Marlowe | 2022 | R | – 3.6.6

Why is “Marlowe” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “language, violent content, some sexual material and brief drug use.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes an attempted seduction, partial nudity in a bar scene, discussion of sexual encounters and infidelity, several scenes of people being killed by being run over by a car and being shot with bloody wounds shown at crime scenes and in photos, implications of a woman being raped before being murdered, a few fistfights, the use of cocaine and references to heroin, discussion of drug smuggling, a few arguments and over 15 F-words and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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Set in 1939, a private detective (Liam Neeson) is hired by a wealthy woman (Diane Kruger) to find her lover and the trail leads him to betrayal and murder. Also with Jessica Lange, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Colm Meaney, Daniela Melchior, Alan Cumming, Danny Huston, Seána Kerslake, François Arnaud, Ian Hart and Darrell D’Silva. Directed by Neil Jordan. [Running Time: 1:50]

Marlowe SEX/NUDITY 3

 – A woman wearing short shorts dances on a bar and men watch her as another woman, fully nude, lies on a bar top as a man places dollar bills on her body (we see cleavage and her bare abdomen, legs to the hips; her breasts and crotch are covered by money). Women wearing swimsuits sit around a swimming pool (we see cleavage and bare legs to the hips).
► A man chases a young man through a club and the young man is wearing what looks like a schoolboy uniform (implying sexual activity). A woman tries to seduce a man and he declines telling her, “You’re half my age,” and, “I’d lose my bearings.”
► A woman kisses a man’s hand and leaves.
► A married woman describes meeting a man and having sex with him. A man asks a woman if her husband is “a homosexual.” A comment is made about someone “making time” with a man’s wife. A woman tells a man that her husband must think there is something sexual between them. A comment is made about women having sex with movie producers. A young woman says that a police officer “tried to make me in the hallway.” A young woman is described as turning tricks. A man says that he is not a good lover. A woman says another woman’s lover left her.

Marlowe VIOLENCE/GORE 6

 – A woman reads documents about fatal injuries and says that a person’s skull was fractured, as we see a car running over a body in a road (we see the person’s head crushed under a tire and it sprays blood and matter). We hear that a young woman was found dead and we see her body with bloody wounds on the bank of a river as officers search the water nearby; it is implied that she was raped and we are told that her throat was cut. A seemingly unconscious man is dragged into a room where we see a few other men with bloody wounds from beatings; one man appears to be dead and has a lot of blood on his throat and shirt. A crime scene photo shows a man’s body with his head crushed and we see brain matter.
► A man shoots at another man, and the first man is shot several times, falls through a balcony and crashes onto the floor where a lit lantern is thrown on top of him setting him and a pile of papers and debris on fire and the man yells as he is covered in flames; we later see the building engulfed in flames. A man throws a glass of liquor in a man’s face (he is tied into a chair and has bloody wounds on his face) and the man takes a straight razor out of the injured man’s pocket and another man attempts to cut off his ear; another man shoots him in the chest (we see blood as he is thrown back), and an aquarium glass is shattered by bullets and water gushes out as another man is shot in the chest and abdomen repeatedly (a lot of bloody wounds are shown). A man slams another man against a heavy metal pipe and he falls to the floor unconscious. A man slams another man against a wall and another man chases a young woman out of a house and into woods where he pushes her and she falls through a chicken coop roof (we see her with bloody cuts on her knees); a man holds a knife to the woman’s throat when another man holds a gun on him and shoots him in the ankle (we see blood) and someone hits the man with the gun in the back of the head and he falls unconscious.
► A man with hedge trimmers moves toward another man in a threatening manner; the threatened man grabs the trimmers and hits the other man in the face (we see a bruise on his face). A man slams another man against two walls while questioning him. Two men fight with a few punches landing. A woman angrily stands up from a restaurant table and pulls the tablecloth, breaking things and throwing items on the floor before storming out. People on a movie set shoot machine guns and a man is struck and thrown through glass.
► A man with a machine gun stands over an unconscious man as he revives. A man unlocks handcuffs on another man, breaks a gun display case and the two men arm themselves. A woman is shown in a cemetery columbarium grieving and when a man sees her she runs and he chases her out of the building and she speeds away in a car.
► A woman is shown wearing stage makeup that includes a bloody eye socket and skin. A man breaks the glass of a door and goes into a house to investigate a man’s disappearance. A man kicks a gate open and sneaks onto the property of a private club. A man finds another man snorting cocaine in his office, and he throws something on the man’s desk that sprays the powder on the man’s face. A man pretends to drink a drugged drink and stumbles around a room before lying back unconscious; we see him dragged out of the room by two other men. Nazi flags are shown hanging in a movie set and the scene being filmed shows books being piled on a bonfire.
► A man says that someone took his gun. A man describes a person being beaten to death and placed on a road where he was run over to hide the crime. A man talks about serving in a war and that people were blown up; he says that he found a friend’s tooth in a glass of whiskey, but that he drank the whiskey anyway. A man talks about crimes being covered up in a private club including underage sex and drugs. A man describes a dead man’s body as having tracks on his arm and that he had been drinking heavily. A woman says that she went to a man’s house to find him and he wasn’t there and that his mail had piled up. A bartender asks two men, “What’s your trouble, money or women?”

Marlowe LANGUAGE 6

 – About 16 F-words, 6 sexual references, 5 scatological terms, 2 anatomical terms, 6 mild obscenities, 7 derogatory terms for Mexican people, 2 derogatory terms for women, name-calling (Femme Fatale, Medea, Latin Lover, weaker man, unsuitable, bastard, junk, criminal, womanizer, evil incarnate, pretend antiques, hedge-hopper, pimp, whore, terrible, embarrassing, trouble, big guy), exclamations (fair enough, go figure), 2 religious profanities (GD), 3 religious exclamations (e.g. Jesus, my God, for God’s sake). | profanity glossary |

Marlowe SUBSTANCE USE

 – A man snorts cocaine in his office, a man describes a dead man’s body as having tracks on his arm and that he had been drinking heavily, people discuss trafficking drugs (heroin and cocaine) across the border from Mexico, a few references to “moving product,” we hear that drugs (heroin) are being moved through a movie studio, a man talks about a “Mickey Finn,” and a man pours a drug into another man’s drink. A man offers a woman a drink, people drink cocktails in a café in a couple of scenes, a man drinks a whiskey in a bar and another man drinks a beer, a man says he doesn’t think he has seen a sober driver, a reference is made to bootlegging, and people drink and smoke cigarettes in a bar. A man smokes in an office, a man offers a cigarette to a woman and she accepts, men and women smoke cigarettes in many scenes throughout the film.

Marlowe DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Murder, betrayal, drug running, theft, divorce, wealth, alienation of affection, peccadilloes, love, reconciliation, humiliation, seven deadly sins, schemes, grammar, conspiracies, Leni Riefenstahl, secrets.

Marlowe MESSAGE

 – Life isn’t fair. Most people have done bad things.