Passes the Bechdel test
Strange Days
1995. Directed by Kathryn Bigelow, written by James Cameron and Jay Cocks.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
12 women characters. 6 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 1 scene out of 97. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In that scene, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3, though someone marked that rating as dubious.
The film
In 1999, Los Angeles is racial war zone with the army and LSPD and SWAT officers fighting Afro-American people. The former cop Lenny Nero is a dealer of illegal recording in CDs that gives the memories and sensations of the recorder to the user. He buys the recordings from the supplier Tick; he misses his former mistress Faith, who was a hooker and now is a singer; his best friend is the private eye Max Peltier and the limousine driver Lornette 'Mace' Mason, who has unrequited love for him. Two days before the turn of the century, the black rapper Jeriko One is murdered. The hooker Iris seeks Lenny out but there is an incident and they do not talk to each other. However she drops a recording into Lenny's car while he unsuccessfully tries to meet Faith at a night-club. However her boyfriend Philo Gant does not let them talk. When Lenny learns that Iris was sadistically raped and killed, he gets involved in a sick scheme and discovers dirty hidden secrets.
- Released
- 13 Oct 1995
- Genres
- Crime, Drama, Sci-Fi
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.2 / 10
- Metascore
- 66 / 100
- Awards
- 2 wins & 4 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Lenny 312 lines, man
- Mace 156 lines, woman
- Max 89 lines, man
- Faith 60 lines, woman
- Tran 24 lines, man
- Tick 19 lines, man
- Spreg 13 lines
- Keith 10 lines, man
- Strickland 9 lines, man
- Host 7 lines, man
Full cast, 84 people
- Ralph Fiennes as Lenny Nero
- Angela Bassett as Lornette 'Mace' Mason
- Juliette Lewis as Faith Justin
- Tom Sizemore as Max Peltier
- Michael Wincott as Philo Gant
- Vincent D'Onofrio as Burton Steckler
- Glenn Plummer as Jeriko One
- Brigitte Bako as Iris
- Richard Edson as Tick
- William Fichtner as Dwayne Engelman
- Josef Sommer as Palmer Strickland
- Joe Urla as Keith
- Nicky Katt as Joey Corto
- Michael Jace as Wade Beemer
- Louise LeCavalier as Cindy 'Vita' Minh
- David Carrera as Duncan
- Jim Ishida as Mr. Fumitsu
- Todd Graff as Tex Arcana
- Malcolm Norrington as Replay
- Anais Munoz as Diamanda
- Ted Haler as Tow Truck Driver
- Rio Hackford as Bobby the Bartender
- Brook Susan Parker as Cecile
- Brandon Hammond as Zander
- Donald 'Donnie' Young as Young Zander
- B.J. Crockett as Young Zander
- Dex Elliott Sanders as Curtis
- Ronnie Willis as Homeboy
- David Packer as Lane
- Paulo Tocha as Spaz Diaz
- J. Michael Muro as Nervous POV
- Ron Young as Nervous POV (voice)
- Art Chudabala as Thai Restaurant Owner
- Erica Kelly as Restaurant Hostess
- Marlana Young as Waitress
- Ray Chang as Thai Restaurant Cook
- Raul Reformina as Busboy
- Chris Douridas as Talk Radio Host (voice)
- Billie Worley as Dan from Silverlake (voice)
- Amon Bourne as Dewayne (voice)
- Lisa Picotte as Lori from Encino (voice)
- Kylie Ireland as Stoned Looking Girl
- Dru Berrymore as Stoned Girl's Lover
- Stefan Arngrim as Skinner
- Agustin Rodriguez as Eduardo
- Kelly Hu as Anchor Woman
- Nynno Anderson as Angry Jeriko Fan
- Liat Goodson as Retinal Fetish Bouncer
- Honey Labrador as Beach Beauty
- Delane Vaughn as Mace's Husband
- Mark Arneson as Police Officer
- James Acheson as Cop in Bathroom
- John Francis as Death
- Zoot as Mime
- Royce L. Minor as Angry Black Kid
- Milan Reynolds as National Guard Medic #1
- Russell W. Smith as National Guard Medic #2
- Sarah Abukutsa Marshall as African Dancer
- Russell Hines as African Dancer
- Michael Jaasi as African Dancer
- Maurice Marshall as African Dancer
- Carolyn Adunni McPherson as African Dancer
- Jennifer Reeves as African Dancer
- Charmain Renata Hubbard as African Dancer
