Passes the Bechdel test
A History of Violence
2005. Directed by David Cronenberg, written by John Wagner and Vince Locke and Josh Olson.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
7 women characters. 3 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 3 scenes out of 77. -
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
Leading a happy and quiet life with his lawyer wife and their two children in the small town of Millbrook, Indiana, mild-mannered Tom Stall cherishes his simple, uneventful existence. However, their idyllic lifestyle is shattered when, one night, Tom saves his customers and friends in self-defence, foiling a vicious attempted robbery in his diner by two violent wanted criminals. Now, heralded as a local hero, Tom's life is changed overnight, attracting unwanted attention, and a national media feeding frenzy. Uncomfortable with his newfound celebrity, Tom tries to return to normalcy, only to find himself confronted by a mysterious man who arrives in town believing Tom is the man who wronged him in the past. More and more, as Tom and his family struggle to cope with their new reality and this case of mistaken identity, they have no other choice but to fight back and protect all that they hold dear. But, is there more to Tom than meets the eye? Does he have, indeed, a history of violence?
- Released
- 30 Sep 2005
- Genres
- Action, Crime, Drama
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.4 / 10
- Metascore
- 82 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 2 Oscars. 37 wins & 84 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Tom 259 lines, man
- Edie 161 lines, woman
- Jack 51 lines, man
- Sam 46 lines, man
- Joey 34 lines, man
- Billy 28 lines, man
- Torrino 26 lines, man
- Hank 25 lines, man
- Leland 24 lines, man
- Judy 23 lines, woman
Full cast, 32 people
- Viggo Mortensen as Tom Stall / Joey Cusack
- Maria Bello as Edie Stall
- Ed Harris as Carl Fogarty
- William Hurt as Richie Cusack
- Ashton Holmes as Jack Stall
- Peter MacNeill as Sheriff Sam Carney
- Stephen McHattie as Leland
- Greg Bryk as Billy
- Kyle Schmid as Bobby
- Sumela Kay as Judy Danvers
- Gerry Quigley as Mick
- Deborah Drakeford as Charlotte
- Heidi Hayes as Sarah Stall
- Aidan Devine as Charlie Roarke
- Bill MacDonald as Frank Mulligan
- Michelle McCree as Jenny Wyeth
- Ian Matthews as Ruben
- R.D. Reid as Pat
- Morgan Kelly as Bobby's Buddy
- Martha Reilly as Shoe Saleswoman
- Jason Barbeck as Richie's Thug
- Bruce Beaton as Richie's Thug
- Neven Pajkic as Richie's Thug
- Brendan Connor as Local TV Reporter
- Nick Antonacci as Local TV Reporter
- John Watson as Baseball Coach
- Don Allison as TV Broadcaster
- Brittany Payer as Motel Girl
- Mitch Boughs as Kid in Diner
- April Mullen as Kid in Diner
- George King as Hospital Well-Wisher
- Shawn Campbell as Orderly
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 4% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 77
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 | 0 | 13 |
| 3 to 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 to 6 | 8 | 9 |
| 7 to 8 | 5 | 9 |
| 9 to 10 | 11 | 10 |
| 11 to 12 | 4 | 65 |
| 13 to 14 | 0 | 20 |
| 15 to 16 | 0 | 6 |
| 17 to 18 | 0 | 10 |
| 19 to 20 | 6 | 12 |
| 21 to 22 | 13 | 14 |
| 23 to 24 | 3 | 11 |
| 25 to 26 | 3 | 31 |
| 27 to 28 | 7 | 14 |
| 29 to 30 | 13 | 27 |
| 31 to 32 | 7 | 81 |
| 33 to 34 | 16 | 61 |
| 35 to 36 | 1 | 1 |
| 37 to 38 | 3 | 6 |
| 39 to 40 | 25 | 28 |
| 41 to 42 | 9 | 9 |
| 43 to 44 | 9 | 24 |
| 45 to 46 | 3 | 8 |
| 47 to 48 | 13 | 14 |
| 49 to 50 | 0 | 0 |
| 51 to 52 | 0 | 0 |
| 53 to 54 | 4 | 4 |
| 55 to 56 | 0 | 6 |
| 57 to 58 | 0 | 4 |
| 59 to 60 | 19 | 28 |
| 61 to 62 | 0 | 2 |
| 63 to 64 | 21 | 22 |
| 65 to 66 | 0 | 6 |
| 67 to 68 | 0 | 25 |
| 69 to 70 | 0 | 0 |
| 71 to 72 | 0 | 7 |
| 73 to 74 | 0 | 29 |
| 75 to 76 | 0 | 0 |
| 77 to 77 | 0 | 0 |
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.
SARAH: I'm going to turn on my night light, just in case. EDIE: That sounds like a brilliant solution.
EDIE: Oh my God. My daughter! Where is she? SARAH: I'm sorry, Mommy. But look! They have the new Kimberly!
SARAH: Mommy? EDIE: Stay down, baby! Mommy's coming! But stay downl
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 25 are women's.
203 lines from women, 616 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
7 women and 22 men in the cast. 3 women and 17 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 15 of 852.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 75 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 25% of the words (2,242), men 75% (6,784).
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
6
Two men
47
Exhibit F: behind the camera
3 of the 10 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 10% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- David Cronenberg (man)
- Written by
- Josh Olson (man)
- Produced by
- J.C. Spink (man), Chris Bender (man)
- Shot by
- Peter Suschitzky (man)
- Edited by
- Ronald Sanders (man)
- Music by
- Howard Shore (man)
- Production design by
- Carol Spier (woman)
- Costumes by
- Denise Cronenberg (woman)
- Cast by
- Deirdre Bowen (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
2 women, 16 men
-
Production
1 women, 10 men, 3 not listed
-
Other crew
1 women, 8 men, 1 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 4 men, 4 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 1 men, 4 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 4 men, 1 not listed
-
Visual Effects
0 women, 2 men, 3 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 2 men, 2 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 29 on average. Men: 43 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Sumela Kay 19, Maria Bello 38
Men
Kyle Schmid 21, Ashton Holmes 27, Greg Bryk 33, Viggo Mortensen 46, Peter MacNeill 53, Ed Harris 54, William Hurt 55, Stephen McHattie 58
Exhibit H: the money
It made 1.9 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $32 million
- Box office
- $61.5 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 77 scenes and 852 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
