Passes the Bechdel test

Bound

Name: Bound
Released: 1996

1996. Directed by Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski, written by Lilly Wachowski and Lana Wachowski.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
5 women characters. 4 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 12 scenes out of 175.
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

Intense, erotic crime thriller with Gina Gershon as an ex-con who, after having a sexual liaison with neighbor Jennifer Tilly, joins forces with her to dupe gangster boyfriend Joe Pantoliano out of $2 million of laundered loot. they formulate a plan to rob millions of dollars of stashed mob cash, blaming gangster Caesar for it.

Released: 04 Oct 1996
Genres: Crime, Thriller
Rated: R
IMDb: 7.3 / 10
Metascore: 64 / 100
Awards: 8 wins & 13 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

Women
Men
Not in the cast list
Bigger name, more lines

Violet 300 lines, woman
Caesar 267 lines, man
Corky 212 lines, woman
Mickey 46 lines, man
Johnnie 31 lines, man
Gino 21 lines, man
Cop #1 14 lines, man
Cop #2 6 lines, man
Angry Voice 5 lines
Woman Cop 4 lines, woman

Full cast, 14 people

Gina Gershon as Corky
Jennifer Tilly as Violet
Joe Pantoliano as Caesar
John P. Ryan as Mickey Malnato
Christopher Meloni as Johnnie Marzzone
Richard C. Sarafian as Gino Marzzone
Barry Kivel as Shelly
Mary Mara as Bartender
Susie Bright as Jesse
Margaret Smith as Woman Cop
Peter Spellos as Lou
Ivan Kane as Cop #1
Kevin Michael Richardson as Cop #2
Gene Borkan as Roy

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 4 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 175

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 4	48	2
5 to 8	20	0
9 to 12	74	20
13 to 16	33	1
17 to 20	39	0
21 to 24	0	4
25 to 28	27	18
29 to 32	26	10
33 to 36	15	0
37 to 40	40	0
41 to 44	11	2
45 to 48	7	2
49 to 52	13	4
53 to 56	27	8
57 to 60	10	3
61 to 64	12	12
65 to 68	17	15
69 to 72	0	1
73 to 76	2	15
77 to 80	8	74
81 to 84	6	6
85 to 88	1	2
89 to 92	2	25
93 to 96	1	5
97 to 100	1	1
101 to 104	10	27
105 to 108	8	1
109 to 112	4	0
113 to 116	0	4
117 to 120	0	1
121 to 124	0	1
125 to 128	1	0
129 to 132	15	29
133 to 136	6	13
137 to 140	0	4
141 to 144	0	15
145 to 148	2	18
149 to 152	7	10
153 to 156	4	20
157 to 160	0	1
161 to 164	0	5
165 to 168	4	2
169 to 172	6	3
173 to 175	13	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.

VIOLET: I had this image of you, inside of me, like a part of me. CORKY: You planned this whole thing, didn't you?

VIOLET: All part of the business. CORKY: What choice? VIOLET: I want out. VIOLET: Like a part of me.

CORKY: No. Rajeev's in India. VIOLET: She's doing the work herself.

VIOLET: I had to see you. CORKY: Look, I don't think this is a good idea. VIOLET: I wanted to apologize. CORKY: Don't apologize, please. I can't stand women who apologize for wanting sex.

VIOLET: Ummm ... in the linen closet. CORKY: Come to my place in the morning. Early, okay?

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 57 are women's.

520 lines from women, 386 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

5 women and 9 men in the cast. 4 women and 7 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

A woman speaks the first line. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 40 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 56% of the words (4,384), men 44% (3,409). Women have 57% 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

Two men

Exhibit F: behind the camera

5 of the 11 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 35% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Lilly Wachowski (woman), Lana Wachowski (woman)
Written by: Lana Wachowski (woman), Lilly Wachowski (woman)
Produced by: Stuart Boros (man), Andrew Lazar (man)
Shot by: Bill Pope (man)
Edited by: Zach Staenberg (man)
Music by: Don Davis (man)
Production design by: Eve Cauley (gender not listed)
Cast by: Nancy Foy (woman)

The crew, department by department

Sound

2 women, 14 men, 14 not listed
Art

5 women, 2 men, 13 not listed
Camera

1 women, 6 men, 9 not listed
Other crew

1 women, 3 men, 11 not listed
Production

3 women, 4 men, 3 not listed
Costume & Make-Up

1 women, 1 men, 6 not listed
Lighting

0 women, 2 men, 5 not listed
Directing

3 women, 0 men, 3 not listed

Women
Men
Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit G: how old the stars were

Women: 36 on average. Men: 52 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Gina Gershon 34, Mary Mara 35, Jennifer Tilly 37, Susie Bright 38

Men

Christopher Meloni 35, Joe Pantoliano 45, John P. Ryan 60, Richard C. Sarafian 66

Exhibit H: the money

It made 1.6 times what it cost.

Budget: $4.5 million
Box office: $7 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 175 scenes and 916 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

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