Passes the Bechdel test

Lord of Illusions

Name: Lord of Illusions
Released: 1995

1995. Directed by Clive Barker, written by Clive Barker.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
10 women characters. 8 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 1 scene out of 181.
Yes 3. About something besides a man
In that scene, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.

Second opinion

Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.

The film

New York private investigator Harry D'Amour travels to Los Angeles for a routine case only to find himself ensnared in a lethal conspiracy of high-stakes illusion and genuine sorcery. After witnessing a brutal murder, he is hired by the elegant Dorothea Swann to protect her husband, a world-famous magician. When a stage trick ends in a gruesome public death, Harry uncovers a desert cult hell-bent on resurrecting their messianic leader. The line between parlor tricks and ancient evil dissolves as the city bleeds.

Released: 25 Aug 1995
Genres: Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Rated: R
IMDb: 6.1 / 10
Awards: 2 wins & 1 nomination total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Harry 291 lines, man
Dorothea 101 lines, woman
Swann 77 lines, man
Nix 65 lines, man
Valentin 63 lines, man
Butterfield 58 lines, man
Billy 31 lines, man
Quaid 21 lines, man
Jennifer 20 lines, woman
Wilder 16 lines, man

Full cast, 34 people

Scott Bakula as Harry D'Amour
Kevin J. O'Connor as Philip Swann
Famke Janssen as Dorothea Swann
Joel Swetow as Valentin
Daniel von Bargen as Nix
Barry Del Sherman as Butterfield
Joseph Latimore as Caspar Quaid
Sheila Tousey as Jennifer Desiderio
Vincent Schiavelli as Vinovich
Ashley Tesoro as Young Dorothea
J. Trevor Edmond as Young Butterfield
Wayne Grace as Loomis
Jordan Marder as Ray Miller
Susan Traylor as Maureen Pimm
Joanna Sanchez as Clemenzia
McNally Sagal as Detective Edison
Danny Woodburn as Forensic Photographer
Johnny Venokur as Tapert
Barry Shabaka Henley as Dr. Toffler
Keith Brunsmann as Snakeman
Mikey LeBeau as Exorcised Boy
Jimmy Shaw as Hotel Bellboy
Daniel Edward Mora as Stage Technician
Billy McComb as Walter Wilder
Lorin Stewart as Billy Who
Bergen Williams as Nurse
Carrie Ann Inaba as Dancer
Sebastian La Cause as Dancer
Jason Yribar as Dancer
Luca Tommassini as Dancer
Ken Davitian as Swann Audience Member (uncredited)
G. Larry Butler as Bar patron (uncredited)
Crystal Lujan as Cult Member (uncredited)
Barbara Patrick as Lead Female Cultist

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 181

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	0	0
5 to 8	4	14
9 to 12	9	9
13 to 16	2	1
17 to 20	1	12
21 to 24	5	16
25 to 28	2	2
29 to 32	5	19
33 to 36	0	3
37 to 40	0	49
41 to 44	0	0
45 to 48	0	0
49 to 52	15	22
53 to 56	15	39
57 to 60	1	14
61 to 64	4	16
65 to 68	1	19
69 to 72	4	30
73 to 76	0	42
77 to 80	3	8
81 to 84	6	26
85 to 88	16	23
89 to 92	3	7
93 to 96	0	46
97 to 100	8	13
101 to 104	7	9
105 to 108	13	18
109 to 112	1	15
113 to 116	0	12
117 to 120	0	25
121 to 124	0	6
125 to 128	2	18
129 to 132	3	11
133 to 136	0	14
137 to 140	0	22
141 to 144	1	6
145 to 148	2	3
149 to 152	1	10
153 to 156	1	7
157 to 160	3	34
161 to 164	10	30
165 to 168	2	1
169 to 172	1	2
173 to 176	0	0
177 to 180	0	1
181 to 181	0	0

The evidence

Straight from the script
Counted from the script and the credits

Tap an exhibit to open it.

Exhibit A: the passing scene

The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.

JENNIFER: Say the word. PIMM: Look, maybe we should think this over.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 18 are women's.

151 lines from women, 674 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

10 women and 23 men in the cast. 8 women and 14 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 11 of 860. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 72 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 18% of the words (917), men 82% (4,215).

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

Two men

Exhibit F: behind the camera

2 of the 10 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 15% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Clive Barker (man)
Written by: Clive Barker (man)
Produced by: Clive Barker (man), JoAnne Sellar (woman)
Shot by: Rohn Schmidt (man)
Edited by: Alan Baumgarten (man)
Music by: Simon Boswell (man)
Production design by: Steve Hardie (man)
Costumes by: Luke Reichle (man)
Cast by: Sharon Howard-Field (woman)

The crew, department by department

Costume & Make-Up

0 women, 7 men, 4 not listed
Production

3 women, 3 men
Art

0 women, 4 men
Visual Effects

0 women, 1 men, 2 not listed
Camera

0 women, 2 men
Sound

0 women, 2 men
Writing

0 women, 2 men
Other crew

1 women, 0 men

Women
Men
Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit G: how old the stars were

Women: 26 on average. Men: 40 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Ashley Tesoro 12, Famke Janssen 30, Sheila Tousey 35

Men

Kevin J. O'Connor 31, Barry Del Sherman 32, Scott Bakula 40, Joel Swetow 43, Daniel von Bargen 45, Vincent Schiavelli 46

Exhibit H: the money

What it cost and made, where TMDB lists it.

Budget: Not listed
Box office: $13.3 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 181 scenes and 860 lines of dialogue. How the test works

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