Passes the Bechdel test
Heathers
1989. Directed by Michael Lehmann, written by Daniel Waters.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
13 women characters. 9 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 16 scenes out of 86. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3.
The film
A regular girl, Veronica, tries to survive the social jungle of high school by sticking with the three most popular girls at school who are all called Heather. As she meets a new kid named JD, her life spirals into a continuous cycle of hate, indifference, and murder as she exacts revenge on her enemies, also known as her best friends.
- Released
- 31 Mar 1989
- Genres
- Comedy, Crime
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.1 / 10
- Metascore
- 72 / 100
- Awards
- 3 wins & 11 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Veronica 278 lines, woman
- Heather Chandler 63 lines, woman
- Heather Duke 51 lines, woman
- Heather Mcnamara 41 lines, woman
- Pauline 27 lines, woman
- Kurt 23 lines, man
- Mom 21 lines, woman
- Ram 19 lines, man
- Brad 13 lines, man
- Milner 13 lines, man
Full cast, 41 people
- Winona Ryder as Veronica
- Christian Slater as J.D.
- Kim Walker as Heather (Chandler)
- Shannen Doherty as Heather (Duke)
- Lisanne Falk as Heather (McNamara)
- Aaron Mendelsohn as Nerd in Pauline's Class
- Andrew Benne as Fat Cynic
- Betty Ramey as Teacher in Conference Room
- Bess Meyer as Female Stoner
- Adrian Drake as Gruff Teacher
- Carrie Lynn as Martha Dunnstock / Dumptruck
- Curtiss Marlowe as Geek
- Chuck Lafont as Officer Milner
- Christie Mellor as Squealing Girl in Pkg. Lot
- Craig Braginsky as Student (uncredited)
- David McConnell as Student in the Gym (uncredited)
- Federica Mastroianni as Student
- Glenn Shadix as Father Ripper
- Jeremy Applegate as Peter Dawson
- Jon Matthews as Rodney
- Jennifer Rhodes as Veronica's Mom
- Josh Richman as 2nd Heavy Metaller in Pkg. Lot
- John Ingle as Principal Gowan
- John Zarchen as Country Club Keith
- James 'Poorman' Trenton as 'Hot Probs' D.J
- Jeffrey Weissman as Voice Actor (uncredited)
- Kevin Hardesty as 1st Heavy Metaller in Pkg. Lot
- Kent Stoddard as Brad
- Kirk Scott as Big Bud Dean
- Lance Fenton as Kurt Kelly
- Larry Cox as David
- Mark Bringelson as Officer McCord
- Mark Carlton as Kurt's Dad
- Michael Lindström as Student (uncredited)
- Sherrie Wills as Country Club Courtney
- Stuart Mabray as Counselor Paul Hyde
- Penelope Milford as Pauline Fleming
- Patrick Labyorteaux as Ram
- Phill Lewis as Dennis
- Renée Estevez as Betty Finn
- William Cort as Veronica's Dad
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 7% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 86
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 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 to 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 to 6 | 57 | 16 |
| 7 to 8 | 4 | 0 |
| 9 to 10 | 32 | 12 |
| 11 to 12 | 35 | 4 |
| 13 to 14 | 11 | 4 |
| 15 to 16 | 10 | 10 |
| 17 to 18 | 14 | 3 |
| 19 to 20 | 16 | 0 |
| 21 to 22 | 31 | 8 |
| 23 to 24 | 17 | 2 |
| 25 to 26 | 4 | 2 |
| 27 to 28 | 19 | 10 |
| 29 to 30 | 0 | 0 |
| 31 to 32 | 9 | 4 |
| 33 to 34 | 5 | 26 |
| 35 to 36 | 16 | 7 |
| 37 to 38 | 12 | 4 |
| 39 to 40 | 12 | 30 |
| 41 to 42 | 10 | 1 |
| 43 to 44 | 9 | 0 |
| 45 to 46 | 20 | 5 |
| 47 to 48 | 10 | 4 |
| 49 to 50 | 5 | 3 |
| 51 to 52 | 34 | 3 |
| 53 to 54 | 12 | 0 |
| 55 to 56 | 14 | 3 |
| 57 to 58 | 7 | 0 |
| 59 to 60 | 8 | 1 |
| 61 to 62 | 14 | 1 |
| 63 to 64 | 1 | 0 |
| 65 to 66 | 0 | 0 |
| 67 to 68 | 12 | 0 |
| 69 to 70 | 6 | 1 |
| 71 to 72 | 5 | 0 |
| 73 to 74 | 0 | 0 |
| 75 to 76 | 8 | 3 |
| 77 to 78 | 0 | 0 |
| 79 to 80 | 6 | 0 |
| 81 to 82 | 0 | 1 |
| 83 to 84 | 17 | 3 |
| 85 to 86 | 10 | 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.
