Babylon | 2022 | R | – 10.7.10

Why is “Babylon” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “strong and crude sexual content, graphic nudity, bloody violence, drug use, and pervasive language.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes men and women having sex in a variety of settings with full nudity, full male and female nudity in many scenes, deaths on movie sets including bloody wounds, threats of death and violence over gambling debts, threats with guns and several gunshot wounds with some leading to death, several scenes of people gorging on drugs and alcohol, many arguments, and nearly 190 F-words and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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An exploration of 1920s Hollywood during the last days of silent cinema, following the rise and fall of several actors and filmmakers through a time of uninhibited desire, decadence and depravity. With Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Jean Smart, Olivia Wilde, Diego Calva, Jovan Adepo, Telvin Griffin and Phoebe Tonkin. Directed by Damien Chazelle. A few lines of dialogue are spoken in Italian and Spanish without translation. [Running Time: 3:09]

Babylon SEX/NUDITY 10

 – At a large and crowded party we see a few couples engaged in anal sex with thrusting and nudity and a woman is shown pressing a bottle into a man’s anus (we hear a pop). A fully nude man (we see his bare chest, abdomen, legs to the hips, side buttocks and pubic hair) lies on a floor as a young woman dances seductively around him (we see her cleavage and bare legs to the upper thighs), stands over him and urinates on him (we see urine spray on his abdomen and face). Two men are led through a dark tunnel while discordant music blares and we see fully nude people (bare breasts, pubic regions, genitals and buttocks are shown) in cages (please see the Violence/Gore category for more details); two men are shown having sex with two women (they seemed to be conjoined). A man is shown thrusting into a woman while standing on a balcony overlooking a large party (we see her bare leg wrapped around his waist).
► A woman dances seductively and places a man’s hands on her clothed buttocks, she squats down below his hips and back up again while others dancing around then thrust their hips and many are shown partially nude and others are fully nude (male genitals, buttocks, chests and abdomens, as well as women’s breasts, pubic areas, buttocks and backs are shown). A woman is directed to flirt with men in a bar for a movie scene and she dances suggestively on the bar top, lifts her skirt to show her underwear, she kisses a man and puts her hand in his pants, she puts another man’s face in her crotch, continues dancing and flashes her bare breast. An entertainer wearing what looks like a diaper pops out of a large cake at a party holding a giant phallus that he strokes and it spurts liquid out and over an audience. Many people dance at a party in varying stages of undress (men’s genitals, buttocks, chests, abdomens and legs as well as women’s breasts, abdomens, buttocks backs and legs are seen) and with a variety of sexual activity including a man licking whipped cream off a woman’s bare breasts, a woman sits on a fully nude man’s back and whips him. A man at a party identifies a woman as “The one having sex with the ice sculpture” and we see her thrusting and stroking an ice unicorn’s horn.
► A man bathes in a tub on a movie set (his genitals are visible). Many topless women are seen in a party scene (bare breasts, backs and abdomens are seen). A woman wears an outfit that reveals the side of her bare breasts. Men in a party scene are shown wearing skimpy briefs that reveal bare chests, abdomens, backs and legs. A drink server wears a deeply cut top that reveals cleavage and leans over in front of a seated man; they talk about her trying to get his attention. A woman’s skimpy outfit reveals cleavage to the abdomen, bare back and legs to the hips. A shirtless man is shown with genitals drawn on his chest and abdomen. A man undresses and we see him wearing a tank T-shirt and boxer shorts. A woman’s nipples are visible through the fabric of her dress.
► A woman sings suggestive lyrics about another woman’s genitals; she walks through people standing in an audience as if she is going to choose a partner and she kisses one woman deeply. A woman asks of another woman, “Do you think she swings both ways?” A woman introduces members of a football team and says, “They will be my slaves.” A woman describes the sizes of actors’ genitals.
► A man kisses women on the cheeks in greeting in a few scenes. A man and a woman hold hands and kiss for a movie scene. A teen boy and a teen girl kiss in a movie theater audience. A woman kisses a man in front of his fiancée. A woman kisses a man on the cheek. A man and a woman kiss in a movie scene (we see this a few times). A woman is introduced at a party and it is said that she will choose a partner; she walks through the attendees and touches a woman’s hand, they dance together and nearly kiss before they are interrupted. A man kisses up a woman’s arm in a movie scene. A man kisses a woman on the forehead. A man pats a woman on her clothed buttock.

