Fails the Bechdel test
Blue Velvet
1986. Directed by David Lynch, written by David Lynch.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
9 women characters. 6 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
Women do talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Every conversation between women that our parser found mentions a man.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.
The film
College student Jeffrey Beaumont returns to his idyllic hometown of Lumberton to manage his father's hardware store while his father is hospitalized. Walking though a grassy meadow near the family home, Jeffrey finds a severed human ear. After an initial investigation, lead police Detective John Williams advises Jeffrey not to speak to anyone about the case as they investigate further. Detective Williams also tells Jeffrey that he cannot divulge any information about what the police know. Detective Williams' high school aged daughter, Sandy Williams, tells Jeffrey what she knows about the case from overhearing her father's private conversations on the matter: that it has to do with a nightclub singer named Dorothy Vallens, who lives in an older apartment building near the Beaumont home. His curiosity getting the better of him, Jeffrey, with Sandy's help, decides to find out more about the woman at the center of the case by breaking into Dorothy's apartment while he knows she's at work. What Jeffrey finds is a world unfamiliar to him, one that he doesn't truly understand but one that he is unable to deny the lure of despite the inherent dangers of being associated with a possible murder. Still, he is torn between this world and the prospect of a relationship with Sandy, the two who are falling for each other, despite Sandy already being in a relationship with Mike, the school's star football player.
- Released
- 23 Oct 1986
- Genres
- Crime, Drama, Mystery
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.7 / 10
- Metascore
- 75 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 1 Oscar. 21 wins & 22 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Jeffrey 376 lines, man
- Sandy 153 lines, woman
- Dorothy 147 lines, woman
- Frank 68 lines, man
- Detective Williams 44 lines, man
- Mrs. Williams 22 lines, woman
- Mike 21 lines, man
- Mrs. Beaumont 18 lines, woman
- Aunt Barbara 14 lines, woman
- Ben 12 lines, man
Full cast, 28 people
- Isabella Rossellini as Dorothy Vallens
- Kyle MacLachlan as Jeffrey Beaumont
- Dennis Hopper as Frank Booth
- Laura Dern as Sandy Williams
- Hope Lange as Mrs. Williams
- Dean Stockwell as Ben
- George Dickerson as Detective Williams
- Priscilla Pointer as Mrs. Beaumont
- Frances Bay as Aunt Barbara
- Jack Harvey as Mr. Beaumont
- Ken Stovitz as Mike
- Brad Dourif as Raymond
- Jack Nance as Paul
- J. Michael Hunter as Hunter
- Dick Green as Don Vallens
- Fred Pickler as Yellow Man
- Philip Markert as Dr. Gynde
- Leonard Watkins as Double Ed
- Moses Gibson as Double Ed
- Selden Smith as Nurse Cindy
- Peter Carew as Coroner
- Jon Jon Snipes as Little Donny
- Angelo Badalamenti as Piano Player
- Jean-Pierre Viale as Master of Ceremonies
- Donald Moore as Desk Sergeant
- A. Michelle Depland as Party Girl
- Michelle Sasser as Party Girl
- Katie Reid as Party Girl
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 5 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 3% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 233
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 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 to 10 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 to 15 | 1 | 1 |
| 16 to 20 | 1 | 5 |
| 21 to 25 | 1 | 3 |
| 26 to 30 | 6 | 5 |
| 31 to 35 | 11 | 19 |
| 36 to 40 | 0 | 14 |
| 41 to 45 | 3 | 4 |
| 46 to 50 | 11 | 13 |
| 51 to 55 | 23 | 30 |
| 56 to 60 | 2 | 6 |
| 61 to 65 | 15 | 14 |
| 66 to 70 | 10 | 9 |
| 71 to 75 | 15 | 15 |
| 76 to 80 | 15 | 17 |
| 81 to 85 | 0 | 2 |
| 86 to 90 | 4 | 0 |
| 91 to 95 | 52 | 51 |
| 96 to 100 | 2 | 3 |
| 101 to 105 | 0 | 7 |
| 106 to 110 | 0 | 0 |
| 111 to 115 | 0 | 2 |
| 116 to 120 | 16 | 15 |
| 121 to 125 | 23 | 36 |
| 126 to 130 | 18 | 34 |
| 131 to 135 | 4 | 8 |
| 136 to 140 | 0 | 3 |
| 141 to 145 | 17 | 19 |
| 146 to 150 | 41 | 50 |
| 151 to 155 | 0 | 11 |
| 156 to 160 | 4 | 35 |
| 161 to 165 | 5 | 18 |
| 166 to 170 | 0 | 2 |
| 171 to 175 | 3 | 4 |
| 176 to 180 | 0 | 4 |
| 181 to 185 | 3 | 23 |
| 186 to 190 | 3 | 9 |
| 191 to 195 | 11 | 10 |
| 196 to 200 | 12 | 18 |
| 201 to 205 | 16 | 6 |
| 206 to 210 | 5 | 5 |
| 211 to 215 | 1 | 3 |
| 216 to 220 | 0 | 5 |
| 221 to 225 | 1 | 9 |
| 226 to 230 | 3 | 15 |
| 231 to 233 | 0 | 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, 39 are women's.
358 lines from women, 562 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
9 women and 18 men in the cast. 6 women and 11 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
A woman speaks the first line.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 49 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 37% of the words (3,446), men 63% (5,768). Women have 39% of the lines, so their lines run shorter 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
5
Two men
37
Exhibit E: behind the camera
3 of the 9 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 25% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- David Lynch (man)
- Written by
- David Lynch (man)
- Produced by
- Fred C. Caruso (man)
- Shot by
- Frederick Elmes (man)
- Edited by
- Duwayne Dunham (man)
- Music by
- Angelo Badalamenti (man)
- Production design by
- Patricia Norris (woman)
- Cast by
- Johanna Ray (woman), Pat Golden (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
5 women, 7 men, 6 not listed
-
Sound
3 women, 11 men, 2 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 4 men, 8 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 2 men, 4 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 1 men, 2 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
0 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 1 men, 3 not listed
-
Editing
2 women, 2 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 47 on average. Men: 45 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Laura Dern 19, Isabella Rossellini 34, Hope Lange 52, Priscilla Pointer 62, Frances Bay 67
Men
Kyle MacLachlan 27, Dennis Hopper 50, Dean Stockwell 50, George Dickerson 53
Exhibit G: the money
It made 1.4 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $6 million
- Box office
- $8.6 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 233 scenes and 947 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
