Passes the Bechdel test

To Sleep with Anger

Name: To Sleep with Anger
Released: 1990

1990. Directed by Charles Burnett, written by Charles Burnett.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
5 women characters. 5 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 5 scenes out of 190.
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

Harry Mention, an enigmatic drifter from the South, comes to visit an old acquaintance named Gideon, who now lives in South-Central Los Angeles. Harry's charming, down-home manner hides a malicious penchant for stirring up trouble, and he exerts a strange and powerful eff...

Released: 12 Oct 1990
Genres: Drama
Rated: PG
IMDb: 7.1 / 10
Awards: 7 wins & 13 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Harry 121 lines, man
Gideon 102 lines, man
Suzie 98 lines, woman
Babe Brother 68 lines, man
Junior 44 lines, man
Linda 44 lines, woman
Hattie 34 lines, woman
Pat 26 lines, woman
Herman 14 lines, man
Marsh 13 lines, man

Full cast, 18 people

Danny Glover as Harry
Paul Butler as Gideon
Mary Alice as Suzie
Richard Brooks as Samuel “Baby Brother”
Carl Lumbly as Junior
Sheryl Lee Ralph as Linda
Vonetta McGee as Pat
Ethel Ayler as Hattie
Julius Harris as Herman
Sy Richardson as Marsh
Davis Roberts as Okra Tate
DeForest Covan as Fred Jenkins
DeVaughn Nixon as Sunny
Reina King as Rhonda
Cory Curtis as Skip
Paula Bellamy as Mrs. Baker
Wonderful Smith as Preacher
Jimmy Witherspoon as Percy

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 4 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 190

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 4	0	0
5 to 8	1	1
9 to 12	6	5
13 to 16	1	0
17 to 20	10	22
21 to 24	5	8
25 to 28	12	9
29 to 32	1	10
33 to 36	3	7
37 to 40	4	21
41 to 44	6	12
45 to 48	0	6
49 to 52	7	24
53 to 56	4	11
57 to 60	10	8
61 to 64	2	1
65 to 68	14	17
69 to 72	6	16
73 to 76	4	6
77 to 80	4	9
81 to 84	1	15
85 to 88	9	13
89 to 92	2	0
93 to 96	6	9
97 to 100	0	0
101 to 104	1	0
105 to 108	0	9
109 to 112	4	16
113 to 116	4	5
117 to 120	3	4
121 to 124	2	0
125 to 128	6	7
129 to 132	10	13
133 to 136	1	2
137 to 140	5	5
141 to 144	11	0
145 to 148	7	8
149 to 152	5	25
153 to 156	2	3
157 to 160	0	11
161 to 164	6	6
165 to 168	0	4
169 to 172	2	2
173 to 176	3	0
177 to 180	4	6
181 to 184	13	23
185 to 188	11	21
189 to 190	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.

PAT: Did you do your homework? RHONDA: Yes. Mama? PAT: What? RHONDA: Can I name the baby?

HATTIE: I'm in church. HATTIE: Suzie, you still have Joe's number? SUZIE: I will have to look for it. HATTIE: None of your business.

SUZIE: No, but I might have some Indian Chief Tonic. HATTIE: I haven't heard anyone mention Swamp Root since button-up shoes went out.

PAT: Don't ask that. LINDA: No, this was an accident.

LINDA: What about Pat? PAT: I'm okay now.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 35 are women's.

220 lines from women, 401 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

5 women and 12 men in the cast. 5 women and 11 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 23 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 27% of the words (2,580), men 73% (6,821). Women have 35% 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

3 of the 12 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 25% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Charles Burnett (man)
Written by: Charles Burnett (man)
Produced by: Darin Scott (man), Thomas S. Byrnes (gender not listed), Caldecot Chubb (man)
Shot by: Walt Lloyd (man)
Edited by: Nancy Richardson (woman)
Music by: Stephen James Taylor (man)
Production design by: Penny Barrett (gender not listed)
Costumes by: Gaye Shannon-Burnett (gender not listed)
Cast by: Lauren Lloyd (woman), Gail Levin (woman)