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Passes the Bechdel test

Sleepless in Seattle

1993. Directed by Nora Ephron, written by Jeff Arch and Nora Ephron and David S. Ward.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

  1. Yes 1. At least two women
    17 women characters. 14 of them speak.
  2. Yes 2. Who talk to each other
    In 6 scenes out of 179.
  3. Yes 3. About something besides a man
    In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.

Second opinion

Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 2 out of 3.

Poster for Sleepless in Seattle

The film

After his wife Maggie passes away, Sam Baldwin and his 8-year-old son Jonah relocate from Chicago to Seattle to escape the grief associated with Maggie's death. Eighteen months later Sam is still grieving and can't sleep. Although Jonah misses his mother, he wants his father to get a new wife despite Sam having not even contemplated dating again. On Christmas Eve, Sam (on Jonah's initiative) ends up pouring his heart out on a national radio talk show about his magical and perfect marriage to Maggie, and how much he still misses her. Among the many women who hear Sam's story and fall in love with him solely because of it is Annie Reed, a Baltimore-based newspaper writer. Annie's infatuation with Sam's story and by association Sam himself is despite being already engaged. But Annie's relationship with her straight-laced fiancé Walter is unlike her dream love life in the movie An Affair to Remember (1957). She even writes to Sam proposing they meet atop the Empire State Building on Valentine's Day. Back in Seattle, Sam has received hundreds of letters from women wanting to meet him. Jonah is excited by one letter in particular from Baltimore and will do whatever he needs to to get his father and Annie together. However, old fashioned Sam wants his future love life to be based on meeting a woman the traditional way and he, in turn, becomes infatuated with an unknown woman he spots a few times in Seattle. Will magic happen twice in Sam's life, and if so will it be with this unknown woman or Annie?

Released
25 Jun 1993
Genres
Comedy, Drama, Romance
Rated
PG
IMDb
6.8 / 10
Metascore
72 / 100
Awards
Nominated for 2 Oscars. 4 wins & 19 nominations total
Elsewhere
View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

  • Women
  • Men
  • Not in the cast list
  • Bigger name, more lines
  1. Sam 210 lines, man
  2. Annie 198 lines, woman
  3. Jonah 142 lines, man
  4. Becky 55 lines, woman
  5. Walter 48 lines, man
  6. Dr. Marcia Fieldstone 40 lines, woman
  7. Barbara 22 lines, woman
  8. Victoria 20 lines, woman
  9. Jessica 15 lines, woman
  10. Suzy 14 lines, woman
Full cast, 51 people
  • Meg Ryan as Annie Reed
  • Tom Hanks as Sam Baldwin
  • Ross Malinger as Jonah Baldwin
  • Bill Pullman as Walter
  • Rosie O'Donnell as Becky
  • Barbara Garrick as Victoria
  • Rob Reiner as Jay
  • Gaby Hoffmann as Jessica
  • Rita Wilson as Suzy
  • Victor Garber as Greg
  • Tom Riis Farrell as Rob
  • Carey Lowell as Maggie Baldwin
  • Le Clanché du Rand as Barbara Reed
  • Kevin O'Morrison as Cliff Reed
  • David Hyde Pierce as Dennis Reed
  • Valerie Wright as Betsy Reed
  • Frances Conroy as Irene Reed
  • Tom Tammi as Harold Reed
  • Calvin Trillin as Uncle Milton
  • Caroline Aaron as Dr. Marcia Fieldstone
  • Linda Wallem as Loretta
  • LaTanya Richardson Jackson as Harriet
  • Tom McGowan as Keith
  • Steve Mellor as Wyatt
  • Marguerite Schertle as Baltimore Waitress
  • Dana Ivey as Claire
  • Brian McConnachie as Bob
  • Matt Smith as Mailman
  • Amanda Maher as Clarise
  • Victor Morris as Seattle Maitre D'
  • Philip Mihalski as Seattle Waiter
  • Donald J. Lee Jr. as Seattle Detective
  • Mary A. Kelly as Nervous Woman on Airplane
  • Diane Sokolow as Tiffany Saleswoman
  • Hannah Cox as Jessica's Mother
  • Rich Hawkins as Jessica's Father
  • Tamara Plank as Stewardess
  • Michael Badalucco as New York Taxi Dispatcher
  • Jeff Mazzola as New York Taxi Dispatcher
  • Philip Levy as Taxi Driver
  • Julie Janney as Cynthia
  • Tony Zazula as Maitre D'
  • John Boylan as Elevator Man
  • Robert Livingston as Elevator Man
  • Butch Stevenson as Valet
  • Sidney Armus as Information Booth Man
  • Philip Anagnos as Car Driver (uncredited)
  • Jason Bortz as Baltimore Mail Clerk (uncredited)
  • Scott Duthie as Tourist (uncredited)
  • William Rossman as Driver (uncredited)
  • Nick Taylor as Bartender (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 5% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 179

Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.

Show the numbers
ScenesWomen's linesMen's lines
1 to 442
5 to 837
9 to 12106
13 to 1665
17 to 204716
21 to 241411
25 to 281818
29 to 32810
33 to 36123
37 to 401011
41 to 442424
45 to 48637
49 to 5278
53 to 56035
57 to 6000
61 to 6463
65 to 68617
69 to 72112
73 to 763316
77 to 80107
81 to 841130
85 to 881326
89 to 92148
93 to 9628
97 to 100711
101 to 10424
105 to 108619
109 to 11280
113 to 11600
117 to 120153
121 to 12490
125 to 1282819
129 to 13260
133 to 136139
137 to 14094
141 to 144022
145 to 14802
149 to 15202
153 to 15676
157 to 16003
161 to 16404
165 to 16826
169 to 172113
173 to 176816
177 to 1791115

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.
ANNIE: It's probably just the flowers -- BARBARA: We'll move them --
IRENE: What are you wearing? ANNIE: I don't know.
ANNIE: That is not true. That statistic is not true. BECKY: It's not true, but it feels true. ANNIE: There's practically a whole book about how that statistic is not true --
BECKY: What was that about up there? ANNIE: What was what? BECKY: What's with you? ANNIE: Nothing's with me.
ANNIE: Hello. BECKY: Turn on your radio! ANNIE: What? BECKY: The kid is on. You've got me listening to this garbage. Go on, turn it on.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 45 are women's.

397 lines from women, 478 from men.

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

17 women and 23 men in the cast. 14 women and 21 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 3 of 925. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 41 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

  • First line by a woman
  • Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 49% of the words (4,484), men 51% (4,707). Women have 45% of the lines, so their lines run longer 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

Exhibit F: behind the camera

4 of the 12 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 28% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by
Nora Ephron (woman)
Written by
David S. Ward (man), Jeff Arch (man), Nora Ephron (woman)
Story by
Jeff Arch (man)
Produced by
Gary Foster (man)
Shot by
Sven Nykvist (man)
Edited by
Robert M. Reitano (man)
Music by
Marc Shaiman (man)
Production design by
Jeffrey Townsend (man)
Costumes by
Judy L. Ruskin (woman)
Cast by
Juliet Taylor (woman)

The crew, department by department

  • Sound

    1 women, 15 men, 3 not listed

  • Production

    8 women, 4 men, 6 not listed

  • Art

    1 women, 10 men, 3 not listed

  • Other crew

    2 women, 8 men, 3 not listed

  • Camera

    0 women, 7 men, 3 not listed

  • Costume & Make-Up

    4 women, 1 men, 2 not listed

  • Directing

    3 women, 2 men

  • Writing

    1 women, 3 men, 1 not listed

  • Women
  • Men
  • Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit G: how old the stars were

Women: 27 on average. Men: 35 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Gaby Hoffmann 11, Barbara Garrick 27, Meg Ryan 31, Rosie O'Donnell 31, Rita Wilson 36

Men

Ross Malinger 8, Tom Hanks 36, Bill Pullman 39, Victor Garber 44, Rob Reiner 46

Exhibit H: the money

It made 10.8 times what it cost.

Budget
$21 million
Box office
$228 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 179 scenes and 925 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

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