Fails the Bechdel test
The NeverEnding Story
1984. Directed by Wolfgang Petersen, written by Wolfgang Petersen and Herman Weigel and Michael Ende.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
3 women characters. 1 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
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.
The film
Bastian is a young boy who lives a dreary life being tormented by school bullies. On one such occasion he escapes into a book shop where the old proprieter reveals an ancient story-book to him, which he is warned can be dangerous. Shortly after, he "borrows" the book and begins to read it in the school attic where he is drawn into the mythical land of Fantasia, which desperately needs a hero to save it from destruction.
- Released
- 20 Jul 1984
- Genres
- Adventure, Drama, Family
- Rated
- PG
- IMDb
- 7.3 / 10
- Metascore
- 49 / 100
- Awards
- 6 wins & 10 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Atreyu 73 lines, man
- Bastian 45 lines, man
- Engywook 30 lines, man
- Falkor 27 lines, man
- Rockbiter 18 lines, man
- Coreander 17 lines
- Font-Size 15 lines
- Nighthob 15 lines, man
- Morla 12 lines, man
- Urgl 11 lines, woman
Full cast, 22 people
- Noah Hathaway as Atreyu
- Barret Oliver as Bastian
- Tami Stronach as The Childlike Empress
- Alan Oppenheimer as Rockbiter / Falkor / G'mork / Narrator (voice)
- Sydney Bromley as Engywook
- Patricia Hayes as Urgl
- Moses Gunn as Cairon - Empress' Servant
- Frank Lenart as Teeny Weeny / Night Hob (voice)
- Robert Jadah as Morla the Ancient One (voice)
- Gerald McRaney as Bastian's Father
- Tilo Prückner as Night Hob
- Deep Roy as Teeny Weeny
- Chris Eastman as 1st Bully
- Darryl Cooksey as 2nd Bully
- Nicholas Gilbert as 3rd Bully
- Thomas Hill as Carl Conrad Koreander - the Librarian
- Donald Arthur as School's Caretaker (uncredited)
- Bernd Eichinger as Man Next to Man Who Drops Milk (uncredited)
- Wolfgang Petersen as Man Who Drops Milk (uncredited)
- Brian Wheeler as Giant Mushroom Creature (uncredited)
- Silvia Seidel as Fairy (uncredited)
- Beth Andersen as The 2nd Balladeer (voice) (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 1 scene, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 19% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 2
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 1 | 12 | 252 |
| 2 to 2 | 0 | 3 |
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, 4 are women's.
12 lines from women, 255 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
3 women and 16 men in the cast. 1 women and 8 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 202 of 329.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 201 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 6% of the words (174), men 94% (2,713). Women have 4% 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
21
Exhibit E: behind the camera
3 of the 15 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 16% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Wolfgang Petersen (man)
- Written by
- Wolfgang Petersen (man), Herman Weigel (man)
- From the novel by
- Michael Ende (man)
- Produced by
- Bernd Schaefers (man), Bernd Eichinger (man), Dieter Geissler (man)
- Shot by
- Jost Vacano (man)
- Edited by
- Jane Seitz (woman)
- Music by
- Klaus Doldinger (man), Giorgio Moroder (man)
- Costumes by
- Count Ul De Rico (gender not listed), Diemut Remy (gender not listed)
- Cast by
- Risa Kes (woman), Penny Perry (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
3 women, 7 men, 5 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 6 men, 7 not listed
-
Sound
1 women, 7 men, 3 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 3 men, 7 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
0 women, 1 men, 7 not listed
-
Camera
1 women, 2 men, 3 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 5 men, 1 not listed
-
Editing
1 women, 0 men, 3 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 43 on average. Men: 38 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Tami Stronach 11, Patricia Hayes 74
Men
Barret Oliver 10, Noah Hathaway 12, Frank Lenart 28, Gerald McRaney 36, Alan Oppenheimer 53, Moses Gunn 54, Sydney Bromley 74
Exhibit G: the money
It made 75% of what it cost.
- Budget
- $27 million
- Box office
- $20.2 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 2 scenes and 329 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
