Passes the Bechdel test
Supergirl
1984. Directed by Jeannot Szwarc, written by David Odell.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
28 women characters. 9 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 6 scenes out of 181. -
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
After a power source for the community of Krypton survivors is accidentally whisked to earth, Kara-El, cousin to Superman and niece to Jor-El, chooses to go to earth to find it, and bring it back. Upon her arrival, she becomes just a powerful and Super as her cousin, but encounters dangerous battles and unexpected obstacles when a mean spirited woman who practices rituals of the occult takes the power source for herself, and uses it to cause destruction and attempt zenith human status.
- Released
- 21 Nov 1984
- Genres
- Action, Adventure, Fantasy
- Rated
- PG
- IMDb
- 4.4 / 10
- Metascore
- 41 / 100
- Awards
- 4 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Ethan 38 lines, man
- Selena 36 lines, woman
- Supergirl 23 lines, woman
- Zaltar 19 lines, man
- Lucy 11 lines, woman
- Bianca 10 lines, woman
- Jimmy 10 lines, man
- Kara 6 lines, woman
- Nigel 6 lines, man
- Linda 5 lines, woman
Full cast, 67 people
- Helen Slater as Supergirl / Linda Lee
- Faye Dunaway as Selena
- Peter O'Toole as Zaltar
- Hart Bochner as Ethan
- Mia Farrow as Alura
- Simon Ward as Zor-El
- Peter Cook as Nigel
- Brenda Vaccaro as Bianca
- Marc McClure as Jimmy Olsen
- Maureen Teefy as Lucy Lane
- David Healy as Mr Danvers
- Sandra Dickinson as Pretty Young Lady
- Robyn Mandell as Myra
- Jenifer Landor as Muffy
- Diana Ricardo as Mrs. Murray
- Nancy Lippold as Billy-Jo
- Sonya Leite as Betsy
- Lynsey Beauchamp as Ali
- Michelle Taylor as Amy
- Nancy Wood as Nancy
- Virginia Greig as Jodie
- Julia Lewis as Gloria
- Matt Frewer as Truck Driver
- Bill Mitchell as Truck Driver
- Sally Cranfield as Argonian Teacher
- Kelly Hunter as Argonian Citizen
- Richard Bidwell as Argonian Citizen
- Martha Parsey as Argonian Citizen
- Saskia van Basten-Batenburg as Argonian Citizen
- Lia as Argonian Citizen
- Baillie Walsh as Argonian Citizen
- Beulah Hughes as Argonian Citizen
- Jane Sumner as Argonian Citizen
- Karen Hale as Argonian Citizen
- James Snell as Argonian Citizen
- Christian J. Fletcher as Argonian Citizen
- Kevin Scott as Argonian Citizen
- Desiree as Argonian Citizen
- Mike Pearce as Argonian Citizen
- Gay Baynes as Party Guest
- Edwin Van Wyk as Party Guest
- Elaine Ives-Cameron as Party Guest
- Fred Lee Own as Party Guest
- Zoot Money as Party Guest
- David Graham as Party Guest
- Erick Ray Evans as Party Guest
- Dulcie Huston as Party Guest
- April Olrich as Party Guest
- Russell Sommers as Party Guest
- Joe Cremona as Party Guest
- Danique as Party Guest
- Orla Pederson as Party Guest
- Ron Travis as Party Guest
- Martin Serene as Eddie
- Bradley Lavelle as Lucy's Friend
- Keith Edwards as Lucy's Friend
- Carole Charnow as Cashier
- Shezwae Powell as Waitress
- Glory Annen as Midvale Protestor
- Sandra Martin as Selena's Astral Image
- Darrell Brook as Street Pedestrian
- Russell Brook as Onlooker
- Jill Goldston as Bystander at Protest
- Derek Lyons as Argonian Citizen
- Cathy Munroe as Argonian Citizen
- Peter Ross-Murray as American Cop
- Sandy Shelton as Wedding Guest
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 181
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 4 | 6 | 5 |
| 5 to 8 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 to 12 | 5 | 5 |
| 13 to 16 | 1 | 1 |
| 17 to 20 | 2 | 2 |
