Passes the Bechdel test
Sea of Love
1989. Directed by Harold Becker, written by Richard Price.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
11 women characters. 8 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 1 scene out of 114. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In that scene, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 0 out of 3.
The film
Frank Keller is a New York detective investigating a case of a serial killer who finds the victims through the lonely hearts column in newspapers. Keller falls in love with Helen, the main suspect in the case.
- Released
- 15 Sep 1989
- Genres
- Crime, Drama, Mystery
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 6.8 / 10
- Metascore
- 66 / 100
- Awards
- 5 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Frank 322 lines, man
- Helen 104 lines, woman
- Sherman 70 lines, man
- Frane 33 lines
- Terry 27 lines, man
- Serafino 17 lines, man
- Gruber 10 lines, man
- Woman 10 lines, woman
- Denice 8 lines
- Gina 7 lines, woman
Full cast, 47 people
- Al Pacino as Frank Keller
- Ellen Barkin as Helen Cruger
- John Goodman as Sherman
- Michael Rooker as Terry
- William Hickey as Frank Keller Sr.
- Richard Jenkins as Gruber
- Paul Calderon as Serafino
- Gene Canfield as Struk
- Larry Joshua as Dargan
- John Spencer as Lieutenant
- Christine Estabrook as Gina Gallagher / Lonelyheart
- Barbara Baxley as Miss Allen
- Patricia Barry as Older Woman
- Mark Phelan as Murdered Man
- Michael O'Neill as Raymond Brown
- Michael Fischetti as Doorman
- Luis Antonio Ramos as Omar Maldonado
- Rafael Báez as Efram Maldonado
- Samuel L. Jackson as Black Guy
- Damien Leake as Ernest Lee
- John Thaddeus as Tommy
- Joshua Nelson as Willie
- Christofer de Oni as Supermarket Manager
- Dwayne McClary as Supermarket Cashier
- Jacqueline Brookes as Helen's Mother
- Thom Curley as Toastmaster
- Fred Sanders as Cable Supervisor
- Larry Mullane as Clipboard Guy #2
- Anthony Catanese as Clipboard Guy #3
- Thomas Wagner as Bartender
- Manny Alfaro as Doorman
- Brian Paul as James Mackey
- Deborah Taylor as Tense Woman
- Ferne Downey as Sasha
- Nancy Beatty as Raymond Brown's Wife
- Tony De Santis as Clipboard Guy #1
- Jackie Laidlaw as Yuppie Detective #1
- Paul Hubbard as Yuppie Detective #2
- James Kidnie as Surveillance Team Member
- Bridget O'Sullivan as Sherman's Wife
- Franz Fridal as Criminal Type
- James O'Regan as Hallway Cop
- Wayne Best as Hallway Cop
- John Bourgeois as Young Cop
- Hugh Thompson as Young Cop
- Miranda de Pencier as Bride
- Ty Templeton as Groom
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 15% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 114
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 3 | 0 | 1 |
| 4 to 6 | 0 | 20 |
| 7 to 9 | 1 | 21 |
| 10 to 12 | 0 | 8 |
| 13 to 15 | 1 | 9 |
| 16 to 18 | 0 | 8 |
| 19 to 21 | 0 | 7 |
| 22 to 24 | 2 | 5 |
| 25 to 27 | 0 | 15 |
| 28 to 30 | 0 | 27 |
| 31 to 33 | 0 | 4 |
| 34 to 36 | 0 | 1 |
| 37 to 39 | 6 | 22 |
| 40 to 42 | 1 | 17 |
| 43 to 45 | 4 | 20 |
| 46 to 48 | 0 | 16 |
| 49 to 51 | 0 | 16 |
| 52 to 54 | 0 | 1 |
| 55 to 57 | 0 | 4 |
| 58 to 60 | 1 | 5 |
| 61 to 63 | 2 | 1 |
| 64 to 66 | 5 | 3 |
| 67 to 69 | 2 | 2 |
| 70 to 72 | 0 | 0 |
| 73 to 75 | 4 | 22 |
| 76 to 78 | 10 | 13 |
| 79 to 81 | 30 | 38 |
| 82 to 84 | 0 | 0 |
| 85 to 87 | 0 | 16 |
| 88 to 90 | 2 | 27 |
| 91 to 93 | 14 | 32 |
| 94 to 96 | 9 | 22 |
| 97 to 99 | 3 | 3 |
| 100 to 102 | 4 | 3 |
| 103 to 105 | 10 | 19 |
| 106 to 108 | 8 | 18 |
| 109 to 111 | 9 | 66 |
| 112 to 114 | 14 | 17 |
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.
HELEN -: I almost forgot... HELEN: You were looking at this like it really rang some bells so...ah... HELEN: I’d like you to have it.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 21 are women's.
142 lines from women, 529 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
11 women and 31 men in the cast. 8 women and 25 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 58 of 789.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 62 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 (1,598), men 84% (8,095). Women have 21% of the lines, so their lines run shorter than men's.
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
1
Two men
45
Exhibit F: behind the camera
2 of the 11 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 17% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Harold Becker (man)
- Written by
- Richard Price (man)
- Produced by
- Martin Bregman (man), Louis A. Stroller (man)
- Shot by
- Ronnie Taylor (man)
- Edited by
- David Bretherton (man)
- Music by
- Trevor Jones (man)
- Production design by
- John Jay Moore (man)
- Costumes by
- Betsy Cox (woman)
- Cast by
- Stuart Aikins (man), Mary Colquhoun (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
2 women, 10 men, 6 not listed
-
Production
4 women, 6 men, 5 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 8 men, 4 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 7 men, 4 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
3 women, 1 men, 4 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 6 men, 2 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 3 men, 4 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 3 men, 3 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 35 on average. Men: 42 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Ellen Barkin 35
Men
Michael Rooker 34, John Goodman 37, Paul Calderon 37, Larry Joshua 37, Richard Jenkins 42, John Spencer 42, Al Pacino 49, William Hickey 61
Exhibit H: the money
It made 5.8 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $19 million
- Box office
- $111 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 114 scenes and 789 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
