Fails the Bechdel test
Wild at Heart
1990. Directed by David Lynch, written by Barry Gifford and David Lynch.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
14 women characters. 7 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
Women do talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Every conversation between women that our parser found mentions a man.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 2 out of 3.
The film
Lula's psychopathic mother goes crazy at the thought of Lula being with Sailor, who just got free from jail. Ignoring Sailor's probation, they set out for California. However their mother hires a killer to hunt down Sailor. Unaware of this, the two enjoy their journey and themselves being together... until they witness a young woman dying after a car accident - a bad omen.
- Released
- 17 Aug 1990
- Genres
- Crime, Drama, Thriller
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.2 / 10
- Metascore
- 52 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 1 Oscar. 5 wins & 13 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Lula 290 lines, woman
- Sailor 279 lines, man
- Marietta 101 lines, woman
- Bobby 70 lines, man
- Johnnie 57 lines, man
- Santos 43 lines, man
- Reggie 28 lines, man
- Perdita 21 lines, woman
- Drop Shadow 15 lines
- Pace 13 lines, man
Full cast, 41 people
- Nicolas Cage as Sailor
- Laura Dern as Lula
- Willem Dafoe as Bobby Peru
- Diane Ladd as Marietta Fortune
- Harry Dean Stanton as Johnnie Farragut
- J.E. Freeman as Marcelles Santos
- Isabella Rossellini as Perdita Durango
- Grace Zabriskie as Juana Durango
- Calvin Lockhart as Reggie
- William Morgan Sheppard as Mr. Reindeer
- Crispin Glover as Dell
- Sheryl Lee as The Good Witch
- Sherilyn Fenn as Girl in Accident
- Jack Nance as 00 Spool
- Pruitt Taylor Vince as Buddy
- Glenn Walker Harris Jr. as Pace Fortune
- Marvin Kaplan as Uncle Pooch
- David Patrick Kelly as Dropshadow
- Freddie Jones as George Kovich
- John Lurie as Sparky
- Gregg Dandridge as Bob Ray Lemon
- Frances Bay as Madam
- Charlie Spradling as Irma
- Blair Bruce Bever as Hotel Custodian
- Sally Boyle as Aunt Rootie
- Peter Bromilow as Hotel Manager
- Lisa Ann Cabasa as Reindeer Dancer
- Frank A. Caruso as Old Bum
- Frank Collison as Timmy Thompson
- Eddy Dixon as Rex
- Brent David Fraser as Idiot Punk
- Cage S. Johnson as Man at Shell Station
- Valli Leigh as Mr. Reindeer's Resident Valet #2
- Nicholas Love as Man in Wheelchair
- Daniel Quinn as Young Cowboy
- Mia M. Ruiz as Mr. Reindeer's Resident Valet #1
- Billy Swan as Billy Swan
- Koko Taylor as Singer at Zanzibar
- Ed Wright as Desk Clerk
- Darrell Zwerling as Singer's Manager
- Debra Lamb as Fire Eater at Party (uncredited)
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 176
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 | 1 | 2 |
| 5 to 8 | 2 | 2 |
| 9 to 12 | 4 | 0 |
| 13 to 16 | 5 | 0 |
| 17 to 20 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 to 24 | 12 | 11 |
| 25 to 28 | 4 | 2 |
| 29 to 32 | 12 | 11 |
| 33 to 36 | 6 | 4 |
| 37 to 40 | 37 | 47 |
| 41 to 44 | 19 | 15 |
| 45 to 48 | 6 | 3 |
| 49 to 52 | 3 | 1 |
| 53 to 56 | 8 | 7 |
| 57 to 60 | 14 | 11 |
| 61 to 64 | 3 | 5 |
| 65 to 68 | 4 | 4 |
| 69 to 72 | 12 | 13 |
| 73 to 76 | 3 | 6 |
| 77 to 80 | 7 | 7 |
| 81 to 84 | 3 | 10 |
| 85 to 88 | 3 | 34 |
| 89 to 92 | 2 | 12 |
| 93 to 96 | 15 | 15 |
| 97 to 100 | 7 | 17 |
| 101 to 104 | 16 | 42 |
| 105 to 108 | 31 | 11 |
| 109 to 112 | 13 | 12 |
| 113 to 116 | 10 | 5 |
| 117 to 120 | 10 | 13 |
| 121 to 124 | 10 | 9 |
| 125 to 128 | 40 | 27 |
| 129 to 132 | 7 | 27 |
| 133 to 136 | 13 | 30 |
| 137 to 140 | 23 | 28 |
| 141 to 144 | 0 | 44 |
| 145 to 148 | 20 | 27 |
| 149 to 152 | 10 | 18 |
| 153 to 156 | 2 | 5 |
| 157 to 160 | 4 | 2 |
| 161 to 164 | 19 | 5 |
| 165 to 168 | 10 | 12 |
| 169 to 172 | 5 | 10 |
| 173 to 176 | 5 | 5 |
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, 44 are women's.
440 lines from women, 571 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
14 women and 24 men in the cast. 7 women and 16 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
A woman speaks the first line.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 53 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 45% of the words (6,233), men 55% (7,671). Women have 44% of the lines, so their lines run longer than men's.
Exhibit D: 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
4
Two men
32
Exhibit E: behind the camera
2 of the 12 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)
- From the novel by
- Barry Gifford (man)
- Produced by
- Sigurjón Sighvatsson (man), Monty Montgomery (man), Steve Golin (man)
- Shot by
- Frederick Elmes (man)
- Edited by
- Duwayne Dunham (man)
- Music by
- Angelo Badalamenti (man)
- Production design by
- Patricia Norris (woman)
- Costumes by
- Amy Stofsky (gender not listed)
- Cast by
- Johanna Ray (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
6 women, 26 men, 12 not listed
-
Sound
6 women, 23 men, 4 not listed
-
Production
6 women, 9 men, 6 not listed
-
Camera
1 women, 10 men, 8 not listed
-
Art
3 women, 6 men, 2 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
2 women, 0 men, 6 not listed
-
Lighting
0 women, 5 men, 3 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 4 men, 2 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 41 on average. Men: 47 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Laura Dern 23, Isabella Rossellini 38, Grace Zabriskie 49, Diane Ladd 54
Men
Nicolas Cage 26, Willem Dafoe 35, J.E. Freeman 44, Calvin Lockhart 55, William Morgan Sheppard 57, Harry Dean Stanton 64
Exhibit G: the money
It made 1.5 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $9.5 million
- Box office
- $14.6 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 176 scenes and 1,067 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
