Fails the Bechdel test
Scanners
1981. Directed by David Cronenberg, written by David Cronenberg.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
0 / 3
Fails
-
No
1. At least two women
Fewer than two women characters. -
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
Darryl Revok is the most powerful of all the scanners, and is the head of the underground scanner movement for world domination. Scanners have great psychic power, strong enough to control minds; they can inflict enormous pain/damage on their victims. Doctor Paul Ruth finds a scanner that Revok hasn't, and converts him to their cause - to destroy the underground movement.
- Released
- 14 Jan 1981
- Genres
- Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 6.7 / 10
- Metascore
- 60 / 100
- Awards
- 3 wins & 9 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Vale 110 lines, man
- Ruth 67 lines, man
- Kim 38 lines, woman
- Keller 37 lines, man
- Revok 30 lines, man
- Pierce 18 lines, man
- Security One 10 lines, man
- Gaudi 8 lines
- Liliane 8 lines
- Frane 7 lines, man
Full cast, 49 people
- Stephen Lack as Cameron Vale
- Jennifer O'Neill as Kim Obrist
- Michael Ironside as Darryl Revok
- Patrick McGoohan as Dr. Paul Ruth
- Lawrence Dane as Braedon Keller
- Robert A. Silverman as Benjamin Pierce
- Lee Broker as Security One
- Mavor Moore as Trevellyan
- Adam Ludwig as Arno Crostic
- Murray Cruchley as Programmer 1
- Fred Döderlein as Dieter Tautz
- Géza Kovács as Killer in Record Store
- Sonny Forbes as Killer in Attic
- Jérôme Tiberghien as Killer in Attic
- Denis Lacroix as Killer in Barn
- Elizabeth Mudry as Killer in Barn
- Victor Désy as Dr. Gatineau
- Louis Del Grande as First Scanner
- Anthony Sherwood as Scanner in Attic
- Ken Umland as Scanner in Attic
- Anne Anglin as Scanner in Attic
- Jock Brandis as Scanner in Attic
- Jack Messinger as Scanner at Door
- Victor Knight as Dr. Frane
- Karen Fullerton as Pregnant Girl
- Margaret Gadbois as Woman in Mall
- Terrance P. Coady as Security 1 Car Passenger
- Steve Michaels as Security 1 Car Driver
- Malcolm Nelthorpe as Security 2 Car Driver
- Nicholas Kilbertus as Security 2 Car Partner
- Don Buchsbaum as Large Man in Mall
- Roland Nincheri as Large Man in Mall
- Kimberly McKeever as Hallucinating Guard
- Robert Boyd as Hallucinating Guard
- Graham Batchelor as Yoga Technician
- Dean Hagopian as Programmer 2
- Alex Stevens as Programmer 3
- Neil Affleck as Student
- John Brasington as Hazmat-Suit Worker (uncredited)
- Chris Britton as Hazmat-Suit Worker (uncredited)
- Jack Canon as Hazmat-Suit Worker (uncredited)
- Richard Chapman Jr. as Hazmat-Suit Worker (uncredited)
- Leon Herbert as Hazmat-Suit Worker (uncredited)
- William Hope as Hazmat-Suit Worker (uncredited)
- Thomas Kovacs as Boyfriend (uncredited)
- Michael Maloley as Doctor in Hall (uncredited)
- Ian McQue as Scanner / Security Guard (uncredited)
- Chuck Shamata as Tony (uncredited)
- Sam Stone as Security Guard (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 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 64
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 | 10 |
| 3 to 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 5 to 6 | 0 | 6 |
| 7 to 8 | 0 | 5 |
| 9 to 10 | 0 | 31 |
| 11 to 12 | 0 | 4 |
| 13 to 14 | 0 | 26 |
| 15 to 16 | 0 | 9 |
| 17 to 18 | 0 | 12 |
| 19 to 20 | 0 | 18 |
| 21 to 22 | 0 | 6 |
| 23 to 24 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 to 26 | 0 | 33 |
| 27 to 28 | 0 | 0 |
| 29 to 30 | 3 | 2 |
| 31 to 32 | 8 | 8 |
| 33 to 34 | 0 | 0 |
| 35 to 36 | 1 | 3 |
| 37 to 38 | 0 | 0 |
| 39 to 40 | 0 | 0 |
| 41 to 42 | 2 | 1 |
| 43 to 44 | 4 | 5 |
| 45 to 46 | 10 | 51 |
| 47 to 48 | 1 | 6 |
| 49 to 50 | 0 | 6 |
| 51 to 52 | 0 | 0 |
| 53 to 54 | 0 | 2 |
| 55 to 56 | 2 | 3 |
| 57 to 58 | 0 | 21 |
| 59 to 60 | 6 | 2 |
| 61 to 62 | 2 | 14 |
| 63 to 64 | 1 | 34 |
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, 11 are women's.
40 lines from women, 322 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
6 women and 42 men in the cast. 1 women and 19 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 180 of 387.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 179 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 10% of the words (424), men 90% (3,880). Women have 11% 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
25
Exhibit E: behind the camera
1 of the 8 people in these jobs is a woman.
Across the whole crew, 18% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- David Cronenberg (man)
- Written by
- David Cronenberg (man)
- Produced by
- Claude Héroux (man)
- Shot by
- Mark Irwin (man)
- Edited by
- Ronald Sanders (man)
- Music by
- Howard Shore (man)
- Costumes by
- Delphine White (woman)
- Cast by
- Daniel Hausmann (gender not listed)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
2 women, 4 men, 16 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 8 men, 6 not listed
-
Art
2 women, 4 men, 7 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 4 men, 8 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
3 women, 3 men, 3 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 2 men, 6 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 1 men, 3 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 32 on average. Men: 41 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Jennifer O'Neill 32
Men
Michael Ironside 30, Stephen Lack 35, Robert A. Silverman 37, Lawrence Dane 43, Adam Ludwig 50, Patrick McGoohan 52
Exhibit G: the money
It made 3.5 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $4.1 million
- Box office
- $14.2 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 64 scenes and 387 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
