Fails the Bechdel test
Vertigo
1958. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, written by Alec Coppel and Samuel A. Taylor and Pierre Boileau.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
7 women characters. 6 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
Following his early retirement as a detective from the San Francisco Police Department, John Ferguson - Scottie to his friends - becomes obsessed with two women in succession, those obsessions which trouble his long time friend and former fiancée, Midge Wood, a designer of women's undergarments. The first is wealthy and elegant platinum blonde Madeleine Elster, the wife of his college acquaintance Gavin Elster, who hires John to follow her in Gavin's belief that she may be a danger to herself in thinking that she has recently been possessed by the spirit of Carlotta Valdes, Madeleine's great-grandmother who she knows nothing about, but who Gavin knows committed suicide in being mentally unbalanced when she was twenty-six, Madeleine's current age. The second is Judy Barton, who John spots on the street one day. Judy is a working class girl, but what makes John obsessed with her is that, despite her working class style and her brunette hair, she is the spitting image of Madeleine, into who he tries to transform Judy. The initial question that John has is if there is some connection between Madeleine and Judy. What happens between John and individually with Madeleine and Judy is affected by the reason John took that early retirement: a recent workplace incident that showed that he is acrophobic which leads to a severe case of vertigo whenever he looks down from tall heights.
- Released
- 28 May 1958
- Genres
- Mystery, Romance, Thriller
- Rated
- PG
- IMDb
- 8.2 / 10
- Metascore
- 100 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 2 Oscars. 9 wins & 8 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Scottie 418 lines, man
- Madeleine 123 lines, woman
- Judy 121 lines, woman
- Midge 95 lines, woman
- Elster 50 lines, man
- Manageress 16 lines
- Saleswoman 9 lines, woman
- Pop Leibel 6 lines, man
- Doctor 4 lines
- Official 4 lines
Full cast, 20 people
- James Stewart as Det. John 'Scottie' Ferguson
- Kim Novak as Madeleine Elster / Judy Barton
- Barbara Bel Geddes as Marjorie 'Midge' Wood
- Tom Helmore as Gavin Elster
- Henry Jones as Coroner
- Raymond Bailey as Scottie's Doctor
- Ellen Corby as Manager of McKittrick Hotel
- Konstantin Shayne as Pop Leibel
- Lee Patrick as Car Owner Mistaken for Madeleine
- Bess Flowers as Diner at Ernie's (uncredited)
- Alfred Hitchcock as Man Walking Past Elster's Office (uncredited)
- David Ahdar as Priest (uncredited)
- Sara Taft as Nun (uncredited)
- Ezelle Poule as Older Mistaken Identity (uncredited)
- John Benson as Salesman (uncredited)
- Paul Bryar as Captain Hansen (uncredited)
- Steve Conte as Burglar (uncredited)
- Fred Graham as Policeman on Rooftop (uncredited)
- Forbes Murray as Diner at Ernie's (uncredited)
- Raoul Freeman as Diner at Ernie's (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 6 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 4% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 260
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 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 to 12 | 0 | 2 |
| 13 to 18 | 36 | 42 |
| 19 to 24 | 0 | 53 |
| 25 to 30 | 0 | 0 |
| 31 to 36 | 0 | 0 |
| 37 to 42 | 0 | 0 |
| 43 to 48 | 0 | 0 |
| 49 to 54 | 0 | 0 |
| 55 to 60 | 0 | 0 |
| 61 to 66 | 0 | 0 |
| 67 to 72 | 0 | 0 |
| 73 to 78 | 0 | 0 |
| 79 to 84 | 0 | 0 |
| 85 to 90 | 0 | 0 |
| 91 to 96 | 0 | 0 |
| 97 to 102 | 1 | 3 |
| 103 to 108 | 0 | 0 |
| 109 to 114 | 0 | 11 |
| 115 to 120 | 23 | 51 |
| 121 to 126 | 0 | 0 |
| 127 to 132 | 0 | 0 |
| 133 to 138 | 0 | 0 |
| 139 to 144 | 0 | 0 |
| 145 to 150 | 35 | 43 |
| 151 to 156 | 2 | 0 |
| 157 to 162 | 0 | 0 |
| 163 to 168 | 18 | 21 |
| 169 to 174 | 12 | 9 |
| 175 to 180 | 30 | 35 |
| 181 to 186 | 34 | 40 |
| 187 to 192 | 0 | 0 |
| 193 to 198 | 10 | 16 |
| 199 to 204 | 6 | 6 |
| 205 to 210 | 0 | 0 |
| 211 to 216 | 7 | 10 |
| 217 to 222 | 9 | 2 |
| 223 to 228 | 37 | 29 |
| 229 to 234 | 39 | 38 |
| 235 to 240 | 9 | 14 |
| 241 to 246 | 21 | 15 |
| 247 to 252 | 1 | 2 |
| 253 to 258 | 26 | 39 |
| 259 to 260 | 0 | 0 |
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, 43 are women's.
356 lines from women, 481 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
7 women and 11 men in the cast. 6 women and 3 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 5 of 871.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 55 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 43% of the words (3,680), men 57% (4,902).
Exhibit D: the test the other way
Run the other way, for men, the film scores 2 out of 3.
Conversations between two named characters
Two women
0
Two men
6
Exhibit E: behind the camera
1 of the 10 people in these jobs is a woman.
Across the whole crew, 8% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Alfred Hitchcock (man)
- Written by
- Samuel A. Taylor (man), Alec Coppel (man)
- From the novel by
- Thomas Narcejac (man), Pierre Boileau (man)
- Produced by
- Alfred Hitchcock (man)
- Shot by
- Robert Burks (man)
- Edited by
- George Tomasini (man)
- Music by
- Bernard Herrmann (man)
- Costumes by
- Edith Head (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Art
0 women, 5 men
-
Sound
0 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Writing
0 women, 4 men
-
Costume & Make-Up
2 women, 1 men
-
Visual Effects
0 women, 3 men
-
Directing
0 women, 2 men
-
Production
0 women, 2 men
-
Camera
0 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 44 on average. Men: 54 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Kim Novak 25, Barbara Bel Geddes 35, Ellen Corby 46, Lee Patrick 56, Bess Flowers 59
Men
Henry Jones 45, James Stewart 50, Tom Helmore 54, Raymond Bailey 54, Konstantin Shayne 69
Exhibit G: the money
It made 3.2 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $2.5 million
- Box office
- $7.8 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 260 scenes and 871 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
