| nudity |
Note: The number at the beginning of each section refers to how much explicit content of that kind there is in the film on a scale of 1-10. The fraction at the end of the last section is the total sum of the sections over the highest sum possible (50) and is therefore an approximation of about how explicit the film is a whole.
Sex & Nudity: 4/10
There are many sexual references and double entendres. There is also talk of a premarital pregnancy.
A man calls another man's wife "angel boobs" and "monkey nipples" in one sequence. Two married people (not to each other) flirt and dance seductively. A man bitingly mocks another man's desire for his wife by suggesting that they play a game called "hump the hostess."
A man and a woman, both married to different people, appear to have sex. We see their silhouettes in an upstairs window. However, afterwards, it is casually and quickly revealed that the man was impotent due to overconsumption of alcohol. |
| violence |
Violence & Gore: 3/10
A man threatens a woman with a gun, but the gun is a toy that only discharges an umbrella.
A man grabs a woman by the neck, choking her. They fall to the ground fighting.
A woman attacks a man, and after a scuffle he throws her off.
A man pulls a woman's hair and slaps her face.
A woman spits in a man's face.
|
| profanity |
Profanity: 6/10
This is the reason why we have the MPAA rating today.
Several uses of "son of a bitch", as well as other profanities, such as "goddamn", which is used almost constantly. Gods name taken: 'for Christ's sake'. Other insults include "SOB" (the acronym), "idiot", "slut", "loser", "failure", etc. |
| alcohol |
Alcohol/Drugs/Smoking: 10/10
All of the characters spend most of the screen time drinking, getting drunk, and staying drunk.
Two characters smoke. |
| frightening |
Frightening/Intense Scenes: 8/10
Most of the film ranges from fairly tense to extremely intense. Even forty years after its release, the savagery of the verbal assaults that make up most of the film is truly shocking, even for adults. Today it would probably get at least a strong PG-13, if not an R. There are very few relaxed moments, and most of those are in the first fifteen minutes. But Virginia Woolf is not an overtly violent, profane, or graphic film. It's emotionally intense.
A few sequences are even frightening such as the segment with the gun.
The ending is quite upsetting with the twist that was only hinted out throughout the film, but it also ends in a slight note of hope too
Suggested MPAA Rating: PG-13 for mature thematic content including language, some sexual content, and alcohol abuse.
Total Explicit Content: 31/50 (Parents need to be strongly cautioned: This film is centered on alcoholics, so through much of the film there is alcohol consumption and intoxication; Frequent mild to moderate profanity (goddamn is the strongest used) with verbal abuse; and the film gets more intense as it goes along.) |
