Passes the Bechdel test
Affliction
1999. Directed by Paul Schrader, written by Russell Banks and Paul Schrader.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
8 women characters. 8 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 2 scenes out of 85. -
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
Boston University professor Whitehouse tells of the events leading up to the disappearance of his older brother Wade. The police officer who investigates is deeply troubled, and the murder case drains his mental acuity to the point of a total mental collapse.
- Released
- 19 Feb 1999
- Genres
- Drama, Mystery, Thriller
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 6.9 / 10
- Metascore
- 79 / 100
- Awards
- Won 1 Oscar. 8 wins & 19 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Wade 315 lines, man
- Jack 67 lines, man
- Margie 57 lines, woman
- Rolfe 56 lines, man
- Lariviere 54 lines, man
- Jill 50 lines, woman
- Pop 42 lines, man
- Twombley 20 lines, man
- Nick 19 lines, man
- Alma 15 lines, woman
Full cast, 30 people
- Nick Nolte as Wade Whitehouse
- Sissy Spacek as Margie Fogg
- James Coburn as Glen Whitehouse
- Willem Dafoe as Rolfe Whitehouse
- Mary Beth Hurt as Lillian
- Jim True-Frost as Jack Hewitt
- Marian Seldes as Alma Pittman
- Holmes Osborne as Gordon LaRiviere
- Brigid Tierney as Jill
- Sean McCann as Evan Twombley
- Wayne Robson as Nick Wickham
- Eugene Lipinski as J. Battle Hand
- Tim Post as Chick Ward
- Christopher Heyerdahl as Frankie Lacoy
- Janine Theriault as Hettie Rogers
- Paul Stewart as Horner
- Sheena Larkin as Lugene Brooks
- Penny Mancuso as Woman Driver
- Danielle Desormeaux as Elaine
- Donovan Reiter as Short-haired Local
- Brawley Nolte as Young Wade
- Michael Caloz as Young Rolfe
- Joanna Noyes as Sally Whitehouse
- Marcel Jeannin as State Trooper
- Susan Almgren as Mrs. Gordon
- Steve Adams as Mel Gordon
- Martha-Marie Kleinhans as Lena
- Mark Camacho as Clyde
- Ralph Allison as Reverend Doughty
- Charles Edwin Powell as Jimmy Dane
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 1% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 85
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 | 12 | 13 |
| 3 to 4 | 4 | 8 |
| 5 to 6 | 8 | 23 |
| 7 to 8 | 4 | 11 |
| 9 to 10 | 14 | 36 |
| 11 to 12 | 0 | 1 |
| 13 to 14 | 0 | 18 |
| 15 to 16 | 4 | 26 |
| 17 to 18 | 0 | 13 |
| 19 to 20 | 0 | 3 |
| 21 to 22 | 0 | 14 |
| 23 to 24 | 0 | 2 |
| 25 to 26 | 0 | 7 |
| 27 to 28 | 10 | 31 |
| 29 to 30 | 0 | 59 |
| 31 to 32 | 0 | 7 |
| 33 to 34 | 0 | 8 |
| 35 to 36 | 0 | 9 |
| 37 to 38 | 0 | 6 |
| 39 to 40 | 5 | 19 |
| 41 to 42 | 4 | 3 |
| 43 to 44 | 17 | 17 |
| 45 to 46 | 2 | 2 |
| 47 to 48 | 8 | 29 |
| 49 to 50 | 0 | 2 |
| 51 to 52 | 9 | 32 |
| 53 to 54 | 0 | 43 |
| 55 to 56 | 0 | 13 |
| 57 to 58 | 0 | 15 |
| 59 to 60 | 0 | 23 |
| 61 to 62 | 0 | 3 |
| 63 to 64 | 4 | 12 |
| 65 to 66 | 0 | 4 |
| 67 to 68 | 1 | 6 |
| 69 to 70 | 6 | 7 |
| 71 to 72 | 8 | 14 |
| 73 to 74 | 2 | 17 |
| 75 to 76 | 0 | 0 |
| 77 to 78 | 22 | 20 |
| 79 to 80 | 1 | 9 |
| 81 to 82 | 7 | 19 |
| 83 to 84 | 0 | 3 |
| 85 to 85 | 0 | 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.
JILL: Hi. LILLIAN: Have her back tomorrow night by six.
LILLIAN: You know what I'm talking about. For what you're doing to me and to the child you say you love so much. Love. You won't get away with it. LILLIAN: Bye, honey! Call me tonight if you want. JILL: Are we going in this?
MARGIE: Leave me alone! Leave me alone! JILL: Leave her alone! Leave her alone! MARGIE: Get in. JILL: I want to go home. Will you take me home?
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 20 are women's.
152 lines from women, 609 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
8 women and 18 men in the cast. 8 women and 15 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 4 of 771.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 104 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 13% of the words (1,198), men 87% (7,917). Women have 20% 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
4
Two men
34
Exhibit F: behind the camera
4 of the 11 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 42% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Paul Schrader (man)
- Written by
- Paul Schrader (man)
- From the novel by
- Russell Banks (man)
- Produced by
- Linda Reisman (woman)
- Shot by
- Paul Sarossy (man)
- Edited by
- Jay Rabinowitz (man)
- Music by
- Michael Brook (man)
- Production design by
- Anne Pritchard (woman)
- Costumes by
- François Laplante (gender not listed)
- Cast by
- Kathleen Chopin (woman), Ellen Chenoweth (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
5 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 2 men, 4 not listed
-
Other crew
2 women, 2 men
-
Art
1 women, 0 men, 2 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 0 men, 2 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 3 men
-
Writing
0 women, 2 men
-
Camera
0 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 45 on average. Men: 52 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Brigid Tierney 12, Sissy Spacek 48, Mary Beth Hurt 51, Marian Seldes 69
Men
Jim True-Frost 31, Willem Dafoe 42, Holmes Osborne 50, Nick Nolte 57, Sean McCann 62, James Coburn 69
Exhibit H: the money
It made 1.1 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $6 million
- Box office
- $6.3 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 85 scenes and 771 lines of dialogue. How the test works
