Passes the Bechdel test

The Abyss

Name: The Abyss
Released: 1989

1989. Directed by James Cameron, written by James Cameron.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
5 women characters. 2 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 5 scenes out of 244.
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

Married but separated petroleum engineers, who still have some issues to work out, are drafted to assist a gung-ho Navy SEAL with a top-secret recovery operation: a nuclear sub has been ambushed and sunk, under mysterious circumstances, in some of the deepest waters on Earth.

Released: 09 Aug 1989
Genres: Adventure, Drama, Mystery
Rated: PG-13
IMDb: 7.5 / 10
Metascore: 62 / 100
Awards: Won 1 Oscar. 9 wins & 16 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

Women
Men
Not in the cast list
Bigger name, more lines

Bud 189 lines, man
Lindsey 176 lines, woman
Hippy 63 lines, man
Coffey 50 lines, man
Catfish 42 lines, man
Monk 32 lines, man
One Night 32 lines, woman
Jammer 15 lines, man
Mcbride 14 lines, man
Demarco 13 lines, man

Full cast, 38 people

Ed Harris as Virgil 'Bud' Brigman
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as Lindsey Brigman
Michael Biehn as Lieutenant Hiram Coffey
Leo Burmester as Catton ‘Catfish’ De Vries
Todd Graff as Alan 'Hippy' Carnes
John Bedford Lloyd as Jammer Willis
Kimberly Scott as Lisa 'One Night' Standing
Chris Elliott as Bendix
J.C. Quinn as Arliss 'Sonny' Dawson
Pierce Oliver Brewer, Jr. as Lew Finler
George Robert Klek as Wilhite
Christopher Murphy as Schoenick
Adam Nelson as Ensign Monk
Dick Warlock as Dwight Perry
Jimmie Ray Weeks as Leland McBride
J. Kenneth Campbell as DeMarco
Peter Ratray as Captain
Michael Beach as Barnes
Ken Jenkins as Gerard Kirkhill
Michael Chapman as Dr. Berg
William Wisher as Bill Tyler
Wendy Gordon as Anchorwoman
Paula Cross as Young Woman
Emily Yancy as Woman Reporter
Joe Farago as Anchorman
Marcus K. Mukai as Anchorman #2
Thomas F. Duffy as Construction Worker
Chris Anastasio as Truck Driver
Tom Isbell as Wave Reporter
Mikhail Gorbachev as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Frank Lloyd as Navigator
Phillip Darlington as Crew Member
Joseph C. Nemec III as Crew Member (as Joseph Nemec III)
Mike Cameron as Sailor with the Fire Extinguisher (uncredited)
Daren Dochterman as News Reporter (uncredited)
Candice Hill as Beach Guest (uncredited)
Randy Robertson as Russian Sailer On Dock (uncredited)
Robert Searle as Tommy Ray Dietz (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 6 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 244

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 6	0	9
7 to 12	0	5
13 to 18	0	10
19 to 24	4	27
25 to 30	1	4
31 to 36	10	15
37 to 42	4	4
43 to 48	7	13
49 to 54	18	16
55 to 60	8	34
61 to 66	7	21
67 to 72	0	11
73 to 78	1	22
79 to 84	10	35
85 to 90	3	12
91 to 96	1	7
97 to 102	0	3
103 to 108	2	4
109 to 114	2	0
115 to 120	1	4
121 to 126	12	21
127 to 132	18	25
133 to 138	6	19
139 to 144	4	5
145 to 150	3	1
151 to 156	6	12
157 to 162	6	22
163 to 168	2	4
169 to 174	1	3
175 to 180	2	7
181 to 186	2	2
187 to 192	27	27
193 to 198	6	32
199 to 204	10	6
205 to 210	6	6
211 to 216	6	4
217 to 222	5	7
223 to 228	0	6
229 to 234	0	0
235 to 240	5	10
241 to 244	4	9

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.

LINDSEY: Com-check, everybody. Flatbed, you on line? ONE NIGHT: Ten-four, Lindsey, read you loud and clear. LINDSEY: Cab Three?

LINDSEY: Going over the wall. Coming to bearing 065. Everybody stay tight and in sight. ONE NIGHT: Starting out descent. Divers, how're you doing?

LINDSEY: Yeah? Well I'm not. ONE NIGHT: Right through the brainpan. Deader'n dogshit, boss.

ONE NIGHT: No way that could just be seawater. LINDSEY: They must've learned how to control water... I mean at a molecular level. They can plasticize it, polymerize it... whatever. Put it under in…

ONE NIGHT: You think they're from down there originally? Or from... you know. LINDSEY: I think they're from 'you know'. Some place that has similar conditions... cold, intense pressure. No light.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 30 are women's.

210 lines from women, 484 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

5 women and 30 men in the cast. 2 women and 22 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 48 of 720. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 47 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 34% of the words (2,555), men 66% (5,018). Women have 30% 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

Two men

Exhibit F: behind the camera

2 of the 13 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 13% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: James Cameron (man)
Written by: James Cameron (man)
Produced by: Gale Anne Hurd (woman), Van Ling (man)
Shot by: Mikael Salomon (man)
Edited by: Conrad Buff IV (man), Joel Goodman (man), Howard E. Smith (man), Steven Quale (man)
Music by: Alan Silvestri (man)
Production design by: Leslie Dilley (man)
Costumes by: Deborah Everton (woman)
Cast by: Howard Feuer (man)