Passes the Bechdel test

Silkwood

Name: Silkwood
Released: 1984

1984. Directed by Mike Nichols, written by Nora Ephron and Alice Arlen.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
6 women characters. 7 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 18 scenes out of 144.
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

Fairly accurate recounting of the story of Karen Silkwood, the Oklahoma nuclear fuel plant worker who blew the whistle on dangerous practices at the Kerr-McGee plant and who died under circumstances which are still under debate. Karen Silkwood lives a free-spirited existence with two friends, Drew Stephens and Dolly Pelliker, who work with her at an Oklahoma nuclear facility. It's only when she discovers she has been exposed to radiation that Karen's conscience awakens, and soon she is digging for evidence of wrongdoing. But her sudden zeal for safer working conditions may come at a high price as she alienates friends...and possibly even puts her own life in peril.

Released: 27 Jan 1984
Genres: Biography, Drama, History
Rated: R
IMDb: 7.1 / 10
Metascore: 65 / 100
Awards: Nominated for 5 Oscars. 2 wins & 21 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Karen 306 lines, woman
Drew 152 lines, man
Dolly 86 lines, woman
Gilda 23 lines, woman
Quincy 22 lines, man
Thelma 17 lines, woman
Winston 16 lines, man
Wesley 15 lines, man
Angela 14 lines, woman
Paul 14 lines, man

Full cast, 29 people

Meryl Streep as Karen Silkwood
Kurt Russell as Drew Stephens
Cher as Dolly Pelliker
Craig T. Nelson as Winston
Fred Ward as Morgan
Diana Scarwid as Angela
Ron Silver as Paul Stone
Charles Hallahan as Earl Lapin
Josef Sommer as Max Richter
Sudie Bond as Thelma Rice
Henderson Forsythe as Quincy Bissell
E. Katherine Kerr as Gilda Schultz
Bruce McGill as Mace Hurley
David Strathairn as Wesley
J.C. Quinn as Curtis Schultz
Kent Broadhurst as Carl
Richard Hamilton as Georgie
Les Lannom as Jimmy
M. Emmet Walsh as Walt Yarborough
Graham Jarvis as Doctor at Union Meeting
James Rebhorn as Los Alamos Doctor
Bill Cobbs as Man in Lunchroom
Ray Baker as Pete Dawson
Will Patton as Joe
Tom Stovall as 3rd Los Alamos Doctor
Drew Stephens as Waiter (uncredited)
Tess Harper as Linda Dawson
Anthony Heald as 2nd Doctor at Union Meeting
Gary Grubbs as Randy Fox

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 7% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 144

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	2	6
4 to 6	10	13
7 to 9	12	21
10 to 12	10	0
13 to 15	6	3
16 to 18	35	10
19 to 21	31	6
22 to 24	26	9
25 to 27	11	14
28 to 30	1	0
31 to 33	1	0
34 to 36	4	2
37 to 39	28	16
40 to 42	29	19
43 to 45	3	1
46 to 48	3	2
49 to 51	14	7
52 to 54	9	8
55 to 57	13	17
58 to 60	6	4
61 to 63	15	11
64 to 66	10	5
67 to 69	4	3
70 to 72	1	5
73 to 75	8	22
76 to 78	1	2
79 to 81	0	3
82 to 84	1	5
85 to 87	17	9
88 to 90	9	7
91 to 93	5	7
94 to 96	13	5
97 to 99	25	0
100 to 102	8	6
103 to 105	0	0
106 to 108	1	0
109 to 111	9	0
112 to 114	3	0
115 to 117	13	15
118 to 120	4	2
121 to 123	5	1
124 to 126	19	17
127 to 129	34	19
130 to 132	0	0
133 to 135	0	0
136 to 138	3	0
139 to 141	7	10
142 to 144	6	14

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.

DOLLY: There's probably nothing for me to eat down there. KAREN: Pizza, Dolly. You can always eat pizza. They get into the car, as the conversation continues:

LINDA: They'll be back soon. Be just went for some beer. KAREN: Bow are they? LINDA: Fine. LINDA: Real good.

DENISE: I finished. DONNY: Do you still sleep with Mama?

KAREN: Oh shit. DOLLY: Don't say that, Mama. DREW hands KAREN a napkin, sits down at the table. DONNY: Do you hit Mama?

KAREN: We ran off to get married -- heard you could get a license in Louisiana under- age. But we couldn't. So then we came home and we told them w… DOLLY: I thought you were divorced. KAREN: Yeah, we're divorced all right. DOLLY: How come you got a divorce if you never got married?

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 59 are women's.

475 lines from women, 326 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

6 women and 23 men in the cast. 7 women and 18 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 6 of 862. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 10 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 53% of the words (6,242), men 47% (5,549). Women have 59% 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

Two men

Exhibit F: behind the camera

5 of the 11 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 29% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Mike Nichols (man)
Written by: Alice Arlen (woman), Nora Ephron (woman)
Produced by: Mike Nichols (man), Michael Hausman (man)
Shot by: Miroslav Ondříček (man)
Edited by: Sam O'Steen (man)
Music by: Georges Delerue (man)
Production design by: Patrizia von Brandenstein (woman)
Costumes by: Ann Roth (woman)
Cast by: Mary Goldberg (woman)

The crew, department by department

Production

1 women, 4 men, 4 not listed
Art

2 women, 3 men, 3 not listed
Costume & Make-Up

2 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
Other crew

0 women, 1 men, 2 not listed
Directing

0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
Camera

0 women, 2 men
Sound

0 women, 2 men
Writing

2 women, 0 men

Women
Men
Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit G: how old the stars were

Women: 39 on average. Men: 40 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Diana Scarwid 28, Meryl Streep 34, Cher 37, Sudie Bond 55

Men

Kurt Russell 32, Ron Silver 37, Craig T. Nelson 39, Fred Ward 40, Charles Hallahan 40, Josef Sommer 49

Exhibit H: the money

It made 3.6 times what it cost.

Budget: $10 million
Box office: $35.6 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 144 scenes and 862 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

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