Passes the Bechdel test
Heavenly Creatures
1994. Directed by Peter Jackson, written by Fran Walsh and Peter Jackson.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
7 women characters. 6 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 7 scenes out of 28. -
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
Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme met in school during the 1950s. Instant best friends, they proceeded to spend every minute possible together, often writing about a fantasy land of their own invention. More and more estranged from their respective families, the two girls realise that they are extremely different from most other people, and agree to take any steps necessary to ensure that they are not separated. The two families are increasingly concerned about the girls' friendship in a strictly moralistic era.
- Released
- 14 Oct 1994
- Genres
- Biography, Crime, Drama
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.2 / 10
- Metascore
- 86 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 1 Oscar. 17 wins & 17 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Pauline 179 lines, woman
- Juliet 141 lines, woman
- Honora 128 lines, woman
- Herbert 44 lines, man
- Pj 34 lines
- Fw 19 lines
- Steve 9 lines, man
- Mrs. Collins 8 lines, woman
- Mrs. Steve 8 lines, man
- Miss Waller 7 lines, woman
Full cast, 37 people
- Melanie Lynskey as Pauline Parker
- Kate Winslet as Juliet Hulme
- Sarah Peirse as Honorah Parker Rieper
- Diana Kent as Hilda Hulme
- Clive Merrison as Dr. Henry Hulme
- Simon O'Connor as Herbert Rieper
- Jed Brophy as John / Nicholas
- Peter Elliott as Bill Perry
- Gilbert Goldie as Dr. Bennett
- Geoffrey Heath as Rev. Norris
- Kirsti Ferry as Wendy
- Ben Skjellerup as Jonathan Hulme
- Darien Takle as Miss Stewart
- Elizabeth Moody as Miss Waller
- Liz Mullane as Mrs. Collins
- Moreen Eason as Mrs. Stevens
- Pearl Carpenter as Mrs. Zwartz
- Lou Dobson as Grandma Parker
- Jesse Griffin as Laurie
- Glen Drake as Steve
- Nic Farra as Boarder
- Chris Clarkson as Boarder
- Ray Henwood as Professor
- John Nicoll as Professor
- Michael Maxwell as Professor
- Raewyn Pelham as Laura
- Toni Jones as Agnes Ritchie
- Glenys Lloyd-Smith as Miss Digby
- Wendy Watson as Mrs. Bennett
- Jean Guérin as Orson Welles
- Stephen Reilly as Mario Lanza
- Andrea Sanders as Diello
- Ben Fransham as Charles
- Jessica Bradley as Pauline 5 Years
- Alex Shirtcliffe-Scott as Juliet 5 Years
- Barry Thomson as Farmer / Policeman
- Peter Jackson as Bum Outside Theater (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 1 scene, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 10% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 28
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 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 2 to 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 to 3 | 23 | 0 |
| 4 to 4 | 26 | 13 |
| 5 to 5 | 6 | 0 |
| 6 to 6 | 43 | 0 |
| 7 to 7 | 18 | 7 |
| 8 to 8 | 86 | 18 |
| 9 to 9 | 55 | 4 |
| 10 to 10 | 13 | 0 |
| 11 to 11 | 26 | 5 |
| 12 to 12 | 18 | 0 |
| 13 to 13 | 16 | 0 |
| 14 to 14 | 13 | 0 |
| 15 to 15 | 1 | 0 |
| 16 to 16 | 3 | 0 |
| 17 to 17 | 6 | 0 |
| 18 to 18 | 11 | 0 |
| 19 to 19 | 28 | 2 |
| 20 to 20 | 10 | 6 |
| 21 to 21 | 11 | 0 |
| 22 to 22 | 7 | 0 |
| 23 to 23 | 45 | 5 |
| 24 to 24 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 to 25 | 1 | 0 |
| 26 to 26 | 0 | 0 |
| 27 to 27 | 0 | 0 |
| 28 to 28 | 3 | 1 |
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.
JULIET: Mummy! JULIET: Mummy! PAULINE: Mummy! PAULINE: It's Mummy!
PAULINE: I think your drawing's fantastic! HONORA: RIEPER is standing at her sink bench. She is 43 years old. Dark hair, going gray. A middle-aged woman with a kind face. HONORA: Oh! . . . Mackerel. We'll have them for lunch tomorrow.
PAULINE: And these wonderful people are you and I. HONORA: is standing, holding the door open, looking rather surprised at the unexpected visitor. HONORA: Yes, of course.
HONORA: Is it hurting, dear? HONORA: Your leg . . . have you got pain? PAULINE: My New Year's resolution is a far more selfish one than last year, so there is more probability of my keeping it. It is to make my motto: "E…
PAULINE: Yes, yes, yes! HONORA: You open up this door right now! PAULINE: I'm bloody dressing as fast as I can, for God's sake! HONORA: Open this door!
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 89 are women's.
470 lines from women, 61 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
7 women and 14 men in the cast. 6 women and 3 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
A woman speaks the first line.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 54 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 91% of the words (5,362), men 9% (555). Women have 89% of the lines, so their lines run longer than men's.
Exhibit E: the test the other way
Run the other way, for men, the film scores 2 out of 3.
Conversations between two named characters
Two women
33
Two men
2
Exhibit F: behind the camera
3 of the 10 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 29% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Peter Jackson (man)
- Written by
- Fran Walsh (woman), Peter Jackson (man)
- Produced by
- Jim Booth (man)
- Shot by
- Alun Bollinger (man)
- Edited by
- Jamie Selkirk (man)
- Music by
- Peter Dasent (man)
- Production design by
- Grant Major (man)
- Costumes by
- Ngila Dickson (woman)
- Cast by
- Liz Mullane (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
2 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 0 men, 3 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 1 men, 2 not listed
-
Writing
1 women, 1 men
-
Camera
0 women, 1 men
-
Other crew
0 women, 1 men
-
Directing
0 women, 1 men
-
Editing
0 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 18 on average. Men: 39 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Melanie Lynskey 17, Kate Winslet 18
Men
Jed Brophy 30, Peter Elliott 38, Clive Merrison 48
Exhibit H: the money
It made 61% of what it cost.
- Budget
- $5 million
- Box office
- $3 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 28 scenes and 589 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
