Passes the Bechdel test

The Big Chill

Name: The Big Chill
Released: 1983

1983. Directed by Lawrence Kasdan, written by Lawrence Kasdan and Barbara Benedek.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
7 women characters. 17 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 10 scenes out of 142.
Yes 3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.

Second opinion

Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.

The film

A seminal Thirty-Something movie in which a group of old college friends who are now older and experienced come together for the funeral of Alex, who was at one time the brightest and the best of them at college and yet who never managed to find his way. The friends use the occasion to reacquaint themselves with each other, discuss where their lives have led and speculate on what happened to their idealism which had been abundant when they were younger.

Released: 30 Sep 1983
Genres: Comedy, Drama
Rated: R
IMDb: 7.1 / 10
Metascore: 61 / 100
Awards: Nominated for 3 Oscars. 4 wins & 8 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Harold 125 lines, man
Sam 123 lines, man
Michael 108 lines, man
Nick 103 lines, man
Meg 98 lines, woman
Sarah 97 lines, woman
Karen 78 lines, woman
Chloe 30 lines, woman
Richard 21 lines, man
Minister 14 lines

Full cast, 18 people

Tom Berenger as Sam Weber
Glenn Close as Sarah Cooper
Jeff Goldblum as Michael Gold
William Hurt as Nick Carlton
Kevin Kline as Harold Cooper
Mary Kay Place as Meg Jones
Meg Tilly as Chloe
JoBeth Williams as Karen Bowens
Don Galloway as Richard Bowens
James Gillis as Minister
Ken Place as Peter the Cop
Jon Kasdan as Harold and Sarah's Son
Ira Stiltner as Running Dog Driver
Jake Kasdan as Autograph Seeker
Muriel Moore as Alex's Mother
Meg Kasdan as Airline Hostess
Patricia Gaul as Annie
Kevin Costner as Alex (corpse)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 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 142

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 3	0	1
4 to 6	0	2
7 to 9	0	8
10 to 12	9	21
13 to 15	21	7
16 to 18	1	1
19 to 21	0	7
22 to 24	7	10
25 to 27	0	2
28 to 30	1	2
31 to 33	3	16
34 to 36	11	6
37 to 39	2	13
40 to 42	9	3
43 to 45	5	10
46 to 48	16	12
49 to 51	0	0
52 to 54	0	0
55 to 57	11	30
58 to 60	3	11
61 to 63	0	29
64 to 66	3	16
67 to 69	3	5
70 to 72	10	5
73 to 75	13	7
76 to 78	3	7
79 to 81	20	26
82 to 84	5	17
85 to 87	6	10
88 to 90	11	10
91 to 93	1	14
94 to 96	17	14
97 to 99	10	9
100 to 102	4	28
103 to 105	15	12
106 to 108	10	8
109 to 111	2	7
112 to 114	5	8
115 to 117	16	36
118 to 120	5	4
121 to 123	1	2
124 to 126	2	4
127 to 129	2	1
130 to 132	25	17
133 to 135	6	9
136 to 138	10	10
139 to 141	14	46
142 to 142	4	5

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.

KAREN: I know this is hard for you, but it's all beautiful. SARAH: Yeah, we put on a great funeral here.

MEG: Look at this cute little dressl KAREN: I should have had girls. I'd be a better mother.

SARAH: Now you're jus't taking a position. MEG: Sometimes I think I put that time down, pretend it wasn't real, just so I can live with how I am now. Do you know what I mean?

KAREN N: I forgot about rubbers. 0 SARAH: That feels so good.

KAREN: So you just fell asl.eep? MEG: . I said that, didn't I? Didn't I say that?

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 38 are women's.

322 lines from women, 528 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

7 women and 8 men in the cast. 17 women and 24 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 14 of 882. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 56 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 36% of the words (4,613), men 64% (8,282). Women have 38% 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

4 of the 11 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 32% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Lawrence Kasdan (man)
Written by: Barbara Benedek (woman), Lawrence Kasdan (man)
Produced by: Michael Shamberg (man)
Shot by: John Bailey (man)
Edited by: Carol Littleton (woman)
Music by: John Fogerty (man), Bill Conti (man)
Production design by: Ida Random (woman)
Costumes by: April Ferry (woman)
Cast by: Wallis Nicita (gender not listed)

The crew, department by department

Production

2 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
Costume & Make-Up

1 women, 2 men, 3 not listed
Sound

1 women, 5 men
Directing

1 women, 2 men, 2 not listed
Art

1 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
Camera

0 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
Editing

2 women, 1 men
Lighting

0 women, 0 men, 2 not listed

Women
Men
Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit G: how old the stars were

Women: 32 on average. Men: 36 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Meg Tilly 23, JoBeth Williams 34, Glenn Close 36, Mary Kay Place 36

Men

Jeff Goldblum 30, William Hurt 33, Tom Berenger 34, Kevin Kline 35, Don Galloway 46

Exhibit H: the money

It made 7.0 times what it cost.

Budget: $8 million
Box office: $56.3 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 142 scenes and 882 lines of dialogue. How the test works

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