Passes the Bechdel test
Terms of Endearment
1983. Directed by James L. Brooks, written by Larry McMurtry and James L. Brooks.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
9 women characters. 7 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 14 scenes out of 62. -
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
Aurora and Emma are mother and daughter who march to different drummers. Beginning with Emma's marriage, Aurora shows how difficult and loving she can be. The movie covers several years of their lives as each finds different reasons to go on living and find joy. Aurora's interludes with Garrett Breedlove, retired astronaut and next door neighbor are quite striking. In the end, different people show their love in very different ways.
- Released
- 09 Dec 1983
- Genres
- Comedy, Drama
- Rated
- PG
- IMDb
- 7.4 / 10
- Metascore
- 79 / 100
- Awards
- Won 5 Oscars. 35 wins & 26 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Aurora 193 lines, woman
- Emma 179 lines, woman
- Flap 49 lines, man
- Garrett 41 lines, man
- Patsy 38 lines, woman
- Rosie 29 lines, woman
- Tommy 29 lines, man
- Sam 14 lines, man
- Teddy 12 lines, man
- Vernon 12 lines, man
Full cast, 43 people
- Shirley MacLaine as Aurora Greenway
- Debra Winger as Emma Greenway Horton
- Jack Nicholson as Garrett Breedlove
- Danny DeVito as Vernon Dahlart
- Jeff Daniels as Flap Horton
- John Lithgow as Sam Burns
- Lisa Hart Carroll as Patsy Clark
- Betty King as Rosie Dunlop
- Huckleberry Fox as Teddy Horton
- Troy Bishop as Tommy Horton
- Shane Serwin as Younger Tommy Horton
- Megan Morris as Melanie Horton
- Tara Yeakey as Baby Melanie
- Norman Bennett as Edward Johnson
- Jennifer Josey as Young Emma
- Kate Charleson as Janice
- Tom Wees as Dr. Budge
- Paul Menzel as Dr. Maise
- F. William Parker as Doctor
- Amanda Watkins as Meg
- Buddy Gilbert as Dr. Ratcher
- David Wohl as Phil
- Shelley K. Nielsen as Nurse
- Bette Croissant as Nurse
- Charles Beall as Rudyard's Employer
- Lelise Folse as Doris
- Sharisse Baker-Bernard as Lee Anne
- Judy Dickerson as Checkout Girl
- Devon O'Brien as Lizbeth
- Dana Vance as Victoria
- Alexandra O'Karma as Jane
- Nancy Mette as Woman at Party
- Holly Holmberg Brooks as T.J.
- Lear Levin as Jack Stern
- Albert Brooks as Rudyard Greenway (voice)
- Lanier Whilden as Patsy's Mother
- Helen Stauffer as Flap's Secretary
- Barbara Balik as Woman
- Michelle Watkins as Woman
- John C. Conger as Moving Man
- Sandra Newkirk as Mrs. Johnson
- Elaine McGown as Herself
- Mary Kay Place as Doris (voice)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 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 62
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 2 | 40 | 2 |
| 3 to 4 | 11 | 0 |
| 5 to 6 | 25 | 1 |
| 7 to 8 | 4 | 0 |
| 9 to 10 | 29 | 15 |
| 11 to 12 | 33 | 8 |
| 13 to 14 | 16 | 8 |
| 15 to 16 | 7 | 3 |
| 17 to 18 | 0 | 0 |
| 19 to 20 | 2 | 0 |
| 21 to 22 | 55 | 31 |
| 23 to 24 | 7 | 2 |
| 25 to 26 | 10 | 6 |
| 27 to 28 | 25 | 24 |
| 29 to 30 | 17 | 11 |
| 31 to 32 | 14 | 7 |
| 33 to 34 | 2 | 1 |
| 35 to 36 | 18 | 7 |
| 37 to 38 | 32 | 7 |
| 39 to 40 | 8 | 3 |
| 41 to 42 | 9 | 2 |
| 43 to 44 | 8 | 8 |
| 45 to 46 | 13 | 2 |
| 47 to 48 | 26 | 11 |
| 49 to 50 | 0 | 0 |
| 51 to 52 | 6 | 0 |
| 53 to 54 | 1 | 0 |
| 55 to 56 | 3 | 0 |
| 57 to 58 | 10 | 4 |
| 59 to 60 | 44 | 26 |
| 61 to 62 | 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.
AURORA: It was nice knowing you.. EMMA: Bye.
AURORA: Enuna... Zmma, wake up. AURORA: I just feel so tense. And I wondered how you felt. Do you want to sleep in my bed? E..'!MA No, t.'1ank you. AURORA: Oh. EMMA: Do you want to sleep in my bed again? AlJ-RORA Yes. All right.
AURORA: How long since you've tried to be romantic? If you could manage it, I might see things differently. . EMMA: (calling} I'm going now, AURORA: Excuse me.
EMMA: Say goodbye to Patsy, AURORA: Goodbye, Patsy. PATS! Goodbye, Mrs. Greenway PATSY: You look better, ;E?,:.r,:A It's a good thing I said good night to my mother, EMMA: Well, isn't it something how much fun this is? .•. nobody will see my hair.
EMMA: It is too much, isn't it? AURORA: Well, Neiman's isn't the only place to look for a weddinq dress. And it isn't like you're having a big wedding. E."1MA Yeah, I guess, and ju… PATSY: ~1\l!ta, it's my weddinq gi=t to you. She'll take it. PATSY: You getting nervous yet, Emma? E.'-\MA No. It feels so natural. Is something wrong with me?
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 72 are women's.
476 lines from women, 189 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
9 women and 10 men in the cast. 7 women and 14 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 2 of 804.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 15 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 73% of the words (7,429), men 27% (2,771). Women have 72% 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
Two women
46
Two men
10
Exhibit F: behind the camera
4 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
- James L. Brooks (man)
- Written by
- James L. Brooks (man)
- From the novel by
- Larry McMurtry (man)
- Produced by
- James L. Brooks (man)
- Shot by
- Andrzej Bartkowiak (man)
- Edited by
- Richard Marks (man)
- Music by
- Michael Gore (man)
- Production design by
- Polly Platt (woman)
- Costumes by
- Kristi Zea (woman)
- Cast by
- Juliet Taylor (woman), Ellen Chenoweth (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
2 women, 10 men, 6 not listed
-
Art
2 women, 5 men, 2 not listed
-
Production
4 women, 3 men
-
Camera
0 women, 4 men, 2 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 1 men, 2 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Other crew
1 women, 1 men
-
Editing
1 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 39 on average. Men: 29 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Debra Winger 28, Shirley MacLaine 49
Men
Huckleberry Fox 9, Troy Bishop 11, Jeff Daniels 28, John Lithgow 38, Danny DeVito 39, Jack Nicholson 46
Exhibit H: the money
It made 13.6 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $8 million
- Box office
- $108 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 62 scenes and 804 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
