Fails the Bechdel test
Edward Scissorhands
1990. Directed by Tim Burton, written by Tim Burton and Caroline Thompson.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
0 / 3
Fails
-
No
1. At least two women
Fewer than two women characters. -
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
Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3.
The film
In a castle high on top of a hill lives an inventor's greatest creation - Edward, a near-complete person. The creator died before he could finish Edward's hands; instead, he is left with metal scissors for hands. Since then, he has lived alone, until a kind lady called Peg discovers him and welcomes him into her home. At first, everyone welcomes him into the community, but soon things begin to take a change for the worse.
- Released
- 14 Dec 1990
- Genres
- Drama, Fantasy, Romance
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 7.8 / 10
- Metascore
- 74 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 1 Oscar. 11 wins & 25 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Peg 106 lines, woman
- Kim 77 lines, woman
- Edward 52 lines, man
- Jim 48 lines, man
- Bill 44 lines, man
- Joyce 24 lines, woman
- Kevin 20 lines, man
- Helen 15 lines, woman
- Margie 13 lines
- Old Kim 13 lines, woman
Full cast, 69 people
- Johnny Depp as Edward Scissorhands
- Winona Ryder as Kim
- Dianne Wiest as Peg
- Anthony Michael Hall as Jim
- Kathy Baker as Joyce
- Robert Oliveri as Kevin
- Conchata Ferrell as Helen
- Caroline Aaron as Marge
- Dick Anthony Williams as Officer Allen
- O-Lan Jones as Esmeralda
- Vincent Price as The Inventor
- Alan Arkin as Bill
- Susan Blommaert as Tinka
- Linda Perri as Cissy
- John Davidson as Host-TV
- Biff Yeager as George
- Marti Greenberg as Suzanne
- Bryan Larkin as Max
- John McMahon as Denny
- Victoria Price as TV Newswoman
- Stuart Lancaster as Retired Man
- Gina Gallagher as Granddaughter
- Aaron Lustig as Psychologist
- Alan Fudge as Loan Officer
- Steven Brill as Dishwasher Man
- Peter Palmer as Editor
- Marc Macaulay as Reporter
- Carmen J. Alexander as Reporter
- Brett Rice as Reporter
- Andrew B. Clark as Beefy Man
- Kelli Crofton as Pink Girl
- Linda Jean Hess as Older Woman / TV
- Rosalyn Thomson as Young Woman / TV
- Lee Ralls as Red-Haired Woman / TV
- Eileen Meurer as Teenage Girl / TV
- Bea Albano as Rich Widow / TV
- Donna Pieroni as Blonde / TV
- Ken DeVaul as Policeman
- Michael Gaughan as Policeman
- Tricia Lloyd as Teenage Girl
- Kathy Dombo as Other Teen
- Rex Fox as Police Sergeant
- Sherry Ferguson as Max's Mother
- Tabetha Thomas as Little Girl on Bike
- Tammy Boalo as Neighborhood Extra
- Jackie Carson as Neighborhood Extra
- Carol Crumrine as Neighborhood Extra
- Suzanne Chrosniak as Neighborhood Extra
- Ellin Dennis as Neighborhood Extra
- Kathy Lockwood as Neighborhood Extra
- Jalaine Gallion as Neighborhood Extra
- Miriam Goodspeed as Neighborhood Extra
- Dianne L. Green as Neighborhood Extra
- Mary Jane Heath as Neighborhood Extra
- Carol D. Klasek as Neighborhood Extra
- Laura Nader as Neighborhood Extra
- Doyle Anderson as Neighborhood Extra
- Harvey Bellman as Neighborhood Extra
- Michael Brown as Neighborhood Extra
- Gary Clark as Neighborhood Extra
- Roland Douville as Neighborhood Extra
- Russell E. Green as Neighborhood Extra
- Cecil Hawkins as Neighborhood Extra
- Jack W. Kapfhamer as Neighborhood Extra
- Bill Klein as Neighborhood Extra
- Phil Olson as Neighborhood Extra
- Joe Sheldon as Neighborhood Extra
- James Spicer as Neighborhood Extra
- Tim Rerucha as Van Friend (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, 59 are women's.
277 lines from women, 196 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
10 women and 21 men in the cast. 8 women and 10 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 21 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 66% of the words (3,790), men 34% (1,996). Women have 59% of the lines, so their lines run longer than men's.
Exhibit D: the test the other way
Run the other way, for men, the film scores 0 out of 3.
Conversations between two named characters
Two women
0
Two men
0
Exhibit E: behind the camera
6 of the 13 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 25% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Tim Burton (man)
- Written by
- Caroline Thompson (woman)
- Story by
- Caroline Thompson (woman), Tim Burton (man)
- Produced by
- Tim Burton (man), Denise Di Novi (woman)
- Shot by
- Stefan Czapsky (man)
- Edited by
- Colleen Halsey (woman), Richard Halsey (man)
- Music by
- Danny Elfman (man)
- Production design by
- Bo Welch (man)
- Costumes by
- Colleen Atwood (woman)
- Cast by
- Victoria Thomas (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
2 women, 14 men, 4 not listed
-
Other crew
2 women, 11 men, 5 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
5 women, 4 men, 5 not listed
-
Production
4 women, 5 men, 4 not listed
-
Art
2 women, 7 men, 3 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 5 men, 5 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Editing
1 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 38 on average. Men: 29 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Winona Ryder 19, Caroline Aaron 38, Kathy Baker 40, O-Lan Jones 40, Dianne Wiest 42, Conchata Ferrell 47
Men
Robert Oliveri 12, Anthony Michael Hall 22, Johnny Depp 27, Dick Anthony Williams 56
Exhibit G: the money
It made 4.3 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $20 million
- Box office
- $86 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 1 scenes and 526 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
