Flora and Son | 2023 | R | – 4.3.10

Why is “Flora and Son” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “language throughout, sexual references and brief drug use.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes an implied sex scene, several sexual references, a few scenes of teen girls dancing suggestively, discussions of teen pregnancy and abortion, a teen boy chased by a man after stealing, a teen boy being arrested and sent to juvenile detention, many arguments, and about 60 F-words and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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A single mother (Eve Hewson) struggles to raise her teen son (Orén Kinlan) in Ireland, and finds herself fighting him and everyone around them to keep him on the straight and narrow. When they each discover a love of creating music, the process finally brings them together. Also with Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marcella Plunkett, Don Wycherley and Jack Reynor. Directed by John Carney. [Running Time: 1:37]

Flora and Son SEX/NUDITY 4

 – A woman wakes up in bed and is pleased when she realizes that she is alone; a man then comes into the room and the woman is disappointed that they had been together the night before (sex is implied).
► A woman confronts a man about his current partner and asks him if she performs as she did sexually. A man in a bar tells a woman that he plans to sleep with her and she dismisses him. During a video chat, a woman asks a man if he would play a song for her and if he would do so with his shirt off; he ends the chat. A man and woman flirt over a video chat in several scenes. A woman tells a man, “I like the look of ya’.” A woman sends a message to a man apologizing for objectifying him and offers to send him a picture of her breasts as an apology. A teen boy writes a love song for a teen girl he has a crush on. After singing a song together, a woman tells a man that it was “a bit like we just made love.” A woman tells a man, “I feel naked.” A teen boy tells a Garda officer that he uses a laptop to watch pornography (we do not see this). A Garda officer tells a teen boy that he will be going to prison if there’s another violation and he tells the boy that they “anally rape them” in prison. A woman talks about getting pregnant when she was 17 and deciding not to have an abortion.
► Two teen girls wearing short-shorts and cropped tops (cleavage, bare abdomens and legs to the upper thighs are seen) dance suggestively while a young man (we see his bare chest and abdomen) sings and others record them in several scenes. Women in a bar wear low-cut tops (cleavage is revealed) and dance; one woman dances with a man with suggestive hip movements. A woman wears a low-cut top that reveals deep cleavage in a few scenes. A woman in a bar sings on a stage and we see her partial bare legs through a slit in her skirt. A woman wears a low-cut tank top that reveals cleavage.

Flora and Son VIOLENCE/GORE 3

 – A teen boy is chased in a street after stealing a keyboard from a music store; we then see him in a police station where he is charged and told that he has run out of chances and will be going to juvenile detention and we later see him being sentenced and locked in a cell. A woman and her teenage son argue in most scenes and they call each other names; the woman slaps the teen in the face in one scene and he storms out. A man on a bicycle nearly crashes into a woman and teen boy walking on a sidewalk; he falls off his bike, yells at the woman and she threatens to beat him with his bicycle lock.
► A woman steals money from another woman’s purse. A woman climbs into a dumpster outside a house and retrieves a dust-covered guitar with a broken string.
► A man talks about being able to tell when a song is not inspiring. A woman tells a man, “You’re already no one.” Teen boys in a detention center are asked to talk about the best days of their lives and one teen says that he has never had a best day. A woman sings a song to her teen son with lyrics that include, “I hate you.” A Garda officer tells a teen boy that he will be going to prison if he has another violation and he tells the boy that they “anally rape them” in prison. A Garda officer asks a teen boy if he has been stealing or receiving stolen goods; the boy has a bruised face and says that he was in a fight. A woman and a man argue in several scenes about raising their teen son. When a man asks where a woman’s son is, she replies that she doesn’t know.
► A music video shows a man being arrested and pushed against a wall by an officer, then being held on the ground and later he is shown sleeping on the street.

Flora and Son LANGUAGE 10

 – About 60 F-words, 2 obscene hand gestures, 6 sexual references, 13 scatological terms, 16 anatomical terms, 9 mild obscenities, name-calling (idiot, ungrateful, slag, posers, junkies, thief, wankers, weird, psycho, prostitute, grim, savage, knackered, weirdo, crazy Irish [mild obscenity deleted], punters, hard-core, creepy, stupid), exclamations (shut-up, yeah baby, ugh, get out of my way woman), 16 religious exclamations (e.g. God, Jesus, Jesus Christ, oh my God, Christ, touched by God, if God takes me). | profanity glossary |

Flora and Son SUBSTANCE USE

 – A woman accuses a man of “smoking weed,” and a man and a woman talk about being under the influence during the birth of their children and for many years after. A woman drinks glasses of wine and smokes numerous cigarettes in most scenes that she is in, and people drink and smoke cigarettes in several bar scenes. People drink wine and beers at a gathering, a pre-teen boy drinks what is left in a glass of beer on a table in a bar, and a man drinks beers in a café (we see two empty glasses and he guzzles another).

Flora and Son DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Single parenting, love of music, finding a meaningful hobby, loneliness, Stockholm Syndrome, clichés, external influences on teens, dreams, broken marriages, infidelity, love songs, anger, teen pregnancy, abortion.

Flora and Son MESSAGE

 – Music can change people and bring them together.