Passes the Bechdel test
Cruel Intentions
1999. Directed by Roger Kumble, written by Choderlos de Laclos and Roger Kumble.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
12 women characters. 6 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 3 scenes out of 107. -
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
Kathryn Merteuil and Sebastian Valmont are seductive, manipulative step-siblings who get what they want when they want it. Kathryn makes a bet with Sebastian: Sebastian must bed Annette, daughter of the headmaster at their school, before the end of summer break. Annette has stated that she would wait until love and marriage to sleep with a man. If Kathryn wins, she gets Sebastian's vintage 1956 Jaguar Roadster. If Sebastian wins, he gets Kathryn, the only girl he knows he'll never have. Also in play is Cecile, a naïve girl whose mother had enlisted Kathryn to help her fit in at her new school. However, Kathryn (with Sebastian's help) plans to ruin Cecile's reputation as revenge on Kat's ex-boyfriend, who left her for Cecile.
- Released
- 05 Mar 1999
- Genres
- Drama, Romance
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 6.8 / 10
- Metascore
- 56 / 100
- Awards
- 8 wins & 14 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Sebastian 402 lines, man
- Kathryn 229 lines, woman
- Annette 156 lines, woman
- Cecile 83 lines, woman
- Ronald 47 lines, man
- Mrs. Caldwell 38 lines, woman
- Greg 33 lines, man
- Dr. Greenbaum 25 lines, woman
- Blaine 15 lines, man
- Aunt Helen 14 lines, woman
Full cast, 19 people
- Sarah Michelle Gellar as Kathryn Merteuil
- Ryan Phillippe as Sébastian Valmont
- Reese Witherspoon as Annette Hargrove
- Selma Blair as Cecile Caldwell
- Louise Fletcher as Helen Rosemond
- Joshua Jackson as Blaine Tuttle
- Sean Patrick Thomas as Ronald Clifford
- Swoosie Kurtz as Dr. Greenbaum
- Christine Baranski as Bunny Caldwell
- Tara Reid as Marci Greenbaum
- Eric Mabius as Greg McConnell
- Alaina Reed Hall as Nurse
- Deborah Offner as Mrs. Michalak
- Herta Ware as Mrs. Sugarman
- Hiep Thi Le as Mai-Lee
- Charlie O'Connell as Court Reynolds
- Fred Norris as Meter Maid
- Ginger Williams as Clorissa
- Drew Snyder as Headmaster Hargrove
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 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 107
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 3 | 17 | 16 |
| 4 to 6 | 14 | 1 |
| 7 to 9 | 28 | 15 |
| 10 to 12 | 4 | 3 |
| 13 to 15 | 26 | 20 |
| 16 to 18 | 19 | 9 |
| 19 to 21 | 23 | 28 |
| 22 to 24 | 44 | 23 |
| 25 to 27 | 32 | 32 |
| 28 to 30 | 0 | 30 |
| 31 to 33 | 27 | 30 |
| 34 to 36 | 20 | 28 |
| 37 to 39 | 9 | 15 |
| 40 to 42 | 39 | 5 |
| 43 to 45 | 24 | 27 |
| 46 to 48 | 15 | 8 |
| 49 to 51 | 2 | 0 |
| 52 to 54 | 11 | 6 |
| 55 to 57 | 49 | 14 |
| 58 to 60 | 20 | 25 |
| 61 to 63 | 19 | 18 |
| 64 to 66 | 9 | 11 |
| 67 to 69 | 0 | 13 |
| 70 to 72 | 0 | 3 |
| 73 to 75 | 2 | 3 |
| 76 to 78 | 27 | 24 |
| 79 to 81 | 4 | 2 |
| 82 to 84 | 15 | 12 |
| 85 to 87 | 21 | 22 |
| 88 to 90 | 9 | 9 |
| 91 to 93 | 5 | 6 |
| 94 to 96 | 0 | 2 |
| 97 to 99 | 0 | 3 |
| 100 to 102 | 5 | 12 |
| 103 to 105 | 42 | 27 |
| 106 to 107 | 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 scenes
The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.
KATHRYN: I'll do my best. KATHRYN: Thank you, Sook-Hee. That will be all. CECILE: What was that? KATHRYN: I was thanking her. Vietnamese is such a beautiful language.
KATHRYN: I'll call you later and we'll get together and plan your curriculum. CECILE: Thanks. Nice meeting you.
KATHRYN: Shhh. CECILE: That was beautiful.
AUNT HELEN: More the merrier. Is everything alright my dear? CECILE: I'm just not feeling well.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 54 are women's.
581 lines from women, 502 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
12 women and 7 men in the cast. 6 women and 5 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 2 of 1,090.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 33 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 53% of the words (5,121), men 47% (4,532). Women have 54% 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
10
Two men
9
Exhibit F: behind the camera
3 of the 12 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 34% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Roger Kumble (man)
- Written by
- Roger Kumble (man)
- From the novel by
- Choderlos de Laclos (man)
- Produced by
- Neal H. Moritz (man)
- Shot by
- Theo van de Sande (man)
- Edited by
- Jeff Freeman (man)
- Music by
- Edward Shearmur (man), Richard Ashcroft (man)
- Production design by
- Jon Gary Steele (man)
- Costumes by
- Denise Wingate (woman)
- Cast by
- Mary Vernieu (woman), Anne McCarthy (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
9 women, 7 men, 25 not listed
-
Other crew
6 women, 9 men, 14 not listed
-
Sound
5 women, 14 men, 9 not listed
-
Camera
1 women, 6 men, 12 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 6 men, 9 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
4 women, 0 men, 10 not listed
-
Directing
2 women, 3 men, 4 not listed
-
Visual Effects
0 women, 5 men, 2 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 37 on average. Men: 24 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Sarah Michelle Gellar 21, Reese Witherspoon 22, Tara Reid 23, Selma Blair 26, Christine Baranski 46, Swoosie Kurtz 54, Louise Fletcher 64
Men
Joshua Jackson 20, Ryan Phillippe 24, Sean Patrick Thomas 28
Exhibit H: the money
It made 7.3 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $10.5 million
- Box office
- $76.3 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 107 scenes and 1,090 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
