Passes the Bechdel test
Body of Evidence
1993. Directed by Uli Edel, written by Brad Mirman.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
5 women characters. 3 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 1 scene out of 87. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In that scene, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3, though someone marked that rating as dubious.
The film
A millionaire is found dead of heart failure handcuffed to the bed with a home video tape of him and his lover. When cocaine is found in his system, and his will leaves $8 million to his lover, they arrest her on suspicion of murder. Her lawyer succumbs to her charms, and he begins a torrid and kinky affair with her. As new evidence turns up during trial, he begins to wonder if he's defending a murderer.
- Released
- 15 Jan 1993
- Genres
- Drama, Thriller
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 4.6 / 10
- Metascore
- 29 / 100
- Awards
- 2 wins & 8 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Dulaney 319 lines, man
- Cardenas 142 lines, man
- Rebecca 115 lines, woman
- Joanne 64 lines, woman
- Sharon 47 lines, woman
- Biggs 28 lines, man
- Judge Burnham 28 lines, woman
- Roston 27 lines, man
- Dr. Paley 26 lines, man
- Mccurdy 22 lines, man
Full cast, 26 people
- Madonna as Rebeca Carlson
- Willem Dafoe as Frank Dulaney
- Julianne Moore as Sharon Dulaney
- Anne Archer as Joanne Braslow
- Jürgen Prochnow as Dr. Alan Paley
- Frank Langella as Jeffrey Roston
- Lillian Lehman as Judge Richter Burnham
- Joe Mantegna as Robert Garrett
- Charles Hallahan as Dr. McCurdy
- Stan Shaw as Charles Biggs
- Michael Forest as Andrew Marsh
- Richard Riehle as Detective Griffin
- Mark Rolston as Detective Reese
- Aaron Corcoran as Michael Dulaney
- Corey Brunish as Jamie
- Jeff Perry as Gabe
- John Davis Chandler as Dr. Novaro
- D. Scot Douglas as Printman
- Mario DePriest as Technician
- John DeLay as Technician
- Ross Huffman-Kerr as Photographer
- Mark C. Vincent as Reporter
- Frank Roberts as Minister
- Timi Prulhiere as Waitress
- Peter Eastman as Jury Foreman
- Bryan Clark as Clerk
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 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 87
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 | 0 |
| 3 to 4 | 0 | 14 |
| 5 to 6 | 5 | 13 |
| 7 to 8 | 0 | 22 |
| 9 to 10 | 9 | 22 |
| 11 to 12 | 8 | 9 |
| 13 to 14 | 6 | 7 |
| 15 to 16 | 10 | 42 |
| 17 to 18 | 12 | 11 |
| 19 to 20 | 7 | 7 |
| 21 to 22 | 0 | 19 |
| 23 to 24 | 8 | 8 |
| 25 to 26 | 11 | 6 |
| 27 to 28 | 7 | 5 |
| 29 to 30 | 6 | 5 |
| 31 to 32 | 10 | 3 |
| 33 to 34 | 0 | 0 |
| 35 to 36 | 0 | 7 |
| 37 to 38 | 15 | 14 |
| 39 to 40 | 1 | 6 |
| 41 to 42 | 2 | 2 |
| 43 to 44 | 3 | 30 |
| 45 to 46 | 15 | 34 |
| 47 to 48 | 8 | 8 |
| 49 to 50 | 0 | 1 |
| 51 to 52 | 1 | 43 |
| 53 to 54 | 16 | 13 |
| 55 to 56 | 15 | 20 |
| 57 to 58 | 0 | 17 |
| 59 to 60 | 7 | 19 |
| 61 to 62 | 6 | 44 |
| 63 to 64 | 13 | 34 |
| 65 to 66 | 0 | 7 |
| 67 to 68 | 13 | 25 |
| 69 to 70 | 0 | 8 |
| 71 to 72 | 26 | 27 |
| 73 to 74 | 11 | 10 |
| 75 to 76 | 2 | 5 |
| 77 to 78 | 1 | 3 |
| 79 to 80 | 9 | 16 |
| 81 to 82 | 1 | 2 |
| 83 to 84 | 12 | 22 |
| 85 to 86 | 0 | 10 |
| 87 to 87 | 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 scene
The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.
JUDGE BURNHAM: You better. Please answer the question. JOANNE: I've tried it.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 31 are women's.
276 lines from women, 620 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
5 women and 19 men in the cast. 3 women and 8 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 16 of 920.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 48 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 (3,527), men 67% (7,199). Women have 31% of the lines, so their lines run longer 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
1
Two men
48
Exhibit F: behind the camera
3 of the 10 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 20% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Uli Edel (man)
- Written by
- Brad Mirman (man)
- Produced by
- Dino De Laurentiis (man), Bernd Eichinger (man)
- Shot by
- Douglas Milsome (man)
- Edited by
- Thom Noble (man)
- Music by
- Graeme Revell (man)
- Production design by
- Victoria Paul (woman)
- Costumes by
- Susan Becker (woman)
- Cast by
- Mary Jo Slater (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
2 women, 6 men, 2 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 7 men, 3 not listed
-
Other crew
1 women, 5 men, 3 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 2 men, 5 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
4 women, 2 men, 2 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 4 men, 3 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 4 men
-
Editing
0 women, 4 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 39 on average. Men: 46 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Julianne Moore 32, Madonna 34, Anne Archer 45, Lillian Lehman 45
Men
Willem Dafoe 37, Stan Shaw 40, Joe Mantegna 45, Charles Hallahan 49, Jürgen Prochnow 51, Frank Langella 55
Exhibit H: the money
It made 1.3 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $30 million
- Box office
- $38 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 87 scenes and 920 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