HEATHER CHANDLER: Hi Courtney. Love your blouse. Ooh, let me snare a tater. COURTNEY: Thanks. I just got it last night at the Limited. Totally blew my allowance. HEATHER CHANDLER: That's pretty very. Now check this out. You win five million dollars from Publishers Clearing House, but on the same day Ed McMahon gives yo…
COURTNEY: If I got that money, I'd give it all to the poor. Every cent. VERONICA: You're beautiful.
VERONICA: Doesn't it bother you that everyone in the school thinks you're a pirahna? HEATHER CHANDLER: Like I give a shit. They all want me, as a friend or a fuck. I'm worshipped at Westerburg and I'm only a Junior. VERONICA: Pretend you're a missionary saving a colony of cootie victims. HEATHER CHANDLER: Whatever. I don't believe this. We're going to a party at Remington University tonight and we're brushing up our conversation skills with th…
HEATHER CHANDLER: Just imagine somebody like your quasi-fat, goody-good friend Betty Finn doing a Crest commercial. No one would buy Crest. VERONICA: Don't tell me. Crest would be stained with loserness. HEATHER CHANDLER: Yeah, and who wants that on their teeth? HEATHER MCNAMARA: Oh God, here we go...
HEATHER CHANDLER: You wanted to become a member of the most powerful clique in the school. If I wasn't already the head of it, I'd want the same thing. VERONICA: I'm sorry? What are you oozing about? HEATHER CHANDLER: That episode with the note back there was for all of us to enjoy, but you're determined to ruin my day. VERONICA: We made a girl want to consider suicide. What a scream. What a jest.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 75 are women's.
512 lines from women, 171 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
13 women and 26 men in the cast. 9 women and 21 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 2 of 732.
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 75% of the words (5,900), men 25% (1,943).
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
44
Two men
13
Exhibit F: behind the camera
1 of the 10 people in these jobs is a woman.
Across the whole crew, 27% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Michael Lehmann (man)
- Written by
- Daniel Waters (man)
- Produced by
- Denise Di Novi (woman)
- Shot by
- Francis Kenny (man)
- Edited by
- Norman Hollyn (man)
- Music by
- David Newman (man)
- Production design by
- Jon Hutman (man)
- Costumes by
- Rudy Dillon (gender not listed)
- Cast by
- Sally Dennison (gender not listed), Julie Selzer (gender not listed)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
2 women, 10 men, 9 not listed
-
Production
3 women, 2 men, 7 not listed
-
Other crew
1 women, 5 men, 4 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 2 men, 5 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 6 men, 2 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
3 women, 0 men, 4 not listed
-
Lighting
0 women, 2 men, 5 not listed
-
Directing
2 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 23 on average. Men: 21 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Winona Ryder 17, Shannen Doherty 17, Kim Walker 20, Lisanne Falk 24, Bess Meyer 38
Men
Christian Slater 19, Aaron Mendelsohn 22
Exhibit H: the money
It made 39% of what it cost.
- Budget
- $3 million
- Box office
- $1.2 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 86 scenes and 732 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
