Passes the Bechdel test
Face/Off
1997. Directed by John Woo, written by Mike Werb and Michael Colleary.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
13 women characters. 10 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 3 scenes out of 156. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.
The film
Sean Archer, a very tough, rugged FBI Agent, is still grieving for his dead son Michael. Archer believes that his son's killer is his sworn enemy and a very powerful criminal, Castor Troy. One day, Archer has finally cornered Castor, however, their fight has knocked out Troy cold. As Archer finally breathes easy over the capture of his enemy, he finds out that Troy has planted a bomb that will destroy the entire city of Los Angeles and all of its inhabitants. Unfortunately the only other person who knows its location is Castor's brother Pollux, and he refuses to talk. The solution, a special operation doctor that can cut off people's faces, and can place a person's face onto another person. Archer undergoes one of those surgeries to talk to Pollux. However, Castor Troy somehow regains consciousness and now wants revenge on Archer for taking his face. Not only is Troy ruining Archer's mission, but his personal life as well. Archer must stop Troy again. This time, it's personal.
- Released
- 27 Jun 1997
- Genres
- Action, Crime, Sci-Fi
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.3 / 10
- Metascore
- 82 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 1 Oscar. 11 wins & 23 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Archer 179 lines, man
- Castor 156 lines, man
- Eve 90 lines, woman
- Pollux 31 lines, man
- Sasha 24 lines, woman
- Wanda 21 lines, woman
- Jamie 20 lines, woman
- Tito 20 lines, man
- Walton 19 lines, man
- Dietrich 18 lines, man
Full cast, 58 people
- John Travolta as Sean Archer
- Nicolas Cage as Castor Troy
- Joan Allen as Eve Archer
- Alessandro Nivola as Pollux Troy
- Gina Gershon as Sasha Hassler
- Dominique Swain as Jamie Archer
- Nick Cassavetes as Dietrich Hassler
- Harve Presnell as Victor Lazarro
- Colm Feore as Dr. Malcolm Walsh
- John Carroll Lynch as Prison Guard Walton
- CCH Pounder as Hollis Miller
- Robert Wisdom as Tito Biondi
- Margaret Cho as Wanda
- James Denton as Buzz
- Matt Ross as Loomis
- Chris Bauer as Ivan Dubov
- Myles Jeffrey as Michael Archer
- David McCurley as Adam Hassler
- Thomas Jane as Burke Hicks
- Tommy Flanagan as Leo
- Dana Smith as Lars
- Romy Walthall as Kimberly
- Paul Hipp as Fitch
- Kirk Baltz as Aldo
- Lauren Sinclair as Agent Winters
- Ben Reed as Pilot
- Lisa Boyle as Cindee
- Linda Hoffman as Livia
- Danny Masterson as Karl
- Father Michael Rocha as Priest
- Megan Paul as Hospital Girl
- Mike Werb as Hospital Dad
- Tom Reynolds as LAPD Cop
- Steve Hytner as Interrogating Agent
- Carmen Thomas as Reporter Valerie
- John Bloom as Prison Medical Technician
- Thomas Rosales Jr. as Prisoner (uncredited)
- Walter Scott as Port Police Commander
- Brooke Leslie as ER Nurse
- Cam Brainard as Dispatcher
- David Warshofsky as Bomb Leader
- John Neidlinger as Bomb Technician
- Norm Compton as Cigarette Guard
- Gregg Shawzin as Lock Down Guard
- Clifford Einstein as Restorative Surgeon
- Marco Kyris as Recreation Guard
- Tom Fridley as Prison Guard
- Andrew Wallace as Altar Boy
- Jacinto Rodriguez as Prisoner
- Chic Daniel as FBI Squad Leader
- Laurence Walsh as Walsh Clinic Nurse
- Tony Boldi as Jim Elsworth (uncredited)
- Khristian Lupo as Dietrich's Henchman (uncredited)
- William Morts as Dietrich's Man (uncredited)
