Fails the Bechdel test
Cinema Paradiso
1990. Directed by Giuseppe Tornatore, written by Giuseppe Tornatore and Vanna Paoli.
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
A boy who grew up in a native Sicilian Village returns home as a famous director after receiving news about the death of an old friend. Told in a flashback, Salvatore reminiscences about his childhood and his relationship with Alfredo, a projectionist at Cinema Paradiso. Under the fatherly influence of Alfredo, Salvatore fell in love with film making, with the duo spending many hours discussing about films and Alfredo painstakingly teaching Salvatore the skills that became a stepping stone for the young boy into the world of film making. The film brings the audience through the changes in cinema and the dying trade of traditional film making, editing and screening. It also explores a young boy's dream of leaving his little town to foray into the world outside.
- Released
- 23 Feb 1990
- Genres
- Drama, Romance
- Rated
- PG
- IMDb
- 8.5 / 10
- Metascore
- 80 / 100
- Awards
- Won 1 Oscar. 25 wins & 36 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Salvatore 156 lines, man
- Alfredo 77 lines, man
- Elena 40 lines, woman
- Maria 27 lines, woman
- Spaccafico 16 lines, man
- Priest 15 lines, man
- Audience 14 lines
- Voice On Telephone 8 lines
- Crowd 7 lines
- Anna 6 lines, woman
Full cast, 31 people
- Philippe Noiret as Alfredo
- Jacques Perrin as Salvatore 'Totò' Di Vita (adult)
- Marco Leonardi as Salvatore 'Totò' Di Vita (teen)
- Salvatore Cascio as Salvatore 'Totò' Di Vita (child)
- Agnese Nano as Elena Mendola (teen) / Elena's daughter (in Director's cut)
- Antonella Attili as Maria Di Vita (young)
- Pupella Maggio as Maria Di Vita (aged)
- Brigitte Fossey as Elena Mendola (adult)
- Enzo Cannavale as Spaccafico
- Isa Danieli as Anna
- Leo Gullotta as Ignazio, usher
- Leopoldo Trieste as Father Adelfio
- Tano Cimarosa as Fabbro, blacksmith
- Nicola Di Pinto as Village idiot
- Roberta Lena as Lia
- Nino Terzo as Peppino's Father
- Turi Giuffrida
- Mimmo Mignemi
- Mariella Lo Giudice
- Giorgio Libassi
- Beatrice Palme
- Ignazio Pappalardo
- Angela Leontini
- Turi Killer
- Angelo Tosto
- Franco Catalano
- Nellina Lagana
- Margherita Mignemi
- Giuseppe Pellegrino
- Concetta Borpagano
- Giuseppe Tornatore as Projectionist (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
We couldn't read who says what in this film's script, so there's no dialogue chart for it yet.
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, 23 are women's.
89 lines from women, 295 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
9 women and 18 men in the cast. 6 women and 8 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 76 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 26% of the words (1,861), men 74% (5,163). Women have 23% 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
7
Two men
27
Exhibit E: behind the camera
2 of the 10 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 8% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Giuseppe Tornatore (man)
- Written by
- Giuseppe Tornatore (man)
- Story by
- Giuseppe Tornatore (man)
- Produced by
- Giovanna Romagnoli (woman), Franco Cristaldi (man)
- Shot by
- Blasco Giurato (man)
- Edited by
- Mario Morra (man)
- Music by
- Ennio Morricone (man)
- Production design by
- Andrea Crisanti (man)
- Costumes by
- Beatrice Bordone (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
0 women, 5 men, 1 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 3 men
-
Other crew
0 women, 3 men
-
Writing
0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 2 men
-
Directing
0 women, 2 men
-
Editing
0 women, 2 men
-
Production
1 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 44 on average. Men: 38 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Agnese Nano 23, Antonella Attili 25, Brigitte Fossey 42, Isa Danieli 51, Pupella Maggio 78
Men
Salvatore Cascio 9, Marco Leonardi 17, Jacques Perrin 47, Philippe Noiret 58, Enzo Cannavale 60
Exhibit G: the money
It made 7.2 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $5 million
- Box office
- $36 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 1 scenes and 463 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
