Fails the Bechdel test
The Crying Game
1992. Directed by Neil Jordan, written by Neil Jordan.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
0 / 3
Fails
-
No
1. At least two women
Fewer than two women characters. -
No
2. Who talk to each other
Our parser found no scene where two women talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Not reached: the film fails an earlier rule.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 2 out of 3.
The film
An unlikely kind of friendship develops between Fergus (Stephen Rea), an Irish Republican Army volunteer, and Jody (Forest Whitaker), a kidnapped British soldier lured into an IRA trap by Jude (Miranda Richardson), another IRA member. When the hostage-taking ends up going horribly wrong, Fergus escapes and heads to London, where he seeks out Jody's lover, a hairdresser named Dil (Jaye Davidson). Fergus adopts the name "Jimmy" and gets a job as a day laborer. He also starts seeing Dil, who knows nothing about Fergus' IRA background. But there is something about Dil that Fergus doesn't know, either.
- Released
- 19 Feb 1993
- Genres
- Crime, Drama, Romance
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.2 / 10
- Metascore
- 90 / 100
- Awards
- Won 1 Oscar. 22 wins & 46 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Fergus 419 lines, man
- Dil 315 lines, man
- Jody 163 lines, man
- Jude 87 lines, woman
- Maguire 49 lines, man
- Col 37 lines, man
- Dave 23 lines, man
- Deveroux 14 lines, man
- Tommy 7 lines, man
- Franknum 4 lines, man
Full cast, 19 people
- Stephen Rea as Fergus
- Miranda Richardson as Jude
- Jaye Davidson as Dil
- Forest Whitaker as Jody
- Adrian Dunbar as Maguire
- Breffni McKenna as Tinker
- Joe Savino as Eddie
- Birdy Sweeney as Tommy
- Andrée Bernard as Jane
- Jim Broadbent as Col
- Ralph Brown as Dave
- Tony Slattery as Deveroux
- Jack Carr as Franknum
- Josephine White as Bar Performer 1
- Shar Campbell as Bar Performer 2
- Bryan Coleman as Judge
- Ray De-Haan as Security Man 1
- David Crionelly as Security Man 2
- Charles Mandracchia as Bouncer (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 105
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 | 11 | 19 |
| 4 to 6 | 10 | 15 |
| 7 to 9 | 3 | 24 |
| 10 to 12 | 1 | 118 |
| 13 to 15 | 0 | 8 |
| 16 to 18 | 0 | 0 |
| 19 to 21 | 0 | 13 |
| 22 to 24 | 5 | 66 |
| 25 to 27 | 2 | 34 |
| 28 to 30 | 0 | 30 |
| 31 to 33 | 0 | 0 |
| 34 to 36 | 0 | 11 |
| 37 to 39 | 0 | 0 |
| 40 to 42 | 1 | 24 |
| 43 to 45 | 0 | 35 |
| 46 to 48 | 0 | 3 |
| 49 to 51 | 0 | 69 |
| 52 to 54 | 0 | 20 |
| 55 to 57 | 0 | 65 |
| 58 to 60 | 0 | 56 |
| 61 to 63 | 0 | 15 |
| 64 to 66 | 21 | 111 |
| 67 to 69 | 2 | 12 |
| 70 to 72 | 9 | 27 |
| 73 to 75 | 14 | 59 |
| 76 to 78 | 0 | 43 |
| 79 to 81 | 0 | 2 |
| 82 to 84 | 4 | 19 |
| 85 to 87 | 0 | 42 |
| 88 to 90 | 0 | 2 |
| 91 to 93 | 0 | 4 |
| 94 to 96 | 1 | 11 |
| 97 to 99 | 2 | 6 |
| 100 to 102 | 0 | 18 |
| 103 to 105 | 4 | 52 |
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 8 are women's.
90 lines from women, 1033 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
4 women and 15 men in the cast. 1 women and 9 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 3 of 1,126.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 388 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 10% of the words (648), men 90% (5,692). Women have 8% of the lines, so their lines run longer than men's.
Exhibit D: 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
0
Two men
73
Exhibit E: behind the camera
3 of the 9 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 26% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Neil Jordan (man)
- Written by
- Neil Jordan (man)
- Produced by
- Stephen Woolley (man)
- Shot by
- Ian Wilson (man)
- Edited by
- Kant Pan (man)
- Music by
- Anne Dudley (woman)
- Production design by
- Jim Clay (man)
- Costumes by
- Sandy Powell (woman)
- Cast by
- Susie Figgis (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
4 women, 5 men, 2 not listed
-
Production
2 women, 5 men, 2 not listed
-
Sound
2 women, 4 men, 2 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 4 men, 3 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 5 men, 1 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
2 women, 1 men, 3 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 2 men, 2 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 1 men, 2 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 30 on average. Men: 40 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Andrée Bernard 25, Miranda Richardson 34
Men
Jaye Davidson 24, Forest Whitaker 31, Adrian Dunbar 34, Jim Broadbent 43, Stephen Rea 45, Birdy Sweeney 61
Exhibit G: the money
It made 16.9 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $3.7 million
- Box office
- $62.5 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 105 scenes and 1,126 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
