Passes the Bechdel test
The Sweet Hereafter
1997. Directed by Atom Egoyan, written by Russell Banks and Atom Egoyan.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
9 women characters. 7 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 5 scenes out of 122. -
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
A small community is torn apart by a tragic accident which kills most of the town's children. A lawyer visits the victims' parents in order to profit from the tragedy by stirring up their anger and launching a class action suit against anyone they can blame. The community is paralyzed by its anger and cannot let go. All but one young girl, left in a wheelchair after the accident, who finds the courage to lead the way toward healing.
- Released
- 21 Nov 1997
- Genres
- Drama
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.4 / 10
- Metascore
- 91 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 2 Oscars. 34 wins & 56 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Mitchell 187 lines, man
- Nicole 139 lines, woman
- Dolores 61 lines, woman
- Billy 60 lines, man
- Sam 56 lines, man
- Risa 46 lines, woman
- Schwartz 32 lines, man
- Alison 26 lines
- Zoe 25 lines, woman
- Mary 23 lines, woman
Full cast, 25 people
- Ian Holm as Mitchell Stephens
- Sarah Polley as Nicole Burnell
- Tom McCamus as Sam Burnell
- Gabrielle Rose as Dolores Driscoll
- Alberta Watson as Risa Walker
- Caerthan Banks as Zoe Stephens
- Maury Chaykin as Wendell Walker
- Stephanie Morgenstern as Allison
- Bruce Greenwood as Billy Ansel
- Arsinée Khanjian as Wanda Otto
- Earl Pastko as Hartley Otto
- Simon Baker as Bear
- Kirsten Kieferle as Stewardess
- David Hemblen as Abbott Driscoll
- Sarah Rosen Fruitman as Jessica Ansel
- Marc Donato as Mason Ansel
- Devon Finn as Sean Walker
- Fides Krucker as Klara Stephens
- Magdalena Sokolowski as Young Zoe
- James D. Watts as Young Mitchell
- Brooke Johnson as Mary Burnell
- Allegra Denton as Jenny
- Peter Donaldson as Schwartz
- Russell Banks as Dr. Robeson
- Mychael Danna as Live Band Harmonium Player (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 5% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 122
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 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 to 6 | 0 | 1 |
| 7 to 9 | 2 | 1 |
| 10 to 12 | 4 | 3 |
| 13 to 15 | 4 | 2 |
| 16 to 18 | 0 | 6 |
| 19 to 21 | 4 | 5 |
| 22 to 24 | 3 | 10 |
| 25 to 27 | 18 | 41 |
| 28 to 30 | 19 | 6 |
| 31 to 33 | 5 | 4 |
| 34 to 36 | 4 | 3 |
| 37 to 39 | 6 | 15 |
| 40 to 42 | 15 | 29 |
| 43 to 45 | 3 | 6 |
| 46 to 48 | 16 | 16 |
| 49 to 51 | 0 | 0 |
| 52 to 54 | 16 | 16 |
| 55 to 57 | 5 | 0 |
| 58 to 60 | 9 | 3 |
| 61 to 63 | 14 | 4 |
| 64 to 66 | 0 | 0 |
| 67 to 69 | 1 | 3 |
| 70 to 72 | 0 | 4 |
| 73 to 75 | 0 | 1 |
| 76 to 78 | 22 | 42 |
| 79 to 81 | 3 | 3 |
| 82 to 84 | 36 | 9 |
| 85 to 87 | 7 | 8 |
| 88 to 90 | 15 | 14 |
| 91 to 93 | 6 | 7 |
| 94 to 96 | 13 | 10 |
| 97 to 99 | 6 | 1 |
| 100 to 102 | 13 | 6 |
| 103 to 105 | 1 | 2 |
| 106 to 108 | 3 | 32 |
| 109 to 111 | 6 | 5 |
| 112 to 114 | 39 | 39 |
| 115 to 117 | 7 | 9 |
| 118 to 120 | 3 | 0 |
| 121 to 122 | 1 | 0 |
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.
NICOLE: Just the way Dolores gets so excited about bringing the kids to check out the animals. It's like the biggest thing in her life. DOLORES: Alright, kids. I want you all to listen to me. Rule number one No one is allowed to stick their fingers into the cages. I don't care how cut…
RISA: Morning, Dolores. DOLORES: Hi, Risa. Aren't your feet freezing? RISA: I guess they are.
JENNY: Can I come and visit you here? NICOLE: You better. And you can sleep in my new bed with me too. NICOLE: That's too high. I'll never reach it.
RISA: Go on now. Go on. NICOLE: C'mon, Sean, sit next to me.
MARY: Jenny, it's time for you to go to bed. JENNY: Mom...
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 47 are women's.
329 lines from women, 366 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
9 women and 12 men in the cast. 7 women and 8 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 3 of 729.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 22 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 46% of the words (3,818), men 54% (4,424). Women have 47% 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
12
Two men
20
Exhibit F: behind the camera
3 of the 10 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 33% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Atom Egoyan (man)
- Written by
- Atom Egoyan (man)
- From the novel by
- Russell Banks (man)
- Produced by
- Atom Egoyan (man), Camelia Frieberg (woman)
- Shot by
- Paul Sarossy (man)
- Edited by
- Susan Shipton (woman)
- Music by
- Mychael Danna (man)
- Production design by
- Phillip Barker (man)
- Costumes by
- Beth Pasternak (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
2 women, 7 men, 16 not listed
-
Production
3 women, 4 men, 10 not listed
-
Art
2 women, 3 men, 6 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 1 men, 8 not listed
-
Other crew
2 women, 0 men, 7 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 3 men, 4 not listed
-
Visual Effects
0 women, 1 men, 6 not listed
-
Editing
1 women, 1 men, 4 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 35 on average. Men: 49 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Sarah Polley 18, Stephanie Morgenstern 31, Arsinée Khanjian 39, Alberta Watson 42, Gabrielle Rose 43
Men
Bruce Greenwood 41, Tom McCamus 42, Maury Chaykin 48, Ian Holm 66
Exhibit H: the money
It made 1.6 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $5 million
- Box office
- $8 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 122 scenes and 729 lines of dialogue. How the test works
