Fails the Bechdel test
DragonHeart
1996. Directed by Rob Cohen, written by Patrick Read Johnson and Charles Edward Pogue.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
3 women characters. 2 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 2 out of 3.
The film
When a young male king is torturing everyone in the kingdom, a middle-aged male soldier, a young female, and an elderly male dragon team up to put an end to the king's reign. To do that, they all would have to face some consequences that may change everything.
- Released
- 31 May 1996
- Genres
- Action, Adventure, Fantasy
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 6.4 / 10
- Metascore
- 49 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 1 Oscar. 3 wins & 10 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Bowen 233 lines, man
- Einon 107 lines, man
- Kara 89 lines, woman
- Dragon 66 lines, man
- Gilbert 61 lines, man
- Draco 59 lines, man
- Aislinn 27 lines, woman
- Felton 20 lines, man
- Brok 15 lines, man
- Hewe 12 lines, man
Full cast, 19 people
- Dennis Quaid as Bowen
- Sean Connery as Draco (voice)
- David Thewlis as King Einon
- Dina Meyer as Kara
- Pete Postlethwaite as Gilbert
- Jason Isaacs as Lord Felton
- Brian Thompson as Brok
- Julie Christie as Queen Aislinn
- Lee Oakes as Young (Prince) Einon
- Wolf Christian as Hewe
- Terry O'Neill as Redbeard
- Peter Hric as King Freyne
- Eva Vejmělková as Felton's Minx
- Milan Bahul as Swamp Village Chief
- Sandra Kovacicova as Young Kara
- Kyle Cohen as Boy in Field
- Thom Baker as Aislinn's Chess Partner
- John Gielgud as King Arthur (voice) (uncredited)
- Buddy Quaid as Servant (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 2% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 172
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 | 0 | 26 |
| 5 to 8 | 0 | 7 |
| 9 to 12 | 3 | 5 |
| 13 to 16 | 9 | 27 |
| 17 to 20 | 2 | 25 |
| 21 to 24 | 0 | 44 |
| 25 to 28 | 8 | 46 |
| 29 to 32 | 0 | 0 |
| 33 to 36 | 0 | 0 |
| 37 to 40 | 0 | 0 |
| 41 to 44 | 0 | 21 |
| 45 to 48 | 0 | 16 |
| 49 to 52 | 0 | 7 |
| 53 to 56 | 0 | 1 |
| 57 to 60 | 0 | 0 |
| 61 to 64 | 0 | 5 |
| 65 to 68 | 0 | 0 |
| 69 to 72 | 0 | 1 |
| 73 to 76 | 0 | 22 |
| 77 to 80 | 3 | 10 |
| 81 to 84 | 0 | 19 |
| 85 to 88 | 14 | 9 |
| 89 to 92 | 1 | 5 |
| 93 to 96 | 4 | 20 |
| 97 to 100 | 1 | 24 |
| 101 to 104 | 6 | 39 |
| 105 to 108 | 18 | 30 |
| 109 to 112 | 2 | 36 |
| 113 to 116 | 12 | 16 |
| 117 to 120 | 12 | 11 |
| 121 to 124 | 3 | 10 |
| 125 to 128 | 0 | 15 |
| 129 to 132 | 1 | 9 |
| 133 to 136 | 0 | 3 |
| 137 to 140 | 0 | 3 |
| 141 to 144 | 0 | 4 |
| 145 to 148 | 13 | 16 |
| 149 to 152 | 1 | 15 |
| 153 to 156 | 1 | 3 |
| 157 to 160 | 1 | 2 |
| 161 to 164 | 1 | 2 |
| 165 to 168 | 2 | 28 |
| 169 to 172 | 0 | 1 |
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, 17 are women's.
118 lines from women, 583 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
3 women and 13 men in the cast. 2 women and 12 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 36 of 715.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 113 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 16% of the words (1,157), men 84% (5,916). Women have 17% 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
1
Two men
65
Exhibit E: behind the camera
3 of the 11 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 32% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Rob Cohen (man)
- Written by
- Charles Edward Pogue (man), Patrick Read Johnson (man)
- Produced by
- Raffaella De Laurentiis (woman)
- Shot by
- David Eggby (man)
- Edited by
- Peter Amundson (man)
- Music by
- Randy Edelman (man)
- Production design by
- Benjamín Fernández (man)
- Costumes by
- Anna B. Sheppard (woman), Thomas Casterline (gender not listed)
- Cast by
- Margery Simkin (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Art
2 women, 8 men, 9 not listed
-
Production
5 women, 3 men, 4 not listed
-
Other crew
2 women, 4 men, 4 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 2 men, 3 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 2 men, 4 not listed
-
Directing
3 women, 2 men
-
Visual Effects
0 women, 3 men
-
Sound
0 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 42 on average. Men: 40 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Dina Meyer 27, Julie Christie 56
Men
Lee Oakes 22, Jason Isaacs 32, David Thewlis 33, Brian Thompson 36, Dennis Quaid 42, Pete Postlethwaite 50, Sean Connery 65
Exhibit G: the money
It made 2.0 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $57 million
- Box office
- $115 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 172 scenes and 715 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
