Passes the Bechdel test
Twin Peaks
1991. Directed by David Lynch, written by Mark Frost and David Lynch.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
22 women characters. 12 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 12 scenes out of 212. -
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
An FBI agent investigates the murder of a small town's homecoming queen. A self-contained, 20 minutes longer version of the pilot episode of Twin Peaks (1990) and an alternate version of Twin Peaks (1990) that brings closure to the story.
- Released
- 08 Oct 1991
- Genres
- Crime, Drama, Mystery
- IMDb
- 8.9 / 10
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Laura 191 lines, woman
- Desmond 90 lines, man
- Stanley 59 lines, man
- Leland 56 lines, man
- Donna 55 lines, woman
- Cooper 40 lines, man
- Sarah 28 lines, woman
- Bobby 26 lines, man
- Cole 26 lines, man
- James 25 lines, man
Full cast, 57 people
- Kyle MacLachlan as Special Agent Dale Cooper
- Michael Ontkean as Sheriff Harry S. Truman
- Mädchen Amick as Shelly Johnson
- Dana Ashbrook as Bobby Briggs
- Richard Beymer as Benjamin Horne
- Lara Flynn Boyle as Donna Hayward
- Sherilyn Fenn as Audrey Horne
- Warren Frost as Dr. Will Hayward
- Peggy Lipton as Norma Jennings
- James Marshall as James Hurley
- Everett McGill as Big Ed Hurley
- Jack Nance as Pete Martell
- Ray Wise as Leland Palmer
- Joan Chen as Jocelyn Packard
- Piper Laurie as Catherine Martell
- Sheryl Lee as Laura Palmer
- Wendy Robie as Nadine Hurley
- Russ Tamblyn as Dr. Lawrence Jacoby
- Eric DaRe as Leo Johnson
- Mary Jo Deschanel as Eileen Hayward
- Harry Goaz as Deputy Andy Brennan
- Gary Hershberger as Mike Nelson
- Michael Horse as Deputy Tommy 'Hawk' Hill
- Grace Zabriskie as Sarah Palmer
- Troy Evans as George Wolchezk
- John Boylan as Dwayne Milford
- Rodney Harvey as Biker Scotty
- Robert Davenport as Johnny Horne
- Jan D'Arcy as Sylvia Horne
- Kimmy Robertson as Lucy Moran
- Jessica Wallenfels as Harriet Hayward
- Don S. Davis as Maj. Garland Briggs
- Charlotte Stewart as Betty Briggs
- Roberta Maguire as Maria Pulaski
- Phoebe Augustine as Ronnette Pulaski
- Frank Roberts as Father Hutchings
- Brett Vadset as Joey
- David Wasman as Gilman White
- Jane Jones as Margaret Honeycutt
- Tawnya Pettiford-Wates as Dr. Shelvy
- Shelley Henning as Alice Brady
- Dorothy Roberts as Mrs. Jackson
- Julee Cruise as Girl Singer
- Arnie Stenseth as Sven Jorgenson
- Andrea Hays as Heidi
- Rick Tutor as Janek Pulaski
- Marjorie Nelson as Janice Hogan
- Ben DiGregorio as Max Hartman
- Diane Caldwell as Hotel Employee
- Catherine E. Coulson as The Log Lady
- Al Strobel as One-Armed Man
- Frank Silva as BOB
- Michael J. Anderson as The Man From Another Place
- David Chadwick as Harry Wilson
- Laurel Ann White as Nurse Greta
- Joey Altruda as Road House Band Member (uncredited)
- Steven Hodges as Road House Band Member (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 5 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 12% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 212
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 | 0 | 1 |
| 6 to 10 | 2 | 46 |
| 11 to 15 | 0 | 16 |
| 16 to 20 | 10 | 53 |
| 21 to 25 | 0 | 25 |
| 26 to 30 | 0 | 36 |
| 31 to 35 | 0 | 31 |
| 36 to 40 | 0 | 16 |
| 41 to 45 | 0 | 3 |
| 46 to 50 | 0 | 20 |
| 51 to 55 | 23 | 29 |
| 56 to 60 | 7 | 8 |
| 61 to 65 | 23 | 4 |
| 66 to 70 | 19 | 0 |
| 71 to 75 | 13 | 7 |
| 76 to 80 | 1 | 14 |
