Does it pass? bechdel.io

Passes the Bechdel test

Taking Lives

2004. Directed by D.J. Caruso, written by Michael Pye and Jon Bokenkamp.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

  1. Yes 1. At least two women
    7 women characters. 2 of them speak.
  2. Yes 2. Who talk to each other
    In 1 scene out of 191.
  3. 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 2 out of 3.

Poster for Taking Lives

The film

The film starts in the early 1980s. Young Martin Asher took a bus for Canada. He meets another teen on the bus, Matt Soulsby. When the bus broke down they decided to rent a car and drive to Seattle. On the road the car gets a flat tire, and Matt starts changing the tire. Martin comments on how he and Matt are about the same height, and in that moment he quickly pushes Matt in the way of an oncoming truck causing a huge accident where Matt and the driver both die. He took Matt's guitar and left singing like Matt did. Twenty years later, an FBI profiler, Illeana Scott comes to Canada to help hunt down the now serial killer Martin Asher who killed multiple men and lived by their identities. Martin's mother claims that she saw Martin in Quebec city and she tells the police that Martin is evil. The police also has an eyewitness James Costa who saw Asher kill his last victim...

Released
19 Mar 2004
Genres
Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Rated
R
IMDb
6.2 / 10
Metascore
38 / 100
Awards
5 nominations total
Elsewhere
View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

  • Women
  • Men
  • Not in the cast list
  • Bigger name, more lines
  1. Grace 306 lines, woman
  2. Costa 155 lines, man
  3. Inspector Laval 78 lines, man
  4. Asher 44 lines
  5. Director Gillet 40 lines
  6. Mrs. Asher 25 lines, woman
  7. Inspector Reynaud 22 lines
  8. Medical Examiner 17 lines, woman
  9. Dan 15 lines, man
  10. Martin 15 lines, man
Full cast, 27 people
  • Angelina Jolie as Illeana Scott
  • Ethan Hawke as James Costa
  • Kiefer Sutherland as Christopher Hart
  • Gena Rowlands as Mrs. Rebecca Asher
  • Olivier Martinez as Paquette
  • Tchéky Karyo as Leclair
  • Jean-Hugues Anglade as Duval
  • Paul Dano as Young Asher
  • Justin Chatwin as Matt Soulsby
  • André Lacoste as Cashier
  • Marie-Josée Croze as Medical Examiner
  • Christian Tessier as Interrogation Officer
  • Billy Two Rivers as Car Salesman
  • Richard Lemire as Québec City Cop
  • Julien Poulin as Québec City Inspector
  • Brigitte Bedard as French Reporter
  • Dominique Briand as Bartender
  • Alex Sol as Hotel Manager
  • Shawn Roberts as Desk Clerk
  • Martin Brisebois as Henri Bisonnette
  • Gabriel Charland-Gagné as Victim #1
  • Nathalie Matteau as Victim #2
  • Hugh Probyn as Victim #3
  • Henri Pardo as Officer Mann
  • Fabiano Amato as Waiter
  • Judith Baribeau as Mr. Costa's Assistant
  • Anne Marineau as Woman in Gallery

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 17% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 191

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 4030
5 to 802
9 to 1260
13 to 1634
17 to 20243
21 to 241110
25 to 28625
29 to 321312
33 to 3622
37 to 40172
41 to 44128
45 to 48106
49 to 521211
53 to 56337
57 to 6070
61 to 6471
65 to 6864
69 to 7221
73 to 76910
77 to 80915
81 to 8436
85 to 881111
89 to 921919
93 to 9636
97 to 10003
101 to 10410
105 to 10800
109 to 1121924
113 to 11600
117 to 12014
121 to 12461
125 to 12817
129 to 13210
133 to 13693
137 to 1402727
141 to 14496
145 to 148151
149 to 15200
153 to 15641
157 to 16040
161 to 16490
165 to 16860
169 to 17230
173 to 17640
177 to 180100
181 to 18450
185 to 18800
189 to 19180

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.
GRACE: No. A large canine did that. Probably an old or sick timber wolf that couldn't hunt. It dug up the body and chewed off the head. It felt saf… MEDICAL EXAMINER: I'd say you're right. Postmortem scavenger damage to C-1. MEDICAL EXAMINER: The victim was afraid of dentists. Bad teeth.
MEDICAL EXAMINER: Look at this. GRACE: Bingo. That's your murder weapon.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 57 are women's.

367 lines from women, 272 from men.

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

7 women and 17 men in the cast. 2 women and 4 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 36 of 774. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 35 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

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

Words spoken

Women speak 62% of the words (4,539), men 38% (2,831). Women have 57% 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, 24% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by
D.J. Caruso (man)
Written by
Jon Bokenkamp (man)
From the novel by
Michael Pye (gender not listed)
Produced by
Mark Canton (man), Bernie Goldmann (man)
Shot by
Amir Mokri (man)
Edited by
Anne V. Coates (woman)
Music by
Philip Glass (man)
Production design by
Tom Southwell (man)
Costumes by
Marie-Sylvie Deveau (woman)
Cast by
Deborah Aquila (woman), Tricia Wood (woman)

The crew, department by department

  • Other crew

    8 women, 35 men, 12 not listed

  • Production

    7 women, 7 men, 12 not listed

  • Art

    3 women, 4 men, 7 not listed

  • Sound

    0 women, 9 men, 4 not listed

  • Camera

    0 women, 5 men, 7 not listed

  • Costume & Make-Up

    2 women, 3 men, 5 not listed

  • Directing

    0 women, 5 men, 4 not listed

  • Visual Effects

    2 women, 4 men, 3 not listed

  • Women
  • Men
  • Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit G: how old the stars were

Women: 51 on average. Men: 35 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Angelina Jolie 28, Gena Rowlands 73

Men

Paul Dano 19, Justin Chatwin 21, Ethan Hawke 33, Kiefer Sutherland 37, Olivier Martinez 38, Jean-Hugues Anglade 48, Tchéky Karyo 50

Exhibit H: the money

It made 1.5 times what it cost.

Budget
$45 million
Box office
$65.5 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 191 scenes and 774 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

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