Passes the Bechdel test

The Big Blue

Name: The Big Blue
Released: 1988

1988. Directed by Luc Besson, written by Luc Besson and Robert Garland and Marilyn Goldin.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
5 women characters. 3 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 3 scenes out of 157.
Yes 3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.

Second opinion

Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 2 out of 3.

The film

Enzo and Jacques have known each other for a long time. Their friendship started in their childhood days in the Mediterranean. They were not real friends in these days, but there was something they both loved and used to do the whole day long: diving. One day Jacques' father, who was a diver too, died in the Mediterranean sea. After that incident Enzo and Jacques lost contact. After several years, Enzo and Jacques had grown up, Johanna, a young clerk in an insurance office, has to go to Peru. There she meets Jacques who is being studied by a group of scientists. He dives for some minutes into ice-cold water and the scientists monitor his physical state that is more like a dolphin than human. Johanna can not believe what she sees and gets very interested in Jacques but she's unable to get acquainted with him. Some weeks later back in her office, she finds out that Jacques will be competing in a diving championship that takes place in Taormina, Sicily. In order to see Jacques again she makes up a story so the firm sends her to Italy for business purposes. In Taormina there is also Enzo, the reigning diving world champion. He knows that only Jacques can challenge and probably beat him. This time Johanna and Jacques get closer, but Jacques, being more a dolphin than man, cannot really commit and his rivalry with Enzo pushes both men into dangerous territory...

Released: 19 Aug 1988
Genres: Adventure, Drama, Sport
Rated: PG
IMDb: 7.5 / 10
Metascore: 35 / 100
Awards: 3 wins & 6 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Enzo 215 lines, man
Jacques 199 lines, man
Johana 198 lines, woman
Lawrence 28 lines, man
Uncle Louis 28 lines, man
Roberto 25 lines, man
Novelli 20 lines, man
Sally 18 lines, woman
Bonita 16 lines, woman
Duffy 16 lines, man

Full cast, 28 people

Rosanna Arquette as Johana Baker
Jean-Marc Barr as Jacques Mayol
Jean Reno as Enzo Molinari
Paul Shenar as Dr. Laurence
Sergio Castellitto as Novelli
Jean Bouise as Uncle Louis
Marc Duret as Roberto
Griffin Dunne as Duffy
Valentina Vargas as Bonita
Kimberly Beck as Sally
Alessandra Vazzoler as La Mamma
Andréas Voutsinas as Priest
Patrick Fontana as Alfredo
Geoffrey Carey as Supervisor
Jan Rouiller as Noireuter
Pierre Semmler as Franck
Pierre-Alain de Garrigues as Superintendent
Claude Besson as Jacques' Father
Bruce Guerre-Berthelot as Young Jacques
Gregory Forstner as Young Enzo
Eric Do as Japanese Diver
Jacques Lévy as Doctor
Paul Herman as Taxi Driver in U.S.A
Franco Diogene as Receptionist
Konstantin Aleksandrov as Dolphin Trainer
Luc Besson as Blond Diver (uncredited)
Valentina Castellani as Lady in Elevator (uncredited)
Christian Gazio as Wedged Diver (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 2% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 157

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	0	1
5 to 8	0	42
9 to 12	0	17
13 to 16	0	16
17 to 20	0	12
21 to 24	7	1
25 to 28	19	18
29 to 32	0	14
33 to 36	24	0
37 to 40	6	23
41 to 44	10	10
45 to 48	0	29
49 to 52	21	56
53 to 56	12	42
57 to 60	7	8
61 to 64	4	11
65 to 68	5	30
69 to 72	5	14
73 to 76	7	14
77 to 80	5	5
81 to 84	0	0
85 to 88	4	16
89 to 92	1	0
93 to 96	6	14
97 to 100	0	24
101 to 104	0	17
105 to 108	18	9
109 to 112	10	13
113 to 116	5	12
117 to 120	4	31
121 to 124	21	16
125 to 128	15	10
129 to 132	1	7
133 to 136	1	13
137 to 140	14	21
141 to 144	3	6
145 to 148	1	17
149 to 152	1	2
153 to 156	10	4
157 to 157	0	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.

JOHANA: Don't you have a heater? FRANK: Yeah... Sure... Is this your first trip to Peru? JOHANA: Does anybody live to make a second? JOHANA: Forget about the heater!

JOHANA: Thank you. MAMMA MOLINARI: Americana? MAMMA MOLINARI: Benvenuto!

BONITA: Sarah Bernardt. I sing too... a hell of a Carmen. Want to hear? MAMMA MOLINARI: No thank you.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 29 are women's.

247 lines from women, 595 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

5 women and 23 men in the cast. 3 women and 14 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 93 of 857. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 92 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 27% of the words (2,213), men 73% (5,850). Women have 29% 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

Two men

Exhibit F: behind the camera

6 of the 18 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 26% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Luc Besson (man)
Written by: Luc Besson (man), Marilyn Goldin (woman), Robert Garland (man), Marc Perrier (man), Jacques Mayol (man)
Story by: Luc Besson (man)
Produced by: Patrice Ledoux (man)
Shot by: Carlo Varini (man)
Edited by: Olivier Mauffroy (man)
Music by: Éric Serra (man)
Production design by: Dan Weil (man)
Costumes by: Mimi Lempicka (woman), Magali Guidasci (woman)
Cast by: Nathalie Chéron (woman), Lissa Pillu (woman), Celestia Fox (woman), Pat Orseth (gender not listed)