| 81 to 85 | 20 | 1 |
| 86 to 90 | 6 | 0 |
| 91 to 95 | 0 | 0 |
| 96 to 100 | 40 | 15 |
| 101 to 105 | 0 | 2 |
| 106 to 110 | 19 | 18 |
| 111 to 115 | 10 | 2 |
| 116 to 120 | 12 | 0 |
| 121 to 125 | 25 | 3 |
| 126 to 130 | 1 | 8 |
| 131 to 135 | 30 | 19 |
| 136 to 140 | 3 | 2 |
| 141 to 145 | 7 | 7 |
| 146 to 150 | 7 | 15 |
| 151 to 155 | 0 | 1 |
| 156 to 160 | 5 | 20 |
| 161 to 165 | 7 | 11 |
| 166 to 170 | 0 | 0 |
| 171 to 175 | 1 | 2 |
| 176 to 180 | 19 | 9 |
| 181 to 185 | 9 | 4 |
| 186 to 190 | 15 | 11 |
| 191 to 195 | 1 | 2 |
| 196 to 200 | 3 | 3 |
| 201 to 205 | 0 | 2 |
| 206 to 210 | 1 | 8 |
| 211 to 212 | 0 | 3 |
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.
SARAH: Laura, honey... Cigarette... Cigarette... LAURA: Can I take the car? SARAH: Sure honey, what's the hurry? LAURA: I forgot my books at school.
NORMA: Shelly, would you give Laura a quick hand with the "Meals on Wheels"? SHELLY: I'm kind of busy, Norma. NORMA: You're not busy, sweetheart, now go. NADINE: I changed my mind, I don't want any coffee, Eddie.
SHELLY: Can I give you a hand getting the dinners together? LAURA: That's alright, Shelly. I know you have better things to do. SHELLY: Norma asked me to give you a hand. LAURA: Okay. You can help me carry them to the car.
LAURA: Shelly, you really can help me. I can't do the "Meals on Wheels" today. I just can't. SHELLY: Okay.
LAURA: I gotta go. DONNA: Goodbye, Muffin. LAURA: No, you're the muffin. LAURA: No, you're right. I am the muffin.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 42 are women's.
339 lines from women, 477 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
22 women and 25 men in the cast. 12 women and 16 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 3 of 930.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 143 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 36% of the words (2,774), men 64% (5,028). Women have 42% 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
25
Two men
33
Exhibit F: behind the camera
3 of the 11 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 24% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- David Lynch (man)
- Written by
- David Lynch (man), Mark Frost (man)
- Produced by
- David Latt (man)
- Shot by
- Ronald Víctor García (man)
- Edited by
- Duwayne Dunham (man)
- Music by
- Angelo Badalamenti (man)
- Production design by
- Patricia Norris (woman)
- Costumes by
- Patricia Norris (woman)
- Cast by
- Johanna Ray (woman), Susan Dixon (gender not listed)
The crew, department by department
-
Camera
0 women, 6 men, 4 not listed
-
Production
1 women, 5 men, 1 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 5 men, 2 not listed
-
Art
2 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
3 women, 0 men, 2 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 1 men, 2 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 3 men
-
Writing
0 women, 2 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 26 on average. Men: 39 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Mädchen Amick 18, Lara Flynn Boyle 19, Sherilyn Fenn 24, Peggy Lipton 43
Men
Dana Ashbrook 22, James Marshall 22, Kyle MacLachlan 30, Michael Ontkean 43, Richard Beymer 51, Warren Frost 64
Exhibit H: the money
What it cost and made, where TMDB lists it.
- Budget
- $1.8 million
- Box office
- Not listed
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 212 scenes and 930 lines of dialogue. How the test works