- Jason Thomas Campbell as SWAT Officer (uncredited)
- Tory Christopher as SWAT Officer (uncredited)
- Robert 'Bobby Z' Zajonc as Helicopter Pilot (uncredited)
- Del Zamora as Janitor (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 4% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 156
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 | 1 | 13 |
| 5 to 8 | 0 | 18 |
| 9 to 12 | 1 | 23 |
| 13 to 16 | 8 | 7 |
| 17 to 20 | 5 | 19 |
| 21 to 24 | 6 | 21 |
| 25 to 28 | 5 | 6 |
| 29 to 32 | 11 | 9 |
| 33 to 36 | 0 | 15 |
| 37 to 40 | 0 | 9 |
| 41 to 44 | 1 | 10 |
| 45 to 48 | 0 | 17 |
| 49 to 52 | 0 | 30 |
| 53 to 56 | 7 | 28 |
| 57 to 60 | 5 | 7 |
| 61 to 64 | 2 | 19 |
| 65 to 68 | 1 | 8 |
| 69 to 72 | 3 | 9 |
| 73 to 76 | 7 | 19 |
| 77 to 80 | 0 | 4 |
| 81 to 84 | 0 | 1 |
| 85 to 88 | 12 | 13 |
| 89 to 92 | 4 | 6 |
| 93 to 96 | 1 | 5 |
| 97 to 100 | 3 | 30 |
| 101 to 104 | 6 | 10 |
| 105 to 108 | 7 | 11 |
| 109 to 112 | 7 | 14 |
| 113 to 116 | 1 | 15 |
| 117 to 120 | 0 | 1 |
| 121 to 124 | 5 | 11 |
| 125 to 128 | 9 | 12 |
| 129 to 132 | 17 | 15 |
| 133 to 136 | 6 | 9 |
| 137 to 140 | 8 | 22 |
| 141 to 144 | 3 | 4 |
| 145 to 148 | 7 | 18 |
| 149 to 152 | 11 | 10 |
| 153 to 156 | 2 | 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.
JAMIE: Like you'd ever fucking believe me! EVE: Well, you tried. You failed miserably, but you tried.
EVE: Wanda -- I need to talk to you. WANDA: Sure... what's wrong? EVE: Never mind --
WANDA: We heard gunshots -- EVE: Wanda, I've got to tell you something. Something crazy...
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 26 are women's.
172 lines from women, 498 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
13 women and 42 men in the cast. 10 women and 21 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 5 of 701.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 78 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 22% of the words (1,580), men 78% (5,710). Women have 26% 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
4
Two men
50
Exhibit F: behind the camera
2 of the 14 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 20% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- John Woo (man)
- Written by
- Mike Werb (man), Michael Colleary (man)
- Produced by
- Terence Chang (man), Barrie M. Osborne (man), David Permut (man), Christopher Godsick (man)
- Shot by
- Oliver Wood (man)
- Edited by
- Steven Kemper (man), Christian Wagner (man)
- Music by
- John Powell (man)
- Production design by
- Neil Spisak (man)
- Costumes by
- Ellen Mirojnick (woman)
- Cast by
- Mindy Marin (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
5 women, 34 men, 25 not listed
-
Sound
10 women, 30 men, 15 not listed
-
Production
6 women, 18 men, 16 not listed
-
Camera
1 women, 19 men, 12 not listed
-
Art
4 women, 13 men, 14 not listed
-
Visual Effects
1 women, 8 men, 17 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
5 women, 6 men, 5 not listed
-
Editing
1 women, 4 men, 5 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 30 on average. Men: 39 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Dominique Swain 16, Gina Gershon 35, Joan Allen 40
Men
Alessandro Nivola 24, Nicolas Cage 33, John Carroll Lynch 33, Nick Cassavetes 38, Colm Feore 38, John Travolta 43, Harve Presnell 63
Exhibit H: the money
It made 3.1 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $80 million
- Box office
- $246 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 156 scenes and 701 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
