Passes the Bechdel test
While You Were Sleeping
1995. Directed by Jon Turteltaub, written by Daniel G. Sullivan and Fred Lebow.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
13 women characters. 12 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 9 scenes out of 155. -
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
Nursing a secret and hopeless crush on the handsome commuter who passes her booth every day, Lucy, a charming loner and Chicago Transit Authority ticket booth operator, is about to have a second chance at love. During one seemingly ordinary Christmas shift, she witnesses the object of her desire falling off the platform, and in one of those spur-of-the-moment decisions, she saves him from certain death, only to be mistaken for his fiancée at the hospital. As she enjoys the unexpected stroke of good luck, unable to tell the truth to his welcoming family, unforeseen romantic affairs further complicate matters. Now his suspicious brother, Jack, thinks he's onto something. Will Lucy face the consequences of what happened while he was sleeping?
- Released
- 21 Apr 1995
- Genres
- Comedy, Drama, Romance
- Rated
- PG
- IMDb
- 6.8 / 10
- Metascore
- 67 / 100
- Awards
- 4 wins & 5 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Lucy 299 lines, woman
- Jack 193 lines, man
- Saul 75 lines, man
- Ox 57 lines, man
- Midge 52 lines, woman
- Peter 44 lines, man
- Jerry 38 lines, man
- Mary 31 lines, woman
- Elsie 30 lines, woman
- Doctor 22 lines
Full cast, 32 people
- Sandra Bullock as Lucy Eleanor Moderatz
- Bill Pullman as Jack Callaghan
- Peter Gallagher as Peter Callaghan
- Peter Boyle as Ox Callaghan
- Jack Warden as Saul Tuttle
- Glynis Johns as Elsie
- Micole Mercurio as Midge Callaghan
- Jason Bernard as Jerry Wallace
- Michael Rispoli as Joe Fusco Jr.
- Ally Walker as Ashley Bacon
- Monica Keena as Mary Callaghan
- Ruth Rudnick as Wanda
- Marcia Wright as Celeste
- Dick Cusack as Dr. Rubin
- Thomas Q. Morris as Man in Peter's Room
- Bernie Landis as Doorman
- James Krag as Dalton Clarke
- Rick Worthy as Orderly
- Marc Grapey as Intern
- Joel Hatch as Priest
- Mike Bacarella as Mr. Fusco
- Peter Siragusa as Hot Dog Vendor
- Gene Janson as Man in Church
- Krista Lally as Phyllis
- Kevin Gudahl as Cop at ICU
- Ann Whitney as Blood Donor Nurse
- Margaret Travolta as Admitting Nurse
- Shea Farrell as Ashley's Husband
- Kate Reinders as Beth
- Susan Messing as Celeste's Friend
- Richard Pickren as Lucy's Father
- Megan Schaiper as Young Lucy
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 7% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 155
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 | 31 | 17 |
| 9 to 12 | 9 | 5 |
| 13 to 16 | 3 | 4 |
| 17 to 20 | 54 | 32 |
| 21 to 24 | 12 | 4 |
| 25 to 28 | 0 | 0 |
| 29 to 32 | 11 | 0 |
| 33 to 36 | 16 | 16 |
| 37 to 40 | 18 | 19 |
| 41 to 44 | 12 | 9 |
| 45 to 48 | 2 | 1 |
| 49 to 52 | 16 | 27 |
| 53 to 56 | 4 | 12 |
| 57 to 60 | 0 | 3 |
| 61 to 64 | 17 | 23 |
| 65 to 68 | 22 | 20 |
| 69 to 72 | 10 | 16 |
| 73 to 76 | 14 | 17 |
| 77 to 80 | 5 | 4 |
| 81 to 84 | 22 | 20 |
| 85 to 88 | 16 | 3 |
| 89 to 92 | 8 | 7 |
| 93 to 96 | 7 | 14 |
| 97 to 100 | 2 | 5 |
| 101 to 104 | 18 | 12 |
| 105 to 108 | 31 | 29 |
| 109 to 112 | 27 | 21 |
| 113 to 116 | 1 | 0 |
| 117 to 120 | 0 | 1 |
| 121 to 124 | 3 | 3 |
| 125 to 128 | 3 | 17 |
| 129 to 132 | 12 | 17 |
| 133 to 136 | 0 | 20 |
| 137 to 140 | 15 | 16 |
| 141 to 144 | 4 | 10 |
| 145 to 148 | 15 | 29 |
| 149 to 152 | 10 | 8 |
| 153 to 155 | 4 | 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.
LUCY: {frustrated) You don't understand, I jumped in front of a train. LUCY: Get out of my way! WANDA: {sympathetically) come with me.
LUCY: Nurse ... nurse ... LUCY: Wait! LUCY: What am 1~ 1 gonna do? WANDA: I didn't know they were going to show up • .I was trying to help.
MIDGE: Now you're coming over tomorrow for a belated Christmas dinner. LUCY: I don't know, I don't want to be any trouble. ELSIE: You're no trouble.
ELSIE: They do now. Mary's a killer. Aren't you, sweetie? MARY: To Lucy, from Santa.
MIDGE: She can't go without her jacket. LUCY: My jacket ••• LUCY: Got it.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 50 are women's.
454 lines from women, 461 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
13 women and 18 men in the cast. 12 women and 15 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 4 of 983.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 30 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 48% of the words (3,423), men 52% (3,639). Women have 50% 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
31
Two men
27
Exhibit F: behind the camera
3 of the 12 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 33% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Jon Turteltaub (man)
- Written by
- Daniel G. Sullivan (man), Fredric LeBow (man)
- Produced by
- Roger Birnbaum (man), Joe Roth (man)
- Shot by
- Phedon Papamichael (man)
- Edited by
- Bruce Green (man)
- Music by
- Randy Edelman (man)
- Production design by
- Garreth Stover (man)
- Costumes by
- Betsy Cox (woman)
- Cast by
- Amanda Mackey (woman), Cathy Sandrich Gelfond (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
16 women, 10 men, 3 not listed
-
Sound
3 women, 14 men, 7 not listed
-
Other crew
1 women, 9 men, 3 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 6 men, 5 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 5 men, 6 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
4 women, 0 men, 4 not listed
-
Lighting
0 women, 5 men, 2 not listed
-
Directing
2 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 48 on average. Men: 51 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Sandra Bullock 30, Ally Walker 33, Micole Mercurio 57, Glynis Johns 71
Men
Michael Rispoli 34, Peter Gallagher 39, Bill Pullman 41, Jason Bernard 56, Peter Boyle 59, Jack Warden 74
Exhibit H: the money
It made 10.7 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $17 million
- Box office
- $182 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 155 scenes and 983 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