| 21 to 24 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 to 28 | 0 | 0 |
| 29 to 32 | 4 | 0 |
| 33 to 36 | 2 | 0 |
| 37 to 40 | 0 | 0 |
| 41 to 44 | 3 | 2 |
| 45 to 48 | 2 | 1 |
| 49 to 52 | 3 | 0 |
| 53 to 56 | 0 | 0 |
| 57 to 60 | 0 | 0 |
| 61 to 64 | 0 | 0 |
| 65 to 68 | 0 | 0 |
| 69 to 72 | 2 | 1 |
| 73 to 76 | 0 | 0 |
| 77 to 80 | 0 | 0 |
| 81 to 84 | 0 | 0 |
| 85 to 88 | 0 | 1 |
| 89 to 92 | 4 | 3 |
| 93 to 96 | 5 | 5 |
| 97 to 100 | 1 | 1 |
| 101 to 104 | 1 | 0 |
| 105 to 108 | 0 | 1 |
| 109 to 112 | 0 | 1 |
| 113 to 116 | 1 | 1 |
| 117 to 120 | 11 | 6 |
| 121 to 124 | 5 | 0 |
| 125 to 128 | 7 | 7 |
| 129 to 132 | 7 | 6 |
| 133 to 136 | 0 | 0 |
| 137 to 140 | 1 | 2 |
| 141 to 144 | 0 | 0 |
| 145 to 148 | 3 | 0 |
| 149 to 152 | 1 | 6 |
| 153 to 156 | 0 | 1 |
| 157 to 160 | 1 | 0 |
| 161 to 164 | 4 | 10 |
| 165 to 168 | 3 | 3 |
| 169 to 172 | 4 | 4 |
| 173 to 176 | 0 | 1 |
| 177 to 180 | 7 | 3 |
| 181 to 181 | 1 | 0 |
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.
BIANCA: Let's not let one rotten apple spoil the party. I give you SELENA: And now, ,I call upon the Great Mother--the spirit
BIANCA: What is it? SELENA: The Coffer of Shadow. Look at it. SELENA: What does it mean? BIANCA: But which one?
BIANCA: Sure glad you didn't let make a monkey of you. SELENA: Shut up, and get me a hacksaw. BIANCA: She didn't take it from you, did she? SELENA: That little girl? Ha. Now go on, get me some tools.
BIANCA: And the first thing we do is get rid of Supergirl! SELENA: What do you mean we?
KARA: Then send someone else. I failed. ALURA: We can't. The' dimension barrier is stronger. We no ALURA' S VOICE: You must try. . . it's cold. And dark. . .
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 55 are women's.
97 lines from women, 79 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
28 women and 21 men in the cast. 9 women and 6 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 5 of 186.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 8 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 56% of the words (679), men 44% (537). Women have 55% of the lines, so their lines run longer than men's.
Exhibit E: the test the other way
Run the other way, for men, the film scores 2 out of 3.
Conversations between two named characters
Two women
10
Two men
1
Exhibit F: behind the camera
3 of the 10 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 26% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Jeannot Szwarc (man)
- Written by
- David Odell (man)
- Produced by
- Timothy Burrill (man)
- Shot by
- Alan Hume (man)
- Edited by
- Malcolm Cooke (man)
- Music by
- Jerry Goldsmith (man)
- Production design by
- Richard Macdonald (man)
- Costumes by
- Emma Porteous (woman)
- Cast by
- Esta Charkham (woman), Toni Howard (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Costume & Make-Up
4 women, 1 men, 6 not listed
-
Other crew
3 women, 7 men, 1 not listed
-
Production
2 women, 5 men, 1 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 5 men
-
Directing
0 women, 3 men
-
Writing
0 women, 3 men
-
Sound
0 women, 2 men
-
Camera
0 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 35 on average. Men: 39 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Helen Slater 20, Maureen Teefy 30, Mia Farrow 39, Faye Dunaway 43, Brenda Vaccaro 44
Men
Hart Bochner 27, Marc McClure 27, Simon Ward 42, Peter Cook 46, Peter O'Toole 51
Exhibit H: the money
It made 41% of what it cost.
- Budget
- $35 million
- Box office
- $14.3 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 181 scenes and 186 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
