Passes the Bechdel test
Thelma & Louise
1991. Directed by Ridley Scott, written by Callie Khouri.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
4 women characters. 5 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 34 scenes out of 233. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3.
The film
Louise is working in a diner as a waitress and has some problems with her boyfriend Jimmy, who, as a musician, is always on the road. Thelma is married to Darryl who likes his wife to stay quiet in the kitchen so that he can watch football on TV. One day they decide to break out of their normal life and jump in the car and hit the road. Their journey, however, turns into a flight when Louise kills a man who threatens to rape Thelma. They decide to go to Mexico, but soon they are hunted by American police.
- Released
- 24 May 1991
- Genres
- Adventure, Crime, Drama
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.6 / 10
- Metascore
- 89 / 100
- Awards
- Won 1 Oscar. 24 wins & 52 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Thelma 307 lines, woman
- Louise 287 lines, woman
- Jimmy 54 lines, man
- Hal 49 lines, man
- Darryl 24 lines, man
- Max 19 lines, man
- Harlan 15 lines, man
- Trucker 12 lines, man
- Patrolman 9 lines
- Hitchhiker 6 lines, man
Full cast, 24 people
- Susan Sarandon as Louise
- Geena Davis as Thelma
- Harvey Keitel as Hal
- Michael Madsen as Jimmy
- Christopher McDonald as Darryl
- Stephen Tobolowsky as Max
- Brad Pitt as J.D.
- Timothy Carhart as Harlan
- Lucinda Jenney as Lena, the Waitress
- Jason Beghe as State Trooper
- Sonny Carl Davis as Albert
- Ken Swofford as Major
- Shelly Desai as East Indian Motel Clerk
- Carol Mansell as Waitress
- Stephen Polk as Surveilance Man
- Rob Roy Fitzgerald as Plainclothes Cop
- Jack Lindine as I.D. Tech
- Michael Delman as Silver Bullet Dancer
- Kristel L. Rose as Girl Smoker
- Noel L. Walcott III as Mountain Bike Rider
- Marco St. John as Truck Driver (uncredited)
- Gregory J. Barnett as State Police Officer (uncredited)
- Robert 'Bobby Z' Zajonc as State Police Pilot (uncredited)
- Charlie Sexton as Singer in Bar Band (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 5 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 233
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 | 20 | 7 |
| 11 to 15 | 30 | 0 |
| 16 to 20 | 29 | 8 |
| 21 to 25 | 27 | 9 |
| 26 to 30 | 20 | 6 |
| 31 to 35 | 6 | 0 |
| 36 to 40 | 11 | 0 |
| 41 to 45 | 4 | 4 |
| 46 to 50 | 10 | 8 |
| 51 to 55 | 11 | 4 |
| 56 to 60 | 6 | 6 |
| 61 to 65 | 4 | 1 |
| 66 to 70 | 5 | 4 |
| 71 to 75 | 23 | 8 |
| 76 to 80 | 1 | 0 |
| 81 to 85 | 2 | 0 |
| 86 to 90 | 9 | 5 |
| 91 to 95 | 14 | 11 |
| 96 to 100 | 25 | 9 |
| 101 to 105 | 19 | 16 |
| 106 to 110 | 21 | 0 |
| 111 to 115 | 14 | 8 |
| 116 to 120 | 10 | 6 |
| 121 to 125 | 17 | 8 |
| 126 to 130 | 17 | 2 |
| 131 to 135 | 2 | 14 |
| 136 to 140 | 2 | 4 |
| 141 to 145 | 5 | 6 |
| 146 to 150 | 14 | 0 |
| 151 to 155 | 24 | 0 |
| 156 to 160 | 3 | 1 |
| 161 to 165 | 3 | 3 |
| 166 to 170 | 21 | 1 |
| 171 to 175 | 23 | 0 |
| 176 to 180 | 33 | 5 |
| 181 to 185 | 5 | 6 |
| 186 to 190 | 39 | 0 |
| 191 to 195 | 19 | 12 |
| 196 to 200 | 4 | 0 |
| 201 to 205 | 0 | 1 |
| 206 to 210 | 4 | 0 |
| 211 to 215 | 5 | 0 |
| 216 to 220 | 18 | 0 |
| 221 to 225 | 14 | 0 |
| 226 to 230 | 14 | 8 |
| 231 to 233 | 2 | 1 |
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.
LOUISE: Just fill it up with no lead. THELMA: Where's a good restaurant around hEtre? LOUISE: We'll eat when we get to the cabin. THELMA: How much longer is that gonna be?
THELMA: Can't we go? Just for a few minutes? LOUISE: We're not gonna get to the cacin till after dark as it is, Thelma. THELMA: Then what difference does it make if we stop? Come on. I never get to do stuff like this. LOUISE: Alright, but I really don't want to stay long.
LOUISE: I haven't seen a place like this since I left Texas. THELMA: Idn't this fun?
THELMA: Louise ••• Are you alright? LOUISE: Oh Christ. Thelma. LOUISE: I've gotta stop for a minute. I've got to get it together. I just got to take a break. Now, I'm going in there. I'm gonna get a cup of coffe… LOUISE: Is t·hat yes? Are you up to this?
LOUISE: We gotta be inconspicuous. Do you know what that means? THELMA: Yes. LOUISE: It means you don't talk to anybody. You don't draw attention to yourself in any way. Do you understand that? LOUISE: Tell me you understand that.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 76 are women's.
610 lines from women, 192 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
4 women and 17 men in the cast. 5 women and 9 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 3 of 842.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 14 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 74% of the words (7,497), men 26% (2,698). Women have 76% 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
72
Two men
12
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
- Ridley Scott (man)
- Written by
- Callie Khouri (woman)
- Produced by
- Mimi Polk Gitlin (woman), Ridley Scott (man)
- Shot by
- Adrian Biddle (man)
- Edited by
- Thom Noble (man)
- Music by
- Hans Zimmer (man)
- Production design by
- Norris Spencer (man)
- Costumes by
- Elizabeth McBride (woman)
- Cast by
- Louis DiGiaimo (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
4 women, 20 men, 8 not listed
-
Art
2 women, 4 men, 9 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 5 men, 7 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
3 women, 2 men, 4 not listed
-
Production
2 women, 5 men, 2 not listed
-
Sound
2 women, 5 men, 2 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Lighting
0 women, 0 men, 2 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 39 on average. Men: 36 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Geena Davis 35, Lucinda Jenney 37, Susan Sarandon 44
Men
Brad Pitt 27, Jason Beghe 31, Michael Madsen 33, Christopher McDonald 36, Timothy Carhart 37, Stephen Tobolowsky 39, Harvey Keitel 52
Exhibit H: the money
It made 2.8 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $16 million
- Box office
- $45.4 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 233 scenes and 842 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
