Fails the Bechdel test
Mission: Impossible
1996. Directed by Brian De Palma, written by Bruce Geller and David Koepp and Steven Zaillian.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
15 women characters. 5 of them speak. -
No
2. Who talk to each other
Our parser found no scene where two women talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Not reached: the film fails an earlier rule.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.
The film
Based on the hit television series. Jim Phelps (Jon Voight) was sent to Prague for a mission to prevent the theft of classified material. His wife Claire (Emmanuelle Béart) and his trusted partner Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) were members of Phelps' team. Unfortunately, something went horribly wrong and the mission failed, leaving Ethan Hunt the seemingly lone survivor. After he reported the failed mission, Kittridge (Henry Czerny), the head of the agency, suspects Ethan of being the culprit for the failed mission. Now, Ethan uses unorthodox methods (which includes the aid of an arms dealer going by the name "Max" (Vanessa Redgrave)) to try to find who set him up and to clear his name.
- Released
- 22 May 1996
- Genres
- Action, Adventure, Thriller
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 7.2 / 10
- Metascore
- 59 / 100
- Awards
- 3 wins & 17 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Ethan 212 lines, man
- Phelps 72 lines, man
- Kittridge 67 lines, man
- Claire 57 lines, woman
- Luther 36 lines, man
- Max 35 lines, woman
- Jack 29 lines, man
- Sarah 18 lines, woman
- Krieger 17 lines, man
- Matthias 16 lines, man
Full cast, 54 people
- Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt
- Jon Voight as Jim Phelps
- Emmanuelle Béart as Claire
- Henry Czerny as Kittridge
- Jean Reno as Krieger
- Ving Rhames as Luther
- Kristin Scott Thomas as Sarah Davies
- Vanessa Redgrave as Max
- Ingeborga Dapkūnaitė as Hannah
- Valentina Yakunina as Drunken Female IMF Agent
- Marek Vašut as Drunken Male IMF Agent
- Nathan Osgood as Kittridge Technician
- John McLaughlin as TV Interviewer
- Rolf Saxon as CIA Analyst William Donloe
- Karel Dobrý as Matthias
- Andreas Wisniewski as Max's Companion
- David Shaeffer as Diplomat Rand Housman
- Rudolf Pechan as Mayor Brandl
- Gaston Šubert as Jaroslav Reid
- Ricco Ross as Denied Area Security Guard
- Mark Houghton as Denied Area Security Guard
- Bob Friend as Sky News Man
- Annabel Mullion as Flight Attendant
- Garrick Hagon as CNN Reporter
- Jiřina Třebická as Cleaning Woman
- Andrzej Borkowski as Kiev Room Agent
- Maya Dokic as Kiev Room Agent
- Sam Douglas as Kiev Room Agent
- Olegar Fedoro as Kiev Room Agent
- Carmela Marner as Kiev Room Agent
- Mimi Potworowska as Kiev Room Agent
- David Schneider as Train Engineer
- Helen Lindsay as Female Executive in Train
- Pat Starr as CIA Agent
- Richard D. Sharp as CIA Lobby Guard
- Randall Paul as CIA Escort Guard
- Sue Doucette as CIA Agent
- Graydon Gould as Public Official
- Tony Vogel as MI5 Agent
- Michael Rogers as Large man
- Laura Brook as Margaret Hunt
- Morgan Deare as Donald Hunt
- David Phelan as Steward on Train
- Melissa Knatchbull as Air Stewardess
- Dale Dye as Frank Barnes
- Marcel Iureș as Golitsyn
- Ion Caramitru as Zozimov
- Emilio Estevez as Jack Harmon (uncredited)
- Keith Campbell as Fireman (uncredited)
- Michael Cella as Student (uncredited)
- Harry Fielder as Car Driver (uncredited)
- Toby Hinson as Man on Plane (uncredited)
- John Knoll as Passenger on Train in Tunnel (uncredited)
- Paul Markham as Train Guard (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 5 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 206
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 5 | 9 | 38 |
| 6 to 10 | 6 | 41 |
| 11 to 15 | 3 | 4 |
| 16 to 20 | 4 | 7 |
| 21 to 25 | 1 | 6 |
| 26 to 30 | 1 | 7 |
| 31 to 35 | 1 | 3 |
| 36 to 40 | 3 | 7 |
| 41 to 45 | 0 | 5 |
| 46 to 50 | 0 | 3 |
| 51 to 55 | 0 | 2 |
| 56 to 60 | 3 | 13 |
| 61 to 65 | 0 | 2 |
| 66 to 70 | 0 | 21 |
| 71 to 75 | 0 | 28 |
| 76 to 80 | 0 | 0 |
| 81 to 85 | 30 | 51 |
| 86 to 90 | 0 | 1 |
| 91 to 95 | 6 | 6 |
| 96 to 100 | 7 | 35 |
| 101 to 105 | 5 | 11 |
| 106 to 110 | 0 | 15 |
| 111 to 115 | 0 | 5 |
| 116 to 120 | 0 | 7 |
| 121 to 125 | 0 | 0 |
| 126 to 130 | 0 | 1 |
| 131 to 135 | 0 | 1 |
| 136 to 140 | 0 | 2 |
| 141 to 145 | 0 | 2 |
| 146 to 150 | 0 | 2 |
| 151 to 155 | 0 | 4 |
| 156 to 160 | 0 | 6 |
| 161 to 165 | 6 | 37 |
| 166 to 170 | 0 | 9 |
| 171 to 175 | 3 | 43 |
| 176 to 180 | 5 | 7 |
| 181 to 185 | 7 | 19 |
| 186 to 190 | 1 | 6 |
| 191 to 195 | 12 | 28 |
| 196 to 200 | 1 | 0 |
| 201 to 205 | 2 | 22 |
| 206 to 206 | 4 | 1 |
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, 19 are women's.
120 lines from women, 508 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
15 women and 34 men in the cast. 5 women and 15 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 26 of 655.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 64 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 16% of the words (1,068), men 84% (5,472). Women have 19% 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
0
Two men
54
Exhibit E: behind the camera
4 of the 15 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 21% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Brian De Palma (man)
- Written by
- David Koepp (man), Robert Towne (man)
- Story by
- Steven Zaillian (man), David Koepp (man)
- Produced by
- Tom Cruise (man), Paula Wagner (woman)
- Shot by
- Stephen H. Burum (man)
- Edited by
- Paul Hirsch (man)
- Music by
- Danny Elfman (man)
- Production design by
- Norman Reynolds (man)
- Costumes by
- Penny Rose (woman), Timothy Everest (gender not listed)
- Cast by
- Mali Finn (woman), Patsy Pollock (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
6 women, 25 men, 16 not listed
-
Sound
1 women, 17 men, 7 not listed
-
Production
6 women, 4 men, 13 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 8 men, 5 not listed
-
Visual Effects
2 women, 6 men, 5 not listed
-
Camera
1 women, 8 men, 2 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
4 women, 1 men, 6 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 8 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 40 on average. Men: 42 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Emmanuelle Béart 32, Ingeborga Dapkūnaitė 33, Kristin Scott Thomas 35, Valentina Yakunina 39, Vanessa Redgrave 59
Men
Tom Cruise 33, Henry Czerny 37, Ving Rhames 37, Jean Reno 47, Jon Voight 57
Exhibit G: the money
It made 5.7 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $80 million
- Box office
- $458 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 206 scenes and 655 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
