Passes the Bechdel test
The Fly
1986. Directed by David Cronenberg, written by George Langelaan and Charles Edward Pogue and David Cronenberg.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
4 women characters. 3 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 1 scene out of 70. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In that scene, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 2 out of 3.
The film
An overly ambitious scientist accidentally merges with a housefly while conducting a bizarre teleporting experiment. Now his journalist girlfriend suddenly finds herself caring for a hideous creature whose insect half gradually begins to take over.
- Released
- 15 Aug 1986
- Genres
- Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.6 / 10
- Metascore
- 81 / 100
- Awards
- Won 1 Oscar. 7 wins & 10 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Veronica 204 lines, woman
- Brundle 185 lines, man
- Stathis 71 lines, man
- Tawny 16 lines, woman
- Cheevers 9 lines, man
- Marky 4 lines, man
- Brondle 2 lines
- Nurse 2 lines, woman
- Ooctor 2 lines
- Telepod 1 2 lines
Full cast, 12 people
- Jeff Goldblum as Seth Brundle
- Geena Davis as Veronica Quaife
- John Getz as Stathis Borans
- Joy Boushel as Tawny
- Leslie Carlson as Dr. Cheevers
- George Chuvalo as Marky
- Michael Copeman as 2nd Man in Bar
- David Cronenberg as Gynecologist
- Carol Lazare as Nurse
- Shawn Hewitt as Clerk
- Typhoon as Baboon (uncredited)
- Ann Green as Restaurant Patron (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 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 70
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 2 | 6 | 8 |
| 3 to 4 | 8 | 6 |
| 5 to 6 | 20 | 24 |
| 7 to 8 | 9 | 17 |
| 9 to 10 | 9 | 11 |
| 11 to 12 | 11 | 13 |
| 13 to 14 | 18 | 18 |
| 15 to 16 | 8 | 7 |
| 17 to 18 | 4 | 7 |
| 19 to 20 | 11 | 8 |
| 21 to 22 | 17 | 23 |
| 23 to 24 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 to 26 | 11 | 11 |
| 27 to 28 | 0 | 0 |
| 29 to 30 | 8 | 9 |
| 31 to 32 | 11 | 13 |
| 33 to 34 | 0 | 0 |
| 35 to 36 | 7 | 13 |
| 37 to 38 | 15 | 13 |
| 39 to 40 | 0 | 1 |
| 41 to 42 | 0 | 1 |
| 43 to 44 | 11 | 11 |
| 45 to 46 | 3 | 5 |
| 47 to 48 | 6 | 13 |
| 49 to 50 | 3 | 4 |
| 51 to 52 | 0 | 0 |
| 53 to 54 | 0 | 1 |
| 55 to 56 | 2 | 2 |
| 57 to 58 | 4 | 0 |
| 59 to 60 | 5 | 8 |
| 61 to 62 | 4 | 3 |
| 63 to 64 | 1 | 11 |
| 65 to 66 | 3 | 5 |
| 67 to 68 | 7 | 5 |
| 69 to 70 | 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 scene
The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.
VERONICA: No - be afraid. Be very afraid. TAWNY: Who's this?
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 45 are women's.
222 lines from women, 271 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
4 women and 8 men in the cast. 3 women and 5 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 3 of 516.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 10 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 33% of the words (2,398), men 67% (4,936). Women have 45% 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
1
Two men
5
Exhibit F: behind the camera
3 of the 10 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 25% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- David Cronenberg (man)
- Written by
- David Cronenberg (man), Charles Edward Pogue (man)
- Produced by
- Stuart Cornfeld (man)
- Shot by
- Mark Irwin (man)
- Edited by
- Ronald Sanders (man)
- Music by
- Howard Shore (man)
- Production design by
- Carol Spier (woman)
- Costumes by
- Denise Cronenberg (woman)
- Cast by
- Deirdre Bowen (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
2 women, 13 men, 11 not listed
-
Art
3 women, 5 men, 6 not listed
-
Other crew
1 women, 5 men, 7 not listed
-
Production
3 women, 4 men, 6 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 3 men, 7 not listed
-
Visual Effects
0 women, 5 men, 4 not listed
-
Directing
3 women, 3 men
-
Editing
1 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 28 on average. Men: 42 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Joy Boushel 26, Geena Davis 30
Men
Jeff Goldblum 33, Michael Copeman 35, John Getz 39, David Cronenberg 43, George Chuvalo 48, Leslie Carlson 53
Exhibit H: the money
It made 4.0 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $15 million
- Box office
- $60.6 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 70 scenes and 516 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
