Fails the Bechdel test
Dark City
1998. Directed by Alex Proyas, written by Alex Proyas and Lem Dobbs and David S. Goyer.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
9 women characters. 0 of them speak. -
No
2. Who talk to each other
Our parser found no scene where two women talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Not reached: the film fails an earlier rule.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.
The film
John Murdoch awakens alone in a strange hotel to find that he has lost his memory and is wanted for a series of brutal and bizarre murders. While trying to piece together his past, he stumbles upon a fiendish underworld controlled by a group of beings known as The Strangers who possess the ability to put people to sleep and alter the city and its inhabitants. Now Murdoch must find a way to stop them before they take control of his mind and destroy him.
- Released
- 27 Feb 1998
- Genres
- Fantasy, Mystery, Sci-Fi
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.5 / 10
- Metascore
- 66 / 100
- Awards
- 12 wins & 19 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- White 146 lines, man
- Bumstead 139 lines, man
- Schreber 86 lines, man
- Stromboli 29 lines, man
- Mister Black 28 lines, man
- Miss Crenshaw 16 lines, woman
- Priest 15 lines, man
- Barber 14 lines, man
- Man 1 14 lines, man
- Cop 13 lines, man
Full cast, 39 people
- Rufus Sewell as John Murdoch
- William Hurt as Inspector Frank Bumstead
- Kiefer Sutherland as Dr. Daniel P. Schreber
- Jennifer Connelly as Emma Murdoch
- Richard O'Brien as Mr. Hand
- Ian Richardson as Mr. Book
- Bruce Spence as Mr. Wall
- Colin Friels as Det. Eddie Walenski
- John Bluthal as Karl Harris
- Mitchell Butel as Officer Husselbeck
- Melissa George as May
- Frank Gallacher as Chief Inspector Stromboli
- Ritchie Singer as Hotel Manager / Vendor
- Justin Monjo as Taxi Driver
- Nicholas Bell as Mr. Rain
- Satya Gumbert as Mr. Sleep
- Noah Gumbert as Mr. Sleep Filming Double
- Frederick Miragliotta as Mr. Quick
- Jeanette Cronin as Stranger
- David Wenham as Schreber's Assistant
- Peter Sommerfeld as Stranger
- Timothy Jones as Stranger
- Paul Livingston as Assistant Stranger
- Michael Lake as Assistant Stranger
- Alan Cinis as Automat Cop
- Bill Highfield as Automat Cop
- Terry Bader as Mr. Goodwin
- Rosemary Traynor as Mrs. Goodwin
- Edward Grant as Hotel Manager
- Maureen O'Shaughnessy as Kate Walenski
- Deobia Oparei as Train Passenger
- Marques Johnson as Station Master
- Doug Scroope as Desk Sergeant
- Cinzia Coassin as Waitress
- Anthony Kierann as Murdoch's Dad
- Laura Keneally as Murdoch's Mum
- Natalie Bollard as Naked Woman
- Eliot Paton as Matthew Goodwin
- Naomi van der Velden as Jane Goodwin
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 8% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 118
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 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 to 6 | 0 | 9 |
| 7 to 9 | 0 | 1 |
| 10 to 12 | 0 | 7 |
| 13 to 15 | 0 | 14 |
| 16 to 18 | 0 | 2 |
| 19 to 21 | 1 | 3 |
| 22 to 24 | 0 | 2 |
| 25 to 27 | 0 | 7 |
| 28 to 30 | 0 | 0 |
| 31 to 33 | 6 | 9 |
| 34 to 36 | 5 | 22 |
| 37 to 39 | 0 | 21 |
| 40 to 42 | 2 | 25 |
| 43 to 45 | 0 | 8 |
| 46 to 48 | 0 | 14 |
| 49 to 51 | 0 | 44 |
| 52 to 54 | 0 | 31 |
| 55 to 57 | 0 | 20 |
| 58 to 60 | 0 | 6 |
| 61 to 63 | 2 | 41 |
| 64 to 66 | 0 | 11 |
| 67 to 69 | 2 | 10 |
| 70 to 72 | 13 | 10 |
| 73 to 75 | 0 | 20 |
| 76 to 78 | 2 | 0 |
| 79 to 81 | 0 | 4 |
| 82 to 84 | 2 | 29 |
| 85 to 87 | 2 | 14 |
| 88 to 90 | 0 | 23 |
| 91 to 93 | 0 | 23 |
| 94 to 96 | 0 | 22 |
| 97 to 99 | 0 | 17 |
| 100 to 102 | 0 | 18 |
| 103 to 105 | 0 | 11 |
| 106 to 108 | 0 | 9 |
| 109 to 111 | 0 | 14 |
| 112 to 114 | 3 | 46 |
| 115 to 117 | 0 | 3 |
| 118 to 118 | 2 | 2 |
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, 7 are women's.
42 lines from women, 572 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
9 women and 22 men in the cast. 0 women and 12 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 40 of 670.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 180 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 6% of the words (280), men 94% (4,597). Women have 7% 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
0
Two men
48
Exhibit E: behind the camera
3 of the 17 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 39% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Alex Proyas (man)
- Written by
- David S. Goyer (man), Alex Proyas (man), Lem Dobbs (man)
- Story by
- Alex Proyas (man)
- Produced by
- Andrew Mason (man), Alex Proyas (man)
- Shot by
- Dariusz Wolski (man)
- Edited by
- Dov Hoenig (man)
- Music by
- Trevor Jones (man)
- Production design by
- George Liddle (man), Patrick Tatopoulos (man)
- Costumes by
- Liz Keogh (woman)
- Cast by
- Vanessa Pereira (woman), Shauna Wolifson (gender not listed), Valerie McCaffrey (woman), Liz Mullinar (gender not listed)
The crew, department by department
-
Art
5 women, 5 men, 24 not listed
-
Production
13 women, 5 men, 13 not listed
-
Other crew
1 women, 11 men, 17 not listed
-
Visual Effects
1 women, 8 men, 13 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
12 women, 0 men, 9 not listed
-
Sound
1 women, 8 men, 10 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 4 men, 12 not listed
-
Directing
3 women, 6 men, 3 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 27 on average. Men: 47 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Jennifer Connelly 27
Men
Mitchell Butel 28, Rufus Sewell 30, Kiefer Sutherland 31, Colin Friels 45, William Hurt 47, Bruce Spence 52, Richard O'Brien 55, Ian Richardson 63, John Bluthal 68
Exhibit G: the money
It made 1.0 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $27 million
- Box office
- $27.2 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 118 scenes and 670 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