Babylon VIOLENCE/GORE 7

 – Costumed extras charge each other on a movie set and clash with spears and swords (we see blood spurt from wounds), a horse lies motionless and presumably dead (we see blood on its neck), a car crashes into a wooden structure, and we see a dead man on the set with a spear through his chest (blood is shown). A man collapses dead out of an enclosed box and onto the floor of a movie set after complaining about the heat inside the box. A man tries to revive a young woman (we see her unconscious with blood on her nose and face). A fire breaks out on a movie set and smoke blows through the area. A snake is shown coiled on the ground, a man approaches it, it rattles and the man collapses (uninjured); a woman then grabs the snake off the ground, holds it over her head and the snake bites her on the neck; she flails around screaming with the snake attached to her neck, others run screaming, a man runs in front of a car and is struck, and the woman collapses (we see blood on her neck); another woman cuts the snake’s head off, pulls it off the woman’s neck (we see blood bubbling out of the wound) and sucks on the wound spitting out blood and rinses her mouth with liquor from a flask then spits it out. Two men are led through a dark tunnel while discordant music blares; we see people crowded into areas where people fight in cages (we see blood splatter as punches land), other people are shown chained inside cages where they are whipped (some are fully nude; please see the Sex/Nudity category for more details), an alligator thrashes toward the men as they pass, and a man on a stage opens a box, removes a live mouse and eats it (blood pours from his mouth). A movie scene shows someone’s eye being sliced by a straight razor. A man kicks a door open and shoots two men (blood sprays), and a third man pleads not to be shot (he urinates on the floor and we see a puddle). A man draws a gun on another man, the second man hits the gunman in the neck and blood pours from the wound and two men run away; an alligator is released from its chain and thrashes around, and the two men speed away in a car and are shot at. A man shoots himself off-screen (blood splatters on the wall). We see what looks like bodies and puddles of blood on the ground in the dark.
► A woman grabs a fox stole off a woman’s shoulders and draws it behind her to wipe her buttocks with it while yelling at the woman and others gathered in the room; she shoves a great deal of food in her mouth and we see some on her face and clothing as she leaves the party, returns, vomits (we see goo) on a rug in front of many attendees and vomits again on a man. A man pays another man to haul an elephant up a steep narrow road; the truck is unable to make the grade and it starts to roll back down, and two men stand behind the truck and try to push it as the elephant sprays a large amount of wet feces all over them (we see the animal’s anus open and a lot of liquid sprays out).
► A woman yells and throws plates shattering them, she marches through a room, draws a gun on her husband and shoots (we see the man later with his arm in a sling). A woman grabs a man by the tie and threatens him. A man punches another man that tries to grab a woman; a man clings to the bumper of a car as the woman speeds away, and then lets go and tumbles on the road. A man punches another man in the face. A woman slaps a man in the face. A man with a knife threatens another man; he jumps on a horse, shoots a gun in the air and charges through an angry crowd that’s chasing him. A spear is thrown and it pierces a pole inside a tent nearly hitting a man. A man yells at a woman and throws a tray across a room. A woman pounds on the door of a man and says that she is in trouble and that she owes a lot of money to people that will pour acid on her if she doesn’t pay; she clings to his leg and pleads with him to help her. A man lunges at another man.
► A man has his head stuck in a toilet and cannot get out; we later see him with the toilet seat around his neck. A man carries a seemingly unconscious man up a flight of stairs; the second man revives and runs in the house, undresses, stands on a table on a balcony and falls backward over the balcony and crashes onto a tile roof then into a swimming pool (we do not see injuries). An elephant is walked into a large party and people run out screaming. A man stumbles drunk up a hill for a shot in a movie scene. A woman hits her head against a bathroom wall after overhearing two men talk disparagingly about her. Two men are shown unconscious on the floor of a tent from drinking too much. A woman dances while standing up in a moving car, and she puts her hands over the driver’s eyes while he drives.
► A heartbroken man asks another man to drive him off a cliff (he does not). A man grabs a fluttering chicken and yells about the animal having gotten his “coke.” A woman cries during a movie scene. A woman tells a man that his career is over. We hear that a man shot himself and he was found in his home. We see newspaper headlines of several deceased actors. A man yells at a woman in Spanish without translation. A man fires a woman and she leaves. A wife yells at her husband and demands a divorce.
► A Black musician is given “burnt cork” to apply to darken his complexion for a movie scene so as not to appear “lighter” compared to the other Black musicians. A window in a large house explodes spraying glass and we see someone running away. A woman drives her car into a statue and argues with a security guard to let her into a party. A police officer is bribed to ignore a traffic infraction with an invitation to a Hollywood party. Protestors picket outside a movie studio with signs that complain about “decency.”
► A man urinates into a urinal (we hear the stream) and he reaches to shake another man’s hand and the second man turns away; someone else in a stall flatulates loudly. A woman drools on a bed pillow (we see goo). A woman arrives on a movie set wearing bandages on her face and nose (implying cosmetic surgery). A man snorts and spits a few times (we hear a splat and we see goo). A woman visits a woman in a sanatorium.

Babylon LANGUAGE 10

 – About 188 F-words and its derivatives (1 not fully enunciated, 1 mouthed), 4 sexual references, 33 scatological terms, 38 anatomical terms, 5 mild obscenities, 4 derogatory terms for Jewish people, 4 derogatory terms for African-American people, 1 derogatory term for Hispanic people, 1 derogatory term for gay people, name-calling (fraud, blimp, trash, sick, baby, slutty, psychopath, flop, cockroach, bastards, rich geriatrics, Humpty Dumpty, halfwit, donkey, fat, ugliest mutt, dumb, deranged, midget, idiots, wild child, common, retard, uncouth, [anatomical term deleted] face), exclamations (amazing, pow, wow, eureka, calm down, why do I bother, geez Louise, my goodness, shut-up), 10 religious profanities (GD), 18 religious exclamations (e.g. oh my God, God, Holy [F-word deleted], God no, Christ, Jesus Christ, Holy [scatological term deleted]). | profanity glossary |

Babylon SUBSTANCE USE

 – A woman snorts a lot of cocaine, a woman is shown a room filled with a variety of drugs, a man and woman snort cocaine and talk about their dreams, a woman asks for cocaine and other drugs, and we hear that a woman overdosed. Many large and crowded party scenes show people drinking liquor and smoking cigarettes, many scenes show men and women drinking, a woman guzzles a glass of champagne, and people say that a man had a drinking problem. People smoke cigarettes in many scenes throughout the movie.

Babylon DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Excess, depravity, the Hollywood culture of the 1920s, silent films, talking movies, success, honesty, gambling debt, progress, morals, movies vs. live theater, “The Jazz Singer.”

Babylon MESSAGE

 – Excess does not lead to happy lives.