Fails the Bechdel test

Fatal Instinct

Name: Fatal Instinct
Released: 1993

1993. Directed by Carl Reiner, written by David O'Malley.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

2 / 3

Fails

Yes 1. At least two women
9 women characters. 3 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

Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3, though someone marked that rating as dubious.

The film

A spoof of the late-1980s and early-'90s suspense thrillers and murder mysteries, including "Basic Instinct", "Sleeping With The Enemy", and "Cape Fear". A cop/attorney (yes, he's both) is seduced by a woman while his wife is having an affair with a mechanic. Lots of other subplots and visual gags in the style of "Naked Gun". Check the rating.

Released: 29 Oct 1993
Genres: Comedy, Crime, Thriller
Rated: PG-13
IMDb: 5.8 / 10
Metascore: 33 / 100
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

Women
Men
Not in the cast list
Bigger name, more lines

Ned 328 lines, man
Lola 108 lines, woman
Lana 102 lines, woman
Laura 88 lines, woman
Frank 38 lines, man
Arch 23 lines, man
Mrs. Shady 21 lines, woman
Judge Skanky 14 lines, man
Max 10 lines, man
Jeff 8 lines, man

Full cast, 36 people

Armand Assante as Ned Ravine
Sherilyn Fenn as Laura Lincolnberry
Kate Nelligan as Lana Ravine
Sean Young as Lola Cain
Christopher McDonald as Frank Kelbo
James Remar as Max Shady
Tony Randall as Judge Skanky
Clarence Clemons as Clarence
Keith Campbell as Murder Investigator
Michael Cumpsty as Laura's Husband
Bob Uecker as Himself
Eartha Kitt as Trial Judge
Bill Cobbs as Man in Park
Kevin Michael Richardson as Bailiff
Bunny Summers as Train Passenger
Rosie O'Donnell as Woman in Bird Store
John Witherspoon as Arch
Blake Clark as Milo Crumley
George López as Murder Investigator
Doc Severinsen as Guest Musician
Christopher Murray as Investigator #1
Jane Lynch as Prison Reporter
Carl Reiner as Judge Ben Arugula
Edward Blanchard as Restroom Patron
David Greenlee as Restroom Stall Patron
Tim Frisbie as Guy in Bumper Car
Michael MacLeod as Freckle-Faced Kid (as Michael MacCleod)
Laurie Lapinski as Frightened Woman
Harvey Levine as Blind Guy
Christopher Darga as Prison Guard
Bernardo Hiller as Prison Reporter(as Bernard Hiller)
Lucy Lin as Prison Reporter
Casey King as Prison Reporter
Jacob Vargas as Flower Delivery Man
Alex Zuckerman as Jeff
Ronnie Schell as Conductor

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 6% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 173

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	14	35
5 to 8	6	18
9 to 12	9	21
13 to 16	43	52
17 to 20	0	15
21 to 24	19	14
25 to 28	2	1
29 to 32	9	9
33 to 36	13	13
37 to 40	7	8
41 to 44	5	27
45 to 48	25	25
49 to 52	9	6
53 to 56	10	8
57 to 60	3	7
61 to 64	18	17
65 to 68	16	17
69 to 72	3	7
73 to 76	1	1
77 to 80	0	3
81 to 84	3	6
85 to 88	0	3
89 to 92	1	0
93 to 96	0	0
97 to 100	0	0
101 to 104	0	0
105 to 108	0	2
109 to 112	2	11
113 to 116	7	20
117 to 120	7	6
121 to 124	1	6
125 to 128	2	9
129 to 132	19	23
133 to 136	9	22
137 to 140	30	31
141 to 144	0	2
145 to 148	13	9
149 to 152	2	1
153 to 156	0	3
157 to 160	1	2
161 to 164	3	2
165 to 168	1	0
169 to 172	4	5
173 to 173	5	4

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, 41 are women's.

322 lines from women, 471 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

9 women and 23 men in the cast. 3 women and 20 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 21 of 842. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 31 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 40% of the words (3,538), men 60% (5,205). Women have 41% 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

Two men

Exhibit E: behind the camera

2 of the 11 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 12% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Carl Reiner (man)
Written by: David O'Malley (man)
Produced by: Katie Jacobs (woman), Pierce Gardner (man)
Shot by: Gabriel Beristain (man)
Edited by: Bud Molin (gender not listed), Stephen R. Myers (man)
Music by: Richard Gibbs (man)
Production design by: Sandy Veneziano (gender not listed)
Costumes by: Albert Wolsky (man)
Cast by: Renee Rousselot (woman)

The crew, department by department

Sound

1 women, 10 men, 1 not listed
Directing

0 women, 4 men
Production

2 women, 2 men
Art

0 women, 0 men, 3 not listed
Other crew

0 women, 3 men
Editing

0 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
Camera

0 women, 1 men
Costume & Make-Up

0 women, 1 men

Women
Men
Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit F: how old the stars were

Women: 35 on average. Men: 44 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Sherilyn Fenn 28, Sean Young 33, Kate Nelligan 43

Men

Keith Campbell 31, Michael Cumpsty 33, Christopher McDonald 38, James Remar 39, Armand Assante 44, Clarence Clemons 51, Tony Randall 73

Exhibit G: the money

It made 78% of what it cost.

Budget: $10 million
Box office: $7.8 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 173 scenes and 842 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

Related films

Back to the whole shelf