A Complete Unknown | 2024 | R | – 3.2.7

Why is “A Complete Unknown” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “language.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes a couple of implied sex scenes with partial nudity, a few kissing scenes, several scenes of people pushing and punching each other, a couple of protest scenes, reports of a presidential assassination and a nuclear weapons buildup, a man suffering from Huntington’s Disease, discussions and arguments about the folk music genre and modern music including rock and roll, and over 20 F-words and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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A young Bob Dylan (Timothée Chalamet) takes the folk music scene by storm when he is welcomed by Pete Seeger (Edward Norton) and Woody Guthrie (Scoot McNairy). Also with Elle Fanning, Monica Barbaro, Joe Tippett, Eriko Hatsune and Peter Gray Lewis. Directed by James Mangold. [Running Time: 2:21]

A Complete Unknown SEX/NUDITY 3

 – A man and a woman kiss passionately and we then see them sleeping in bed; the woman gets up wearing a T-shirt and underwear (we see the outline of her nipples through the T-shirt fabric and her bare legs to the hips) and the man gets up wearing boxers (we see his bare chest, abdomen, back and legs). A woman opens her apartment door to a man and we see her wearing a low-cut dress (cleavage is evident) and sex is implied; we later see the man shirtless (his bare chest, abdomen and back are seen) and the woman wearing a short negligee that reveals cleavage and bare legs to the upper thighs.
► A man and a woman kiss. A man and a woman kiss. A woman kisses a man on the cheek. A man kisses a woman on the cheek.
► A man goes to a woman’s apartment and finds another man with her; she tells him, “We broke up, remember?” (we see another man under covers in a bed in the background). A woman tells a young man, “I love you, is that scary to you?” and he replies, “I just met you, so yeah.” A man describes a woman as being pretty and that she sings pretty, “Maybe too pretty.” A man sings a song about a lost love. A man offers another man a guitar to play and the second man says that he can’t do that, “It’s like touching your woman,” and the first man says, “As long as you don’t hold her too tight.”
► A woman wears a low-cut top that reveals cleavage. A man sits in a bathtub and we see his bare shoulders and upper chest.

A Complete Unknown VIOLENCE/GORE 2

 – People in an audience at a folk music festival fight shoving and punching each other. Two men push each other and fight, throwing punches when one man tries to interfere with sound equipment during a concert. A woman tries to take a man’s glasses off and he pushes her away, causing another man to punch the man in the face (we see his bruised face later).
► A man lies in a hospital bed in a clinic in numerous scenes and he struggles to speak and move (he is suffering from Huntington’s Disease). A man in a hospital bed hands another man a card that reads, “I ain’t dead yet.”
► News reports cover the assassination of John F. Kennedy. News reports cover a Soviet nuclear buildup in Cuba and refer to nuclear strike capability; people in New York City are shown scrambling to leave the city for fear of an attack and we hear reports of preparation for a full retaliatory response.
► Audience members complain about a song being played at a folk music festival because the musicians are using electric instruments and it is too loud. A man refuses to play a song at a festival and the woman he is singing with becomes upset and sings the song on her own as the crowd cheers. A man speeds on a motorcycle in a few scenes. Fans crush toward a man on sidewalks and streets in several scenes as he tries to get away and get into taxis. People argue over the use of electric instruments in folk music. A man tells a woman singer, “You try too hard,” and they later argue about writing songs. A man and a woman argue and she tells him to get out; he leaves and she grabs the guitar he is carrying saying that it is her guitar. A woman leaves a festival after watching a man sing with another woman; the man follows her and tries to convince her to stay; she leaves. A man tries to move his car out of the way of another man’s motorcycle and he crashes into two cars on either side of him denting all three cars. A man considers using an axe to cut the cables of a sound system during a concert but does not do so.
► A man speaks to a judge in a courtroom and describes a politician’s dislike of his music creating the circumstances for him being charged with a crime and found guilty; the judge says that the man was found in contempt of congress under a federal subpoena for not disclosing a person’s name. Protest signs read, “Better dead than red.” A remark is made about someone being a Catholic Communist. People in a courtroom cheer after a man offers to sing to the judge and the judge yells for them to be quiet while pounding his gavel. A man describes a woman as being depressed and that she looks at her shoes while performing. A man describes another singer’s voice as being “not human.” A health aid reprimands a man smoking and singing in a clinic saying that the man he is visiting has a serious disease and that this is not a nightclub.
► A man describes a toilet as being a composter and says that it doesn’t smell; two young children say, “Yes it does.” A sick man coughs and another man wipes his mouth.

A Complete Unknown LANGUAGE 7

 – About 23 F-words, 1 obscene hand gesture, 15 scatological terms, 3 anatomical terms, 6 mild obscenities, 1 derogatory term for African-American people, name-calling (subversive, second rate politician, dustiest, dogmatic, inauthentic, dirty little secret, fancy, drunkard, paranoid, sweetheart, corny, Judas, groupies, beatnik, freak, jerk, contrarian), exclamations (e.g. stop hiding, knock it off, geez, gosh, oops), 4 religious profanities (GD), 13 religious exclamations (e.g. Christ, oh God, Judas, Lord, are you God, Jesus, Jesus Christ, God said to Abraham). | profanity glossary |

A Complete Unknown SUBSTANCE USE

 – A man drinks a beer, a man drinks from a bottle of liquor during a public TV broadcast, a man carries a bottle of beer places it on a car hood and it falls to the ground breaking (he seems inebriated), and people drink and smoke at a party. A man puts a cigarette in his mouth and a woman asks him to smoke outside, people smoke cigarettes in many scenes throughout the movie, ashtrays are shown full of cigarette butts, and a man and a woman smoke in a movie scene.

A Complete Unknown DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Folk music, Rock and Roll music, Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, Johnny Cash, Birmingham segregation protests, freedom riders, nuclear war threat, ambition, infidelity, fame, justice, peace, love, Freud, forgiveness.

A Complete Unknown MESSAGE

 – Bob Dylan has his own sense of music and how it fits into the ever-changing music industry.