- Reginald T. Thornton as African Dancer
- Chester A. Whitmore as African Dancer
- Lori Simone Wilkerson as African Dancer
- Justin Armao as Hostage (uncredited)
- Ed Arneson as Metro Division Officer (uncredited)
- Yan Birch as New Years Eve Party Dude (uncredited)
- Andrew Calder as New Years Reveler (uncredited)
- Jaime H. Campos as Riot/Traffic Cop (uncredited)
- Louis Campos as Club Goer (uncredited)
- Robert 'Duckie' Carpenter as Punker (uncredited)
- John Daniels as Motorcycle Cop (uncredited)
- Sebastian Feldman as Club Goer (uncredited)
- Annette Goodman as Voyeur (uncredited)
- T.J Jones as Party Guest (uncredited)
- Johnny Kim as Club Dancer (uncredited)
- Gianluca Lazzaroni as Club Goer (uncredited)
- Joe Martinez as New Years Rocker (uncredited)
- Raja Gemini as Club Goer (uncredited)
- Tom Tom Typhoon as Crazy Dancer (uncredited)
- Skin as Skin (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 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 97
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 | 5 | 60 |
| 4 to 6 | 0 | 3 |
| 7 to 9 | 2 | 0 |
| 10 to 12 | 2 | 2 |
| 13 to 15 | 0 | 30 |
| 16 to 18 | 4 | 39 |
| 19 to 21 | 11 | 17 |
| 22 to 24 | 12 | 9 |
| 25 to 27 | 2 | 10 |
| 28 to 30 | 23 | 40 |
| 31 to 33 | 0 | 5 |
| 34 to 36 | 14 | 21 |
| 37 to 39 | 8 | 21 |
| 40 to 42 | 17 | 40 |
| 43 to 45 | 16 | 22 |
| 46 to 48 | 4 | 12 |
| 49 to 51 | 5 | 7 |
| 52 to 54 | 9 | 26 |
| 55 to 57 | 11 | 11 |
| 58 to 60 | 4 | 3 |
| 61 to 63 | 3 | 18 |
| 64 to 66 | 9 | 10 |
| 67 to 69 | 12 | 29 |
| 70 to 72 | 7 | 6 |
| 73 to 75 | 3 | 5 |
| 76 to 78 | 2 | 1 |
| 79 to 81 | 12 | 17 |
| 82 to 84 | 11 | 11 |
| 85 to 87 | 3 | 3 |
| 88 to 90 | 1 | 3 |
| 91 to 93 | 0 | 0 |
| 94 to 96 | 12 | 46 |
| 97 to 97 | 8 | 8 |
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.
CECILE: Lornette, girl... what's going on? MACE: We're going to aunt Cecile's, honey. We're going to watch fireworks from there. Let's go. Chop chop.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 30 are women's.
232 lines from women, 535 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
12 women and 38 men in the cast. 6 women and 26 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 3 of 799.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 61 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 25% of the words (2,543), men 75% (7,537). Women have 30% 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
5
Two men
50
Exhibit F: behind the camera
5 of the 15 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 25% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Kathryn Bigelow (woman)
- Written by
- James Cameron (man), Jay Cocks (man)
- Story by
- James Cameron (man)
- Produced by
- James Cameron (man), Steven-Charles Jaffe (man)
- Shot by
- Matthew F. Leonetti (man)
- Edited by
- Howard E. Smith (man)
- Music by
- Graeme Revell (man)
- Production design by
- Lilly Kilvert (woman)
- Costumes by
- Ellen Mirojnick (woman)
- Cast by
- Sharon Bialy (woman), Debi Manwiller (woman), Richard Pagano (man), Melissa M. Thomas (gender not listed)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
15 women, 44 men, 38 not listed
-
Sound
9 women, 25 men, 16 not listed
-
Visual Effects
1 women, 16 men, 16 not listed
-
Production
6 women, 9 men, 16 not listed
-
Camera
1 women, 13 men, 11 not listed
-
Art
3 women, 10 men, 11 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
8 women, 5 men, 6 not listed
-
Directing
4 women, 8 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 29 on average. Men: 36 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Juliette Lewis 22, Brigitte Bako 28, Angela Bassett 37
Men
Ralph Fiennes 32, Tom Sizemore 33, Glenn Plummer 34, Vincent D'Onofrio 36, Michael Wincott 37, William Fichtner 38, Richard Edson 41
Exhibit H: the money
It made 40% of what it cost.
- Budget
- $42 million
- Box office
- $17 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 97 scenes and 799 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
