 1 | 11 |
| 23 to 24 | 37 | 63 |
| 25 to 26 | 17 | 12 |
| 27 to 28 | 49 | 37 |
| 29 to 30 | 18 | 69 |
| 31 to 32 | 23 | 15 |
| 33 to 34 | 3 | 47 |
| 35 to 36 | 0 | 20 |
| 37 to 38 | 11 | 10 |
| 39 to 40 | 11 | 10 |
| 41 to 42 | 15 | 19 |
| 43 to 44 | 37 | 50 |
| 45 to 46 | 15 | 11 |
| 47 to 48 | 4 | 10 |
| 49 to 50 | 1 | 2 |
| 51 to 52 | 12 | 64 |
| 53 to 54 | 2 | 2 |
| 55 to 56 | 27 | 18 |
| 57 to 58 | 0 | 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.
STEFFIE: Space? JACK DENISE: Our station wagon. It’s called the sun’s corolla. We saw it the other night on the weather network. STEFFIE: I thought Corolla was a car.
BABETTE: This isn’t the lunch I planned for myself. I was thinking yogurt and wheat germ. DENISE: Where have we heard that before?
DENISE: You keep buying stuff that you never eat! STEFFIE: Because Babette thinks if she keeps buying it, she’ll have to eat it just to get rid of it. DENISE: But then we end up throwing it out.
DENISE: What’s that beeping? BABETTE STEFFIE: It’s the smoke alarm. Is there a fire?
STEFFIE: It’s like love slash hate. BABETTE: I’m going to take a shower and then we’ll go to the mall. DENISE: Didn’t she already shower today? DENISE: Dylar.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 37 are women's.
382 lines from women, 657 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
14 women and 24 men in the cast. 14 women and 26 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 9 of 1,105.
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 33% of the words (4,115), men 67% (8,246). Women have 37% 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
37
Two men
48
Exhibit F: behind the camera
1 of the 11 people in these jobs is a woman.
Across the whole crew, 26% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Noah Baumbach (man)
- Written by
- Noah Baumbach (man)
- From the novel by
- Don DeLillo (man)
- Produced by
- Uri Singer (man), David Heyman (man), Noah Baumbach (man)
- Edited by
- Matthew Hannam (man)
- Music by
- Danny Elfman (man)
- Production design by
- Jess Gonchor (man)
- Costumes by
- Ann Roth (woman)
- Cast by
- Douglas Aibel (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
7 women, 20 men, 7 not listed
-
Sound
5 women, 23 men, 4 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
8 women, 5 men, 13 not listed
-
Visual Effects
3 women, 3 men, 13 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 8 men, 8 not listed
-
Production
2 women, 6 men, 2 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Writing
0 women, 3 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 27 on average. Men: 43 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
May Nivola 12, Raffey Cassidy 21, Jodie Turner-Smith 36, Greta Gerwig 39
Men
Sam Nivola 19, Adam Driver 39, André 3000 47, Carlos Jacott 55, Don Cheadle 57
Exhibit H: the money
It made 0% of what it cost.
- Budget
- $100 million
- Box office
- $71,476
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 58 scenes and 1,105 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
