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Passes the Bechdel test

The Cell

2000. Directed by Tarsem Singh, written by Mark Protosevich.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

  1. Yes 1. At least two women
    12 women characters. 4 of them speak.
  2. Yes 2. Who talk to each other
    In 5 scenes out of 114.
  3. 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.

Poster for The Cell

The film

Catharine Deane is a psychotherapist who is part of a revolutionary new treatment which allows her mind to literally enter the mind of her patients. Her experience in this method takes an unexpected turn when an F.B.I. Agent comes to ask for a desperate favor. They had just tracked down a notorious serial killer, Carl Stargher, whose method of operation is to abduct women one at a time and place them in a secret area where they are kept for about forty hours until they are slowly drowned. Unfortunately, the killer has fallen into an irreversible coma which means he cannot confess where he has taken his latest victim before she dies. Now, Catherine Deane must race against time to explore the twisted mind of the killer to get the information she needs, but Stargher's damaged personality poses dangers that threaten to overwhelm her.

Released
18 Aug 2000
Genres
Crime, Horror, Sci-Fi
Rated
R
IMDb
6.4 / 10
Metascore
40 / 100
Awards
Nominated for 1 Oscar. 9 wins & 29 nominations total
Elsewhere
View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

  • Women
  • Men
  • Not in the cast list
  • Bigger name, more lines
  1. Catherine 156 lines, woman
  2. Novak 143 lines, man
  3. Miriam 86 lines, woman
  4. Henry 44 lines, man
  5. Ramsey 43 lines, man
  6. Stargher 23 lines, man
  7. Stargher King 19 lines, man
  8. Teddy Lee 13 lines, man
  9. Martin 12 lines, man
  10. Young Stargher 10 lines, man
Full cast, 35 people
  • Jennifer Lopez as Catherine Deane
  • Vince Vaughn as Peter Novak
  • Vincent D'Onofrio as Carl Rudolph Stargher
  • Catherine Sutherland as Anne Marie Vicksey
  • James Gammon as Teddy Lee
  • Colton James as Edward Baines
  • Dylan Baker as Henry West
  • Marianne Jean-Baptiste as Dr. Miriam Kent
  • Gerry Becker as Dr. Barry Cooperman
  • Musetta Vander as Ella Baines
  • Patrick Bauchau as Lucien Baines
  • Jake Weber as Gordon Ramsey
  • Dean Norris as Cole
  • Tara Subkoff as Julia Hickson
  • Lauri Johnson as Mrs. Hickson
  • John Cothran as Agent Stockwell
  • Jack Conley as Agent Brock
  • Kamar de los Reyes as Officer Alexander
  • Pruitt Taylor Vince as Dr. Reid
  • Peter Sarsgaard as Julia Hickson's Fiancee (uncredited)
  • Christopher Janney as Swat Team Member
  • Nicholas Cascone as FBI Technician
  • Joe La Piana as FBI K-9 Agent
  • Jake Thomas as Young Carl Stargher
  • Kim Chizevsky-Nicholls as Stargher's Victim
  • Jennifer Day as Stargher's Victim
  • Alanna Vicente as Stargher's Victim
  • Aja Echols as Stargher's Victim
  • Vanessa Branch as Stargher's Victim
  • Elena Maddalo as Stargher's Victim
  • Gareth Williams as Stargher's Father
  • Monica Lacy as Mother
  • Joy Creel as Mother
  • Leanna Creel as Mother
  • Alan D. Purwin as Helicopter Pilot

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 1% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 114

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 3258
4 to 6446
7 to 910
10 to 1200
13 to 1500
16 to 1810
19 to 21014
22 to 24022
25 to 27214
28 to 3000
31 to 33014
34 to 3608
37 to 3906
40 to 4206
43 to 4504
46 to 48616
49 to 511215
52 to 542132
55 to 5770
58 to 60614
61 to 632531
64 to 6678
67 to 6979
70 to 7202
73 to 75423
76 to 781611
79 to 81716
82 to 84137
85 to 87014
88 to 9092
91 to 9339
94 to 961729
97 to 9911
100 to 10206
103 to 10501
106 to 10803
109 to 11100
112 to 1142616

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.
MIRIAM: Sing a song of sixpence... MIRIAM: Sing a song of sixpence... CATHERINE: A pocketful of rye... MIRIAM: Four-and-twenty blackbirds.
MIRIAM: Did we go sailing? CATHERINE: Almost. Mocky-Lock showed up. MIRIAM: "Mocky-Lock is the bogeyman, Mocky-Lock wants me where I am." CATHERINE: Mocky-Lock is a pain in the ass.
CATHERINE: A nursery rhyme. MIRIAM: Nursery rhymes, fairy tales, the bogeyman... All preparation for the horrors of the real world.
MIRIAM: Sing a song of sixpence. CATHERINE: A pocketful of fucking rye. What's wrong? MIRIAM: Nothing. CATHERINE: Why did we stop?
MIRIAM: This isn't your responsibility. Remember that. Don't let them use guilt as a tool. If you want to stop, say so. CATHERINE: I'll be fine. MIRIAM: She said convincingly.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 41 are women's.

260 lines from women, 367 from men.

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

12 women and 18 men in the cast. 4 women and 16 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

A woman speaks the first line. 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 (2,075), men 64% (3,706). Women have 41% 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

Exhibit F: behind the camera

3 of the 12 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 30% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by
Tarsem Singh (man)
Written by
Mark Protosevich (man)
Produced by
Eric McLeod (man), Julio Caro (gender not listed)
Shot by
Paul Laufer (man)
Edited by
Paul Rubell (man), Robert Duffy (man)
Music by
Howard Shore (man)
Production design by
Tom Foden (man)
Costumes by
Eiko Ishioka (woman), April Napier (woman)
Cast by
Ronna Kress (woman)

The crew, department by department

  • Visual Effects

    3 women, 11 men, 17 not listed

  • Art

    0 women, 9 men, 14 not listed

  • Other crew

    4 women, 10 men, 5 not listed

  • Costume & Make-Up

    9 women, 4 men, 5 not listed

  • Lighting

    0 women, 2 men, 11 not listed

  • Production

    5 women, 5 men, 3 not listed

  • Sound

    3 women, 8 men, 2 not listed

  • Camera

    1 women, 7 men, 4 not listed

  • Women
  • Men
  • Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit G: how old the stars were

Women: 32 on average. Men: 39 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Catherine Sutherland 25, Jennifer Lopez 31, Marianne Jean-Baptiste 33, Musetta Vander 37

Men

Colton James 12, Vince Vaughn 30, Dylan Baker 40, Vincent D'Onofrio 41, Gerry Becker 49, James Gammon 60

Exhibit H: the money

It made 3.2 times what it cost.

Budget
$33 million
Box office
$104 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 114 scenes and 632 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

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