Fails the Bechdel test
The Island of Dr. Moreau
1996. Directed by John Frankenheimer, written by H.G. Wells and Richard Stanley and Ron Hutchinson.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
4 women characters. 2 of them speak. -
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
Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.
The film
Set in the year 2010, Dr. Moreau has successfully combined human and animal DNA to make a crossbreed animal. Well, as usual, something goes wrong and David Thewlis must try to stop it before it is too late. Originally rated R, but cut by Frankenheimer to allow "a wider audience".
- Released
- 23 Aug 1996
- Genres
- Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 4.6 / 10
- Metascore
- 37 / 100
- Awards
- 2 wins & 10 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Prendick 212 lines, man
- Montgomery 149 lines, man
- Moreau 106 lines, man
- Aissa 77 lines, woman
- Azazello 22 lines, man
- Kiril 21 lines, man
- Hyena-Swine 16 lines, man
- Davis 15 lines, man
- M'Ling 15 lines, man
- Sayer Of The Law 15 lines, man
Full cast, 24 people
- Marlon Brando as Dr. Moreau
- Val Kilmer as Montgomery
- David Thewlis as Douglas
- Fairuza Balk as Aissa
- Ron Perlman as Sayer of the Law
- Marco Hofschneider as M'Ling
- Temuera Morrison as Azazello
- William Hootkins as Kiril
- Daniel Rigney as Hyena-Swine
- Nelson de la Rosa as Majai
- Peter Elliott as Assassimon
- Mark Dacascos as Lo-Mai
- Miguel López as Waggdi
- Neil G. Young as Boar Man
- David Hudson as Bison Man
- Clare Grant as Fox Lady
- Kitty Silver as Sow Lady #1
- Fiona Mahl as Sow Lady #2
- Agoes Widjaya Soedjarwo as Captain
- Ron Vreeken as Soldier #1
- Lou Horváth as Soldier #2
- Frank Welker as Assassimon (voice) (uncredited)
- Richard Stanley as Bulldog Man (uncredited)
- Morgan Smallbone as Dog Man (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 2% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 90
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 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 to 4 | 0 | 14 |
| 5 to 6 | 0 | 23 |
| 7 to 8 | 0 | 13 |
| 9 to 10 | 0 | 35 |
| 11 to 12 | 0 | 20 |
| 13 to 14 | 0 | 37 |
| 15 to 16 | 15 | 54 |
| 17 to 18 | 0 | 0 |
| 19 to 20 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 to 22 | 0 | 1 |
| 23 to 24 | 3 | 8 |
| 25 to 26 | 0 | 2 |
| 27 to 28 | 13 | 22 |
| 29 to 30 | 3 | 12 |
| 31 to 32 | 2 | 22 |
| 33 to 34 | 0 | 23 |
| 35 to 36 | 0 | 29 |
| 37 to 38 | 0 | 28 |
| 39 to 40 | 7 | 5 |
| 41 to 42 | 6 | 18 |
| 43 to 44 | 8 | 35 |
| 45 to 46 | 8 | 16 |
| 47 to 48 | 0 | 47 |
| 49 to 50 | 0 | 2 |
| 51 to 52 | 4 | 5 |
| 53 to 54 | 2 | 4 |
| 55 to 56 | 0 | 3 |
| 57 to 58 | 2 | 13 |
| 59 to 60 | 0 | 14 |
| 61 to 62 | 0 | 0 |
| 63 to 64 | 0 | 13 |
| 65 to 66 | 0 | 24 |
| 67 to 68 | 4 | 7 |
| 69 to 70 | 0 | 4 |
| 71 to 72 | 0 | 13 |
| 73 to 74 | 0 | 6 |
| 75 to 76 | 0 | 4 |
| 77 to 78 | 0 | 1 |
| 79 to 80 | 2 | 10 |
| 81 to 82 | 0 | 2 |
| 83 to 84 | 0 | 2 |
| 85 to 86 | 0 | 6 |
| 87 to 88 | 0 | 4 |
| 89 to 90 | 0 | 4 |
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, 12 are women's.
79 lines from women, 605 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
4 women and 20 men in the cast. 2 women and 14 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 146 of 700.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 145 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 9% of the words (644), men 91% (6,878). Women have 12% of the lines, so their lines run shorter 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
52
Exhibit E: behind the camera
2 of the 13 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 23% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- John Frankenheimer (man)
- Written by
- Richard Stanley (man), Ron Hutchinson (man)
- From the novel by
- H. G. Wells (man)
- Produced by
- Edward R. Pressman (man)
- Shot by
- William A. Fraker (man)
- Edited by
- Adam P. Scott (gender not listed), Paul Rubell (man), Thom Noble (man)
- Music by
- Gary Chang (man)
- Production design by
- Graham "Grace" Walker (man)
- Costumes by
- Norma Moriceau (woman)
- Cast by
- Valerie McCaffrey (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Costume & Make-Up
2 women, 9 men, 11 not listed
-
Production
3 women, 6 men, 3 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 2 men, 7 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 2 men, 2 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Sound
1 women, 2 men
-
Writing
0 women, 3 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 22 on average. Men: 39 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Fairuza Balk 22
Men
Marco Hofschneider 26, Nelson de la Rosa 27, Daniel Rigney 30, David Thewlis 33, Temuera Morrison 35, Val Kilmer 36, Ron Perlman 46, William Hootkins 48, Marlon Brando 72
Exhibit G: the money
It made 1.2 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $40 million
- Box office
- $49.6 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 90 scenes and 700 lines of dialogue. How the test works
