Passes the Bechdel test

The Horse Whisperer

Name: The Horse Whisperer
Released: 1998

1998. Directed by Robert Redford, written by Nick Evans and Eric Roth and Richard LaGravenese.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
9 women characters. 9 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 23 scenes out of 210.
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

Teenager Grace MacLean (Scarlett Johansson) is riding her horse and is hit by a truck. To help heal her troubled and injured daughter, and horse, the mother, Annie MacLean (Dame Kristin Scott Thomas), takes them to Montana to recuperate at the ranch of Tom Booker (Robert Redford), a "horse whisperer", a horse healer of mystical talents. Annie proceeds to fall in love with him, as well.

Released: 15 May 1998
Genres: Drama, Romance, Western
Rated: PG-13
IMDb: 6.7 / 10
Metascore: 65 / 100
Awards: Nominated for 1 Oscar. 4 wins & 19 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Annie 374 lines, woman
Tom 200 lines, man
Grace 170 lines, woman
Robert 113 lines, man
Diane 61 lines, woman
Frank 38 lines, man
Joe 33 lines, man
Liz 18 lines, woman
Judith 11 lines, woman
Rona 11 lines

Full cast, 23 people

Robert Redford as Tom Booker
Kristin Scott Thomas as Annie MacLean
Sam Neill as Robert MacLean
Scarlett Johansson as Grace MacLean
Dianne Wiest as Diane Booker
Chris Cooper as Frank Booker
Cherry Jones as Liz Hammond
Ty Hillman as Joe Booker
Kate Bosworth as Judith
Austin Schwarz as Twin #1
Dustin Schwarz as Twin #2
Jeanette Nolan as Ellen Booker
Steve Frye as Hank
Don Edwards as Smokey
Jessalyn Gilsig as Annie's Assistant Lucy
William 'Buddy' Byrd as Lester Petersen
John Hogarty as Local Tracker
Michel Lalonde as Park Ranger
C.J. Byrnes as Doctor
Allison Moorer as Barn Dance Vocalist
Gloria Lynne Henry as Member of Magazine Staff
Eli Roth as Office Worker
Docs Keepin Time as Gulliver

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 5 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 3% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 210

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 5	1	0
6 to 10	0	0
11 to 15	11	0
16 to 20	36	7
21 to 25	9	9
26 to 30	28	8
31 to 35	8	10
36 to 40	15	9
41 to 45	16	0
46 to 50	13	2
51 to 55	10	20
56 to 60	48	34
61 to 65	4	0
66 to 70	18	0
71 to 75	35	0
76 to 80	8	0
81 to 85	23	33
86 to 90	7	9
91 to 95	2	4
96 to 100	24	9
101 to 105	21	22
106 to 110	51	43
111 to 115	31	17
116 to 120	6	16
121 to 125	18	21
126 to 130	3	6
131 to 135	47	29
136 to 140	47	0
141 to 145	12	3
146 to 150	4	5
151 to 155	23	7
156 to 160	3	8
161 to 165	8	18
166 to 170	13	26
171 to 175	13	3
176 to 180	11	5
181 to 185	2	1
186 to 190	1	1
191 to 195	5	3
196 to 200	7	10
201 to 205	0	0
206 to 210	12	7

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.

INSERT ANNIE: They speak in dulled, emotionless voices: ANNIE: It's me.

GRACE: ...Oh, come on! You think the same thing! JUDITH: I just could never say it! GRACE: Do you want to go around by the old road? JUDITH: Why don't we just cut through the woods?

GRACE: You want to go down or stay along the river? JUDITH: We already did the river. Let's go down and across the old bridge. We can circle back.

ANNIE: All right, all right, all right... Kevin, good job. Write the interview. If I don't like it, you may have to sleep with her for a follow-up!… LUCY: Hold on. Gottschalk. ANNIE: Quiet... Quiet! ANNIE: David?

LIZ: We really shouldn't wait... ANNIE: Hold on, Liz... Something about Pilgrim...

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 62 are women's.

654 lines from women, 405 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

9 women and 11 men in the cast. 9 women and 8 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 13 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 58% of the words (7,587), men 42% (5,420). Women have 62% 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 19 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 40% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Robert Redford (man)
Written by: Eric Roth (man), Richard LaGravenese (man)
From the novel by: Nick Evans (man)
Produced by: Patrick Markey (man), Robert Redford (man), Joseph P. Reidy (man), Karen Tenkhoff (woman)
Shot by: Robert Richardson (man)
Edited by: Hank Corwin (man), Freeman A. Davies (man), Tom Rolf (man)
Music by: Thomas Newman (man), Gwil Owen (gender not listed)
Production design by: Jon Hutman (man)
Costumes by: Bernie Pollack (man), Judy L. Ruskin (woman)
Cast by: Ellen Chenoweth (woman), Gretchen Rennell (woman)