Fails the Bechdel test
Alien³
1992. Directed by David Fincher, written by Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett and Vincent Ward.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
2 women characters. 4 of them speak. -
No
2. Who talk to each other
Our parser found no scene where two women talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Not reached: the film fails an earlier rule.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 0 out of 3.
The film
Ellen Ripley is the only survivor when she crash lands on Fiorina 161, a bleak wasteland inhabited by former inmates of the planet's maximum security prison. Once again, Ripley must face skepticism and the alien as it hunts down the prisoners and guards. Without weapons or modern technology of any kind, Ripley leads the men into battle against the terrifying creature.
- Released
- 22 May 1992
- Genres
- Action, Horror, Sci-Fi
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 6.4 / 10
- Metascore
- 59 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 1 Oscar. 5 wins & 25 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Ripley 237 lines, woman
- John 209 lines, man
- Abbot 93 lines, man
- Anthony 69 lines, man
- Kyle 24 lines, man
- Hysterical Monk 8 lines, man
- Second Monk 7 lines, man
- Bald Tribunal Monk 6 lines, man
- Brother Kyle 3 lines, man
- First Monk 3 lines, man
Full cast, 24 people
- Sigourney Weaver as Ripley
- Charles S. Dutton as Dillon
- Charles Dance as Clemens
- Paul McGann as Golic
- Brian Glover as Andrews
- Ralph Brown as Aaron
- Danny Webb as Morse
- Christopher John Fields as Rains
- Holt McCallany as Junior
- Lance Henriksen as Bishop II
- Christopher Fairbank as Murphy
- Carl Chase as Frank
- Leon Herbert as Boggs
- Vincenzo Nicoli as Jude
- Pete Postlethwaite as David
- Paul Brennen as Troy
- Clive Mantle as William
- Peter Guinness as Gregor
- Deobia Oparei as Arthur
- Phil Davis as Kevin
- Niall Buggy as Eric
- Hi Ching as Company Man
- Danielle Edmond as Newt
- Tom Woodruff Jr. as Lead Alien (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 57
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 | 46 |
| 3 to 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 5 to 6 | 2 | 27 |
| 7 to 8 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 to 10 | 1 | 1 |
| 11 to 12 | 20 | 25 |
| 13 to 14 | 0 | 19 |
| 15 to 16 | 2 | 0 |
| 17 to 18 | 10 | 14 |
| 19 to 20 | 7 | 34 |
| 21 to 22 | 0 | 0 |
| 23 to 24 | 0 | 16 |
| 25 to 26 | 0 | 0 |
| 27 to 28 | 11 | 15 |
| 29 to 30 | 0 | 1 |
| 31 to 32 | 11 | 8 |
| 33 to 34 | 28 | 30 |
| 35 to 36 | 19 | 23 |
| 37 to 38 | 4 | 7 |
| 39 to 40 | 21 | 32 |
| 41 to 42 | 22 | 40 |
| 43 to 44 | 31 | 36 |
| 45 to 46 | 5 | 7 |
| 47 to 48 | 11 | 13 |
| 49 to 50 | 2 | 2 |
| 51 to 52 | 3 | 8 |
| 53 to 54 | 13 | 16 |
| 55 to 56 | 20 | 22 |
| 57 to 57 | 1 | 0 |
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 35 are women's.
244 lines from women, 446 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
2 women and 22 men in the cast. 4 women and 1 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 55 of 702.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 54 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 41% of the words (3,021), men 59% (4,408). Women have 35% of the lines, so their lines run longer than men's.
Exhibit D: 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
0
Two men
50
Exhibit E: behind the camera
1 of the 17 people in these jobs is a woman.
Across the whole crew, 14% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- David Fincher (man)
- Written by
- David Giler (man), Walter Hill (man), Larry Ferguson (man)
- Story by
- Vincent Ward (man)
- Produced by
- Walter Hill (man), Gordon Carroll (man), David Giler (man)
- Shot by
- Alex Thomson (man)
- Edited by
- Terry Rawlings (man), David Crowther (man)
- Music by
- Elliot Goldenthal (man)
- Production design by
- Norman Reynolds (man)
- Costumes by
- Bob Ringwood (man), David Perry (gender not listed)
- Cast by
- Billy Hopkins (man), Priscilla John (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
1 women, 19 men, 7 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 15 men, 9 not listed
-
Camera
1 women, 13 men, 7 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 11 men, 7 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
3 women, 6 men, 7 not listed
-
Production
7 women, 6 men, 3 not listed
-
Visual Effects
2 women, 7 men, 5 not listed
-
Directing
2 women, 7 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 42 on average. Men: 38 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Sigourney Weaver 42
Men
Christopher John Fields 23, Holt McCallany 28, Paul McGann 32, Danny Webb 33, Ralph Brown 34, Charles S. Dutton 41, Charles Dance 45, Lance Henriksen 52, Brian Glover 58
Exhibit G: the money
It made 3.2 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $50 million
- Box office
- $160 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 57 scenes and 702 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
