The Goldfinch | 2019 | R | – 3.5.7

Why is “The Goldfinch” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “drug use and language.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes a couple of kissing scenes, nudity in art, and cleavage revealing outfits; a couple of shootings with one leaving a couple of people with bloody wounds and one presumably dead, a bombing that leaves many dead, a couple of beatings, drug and alcohol use and abuse, an attempted suicide, and discussions of alcoholism; and over 20 F-words and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.”

---

Based on Donna Tartt’s 2014 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel: When a young boy’s mother is killed in a museum explosion, he reacts by stealing and hiding a valuable painting, which becomes the fulcrum of his life. One odd turn after another lead him in unpredictable directions. With Finn Wolfhard, Nicole Kidman, Sarah Paulson, Ansel Elgort, Aneurin Barnard, Peter Jacobson, Ashleigh Cummings, Luke Wilson, Willa Fitzgerald, Denis O’Hare, Jeffrey Wright, Luke Kleintank and Oakes Fegley. Directed by John Crowley. [Running Time: 2:29]

The Goldfinch SEX/NUDITY 3

 – A painting hangs on a wall in the background of a scene and we see a fully nude woman (her bare breasts, abdomen, genital area and legs are visible). A young woman wears a low-cut dress that reveals cleavage, the side of her breast and bare back. A woman wears a bikini while lying in the sun and we see her bare abdomen and cleavage as a teen boy remarks about her being “hot.” A woman wears a deeply cut top that reveals cleavage. A young man sits in a bathtub and we see his chest. A boy removes his shirt and pants and stands on the edge of a swimming pool (we see his back). A shirtless boy is shown jumping into a swimming pool (we see his bare chest and abdomen and back). A young woman wears a low-cut sweater and short shorts that reveal cleavage and bare legs to the upper thighs.
► A young woman kisses a young man on a sidewalk as her fiancé watches. A teen boy kisses a younger boy and runs away. A young man wakes in a start and we see him lying next to a sleeping young woman (he is shirtless and we see his bare shoulders and chest; she is wearing a nightshirt). A young man and a young woman hug goodbye. A boy and a girl hold hands.
► A teenage boy makes a crude sexual reference.

The Goldfinch VIOLENCE/GORE 5

 – Two men are held at gunpoint and one of the men flicks his cigarette in a gunman’s face, the two men leave with a briefcase and are held at gunpoint again, guns are fired and a man is shot and lies on the ground (we see a bloody wound); one of the men shoots him again, presumably killing him. A man beats his teenage son with a cane and kicks him when he is on the floor (we see the boy with a black eye the next day). A man slaps his son across the face twice and yells at him when he cries.
► A man runs through a museum in a panic and yells something as a huge explosion throws a lot of debris and creates billowing clouds of smoke and ash (we see this several times throughout the movie).
► A boy grabs a teen boy and throws him on the floor yelling at him for implicating him and getting him in trouble. Teen boys shove another smaller boy in a school hallway and he slams into lockers (there are no injuries but his glasses are jostled). A teen boy makes a crude sexual reference at a dining table with his family and his father becomes angry, yells and pounds on the table; the teen pounds on the table and leaves the room. A woman yells at a boy after he giggles while on acid. A man yells and throws things off a mantle. Two boys chase each other around a house and one punches the other in the face (there are no injuries; they seem to be playing). A teen boy and a younger boy steal glasses and a steak from a store.
► A boy remembers coming to after an explosion and we see him covered with ash as he walks through rubble (we see bodies and belongings strewn on the floor); he finds an injured man with a bloody cut on his head and they talk briefly before the man dies. A young boy walks through rubble after an explosion in a museum. A young boy is shown with soot on his face after an explosion and he seems to be in shock. A girl is shown resting in bed and we see that part of her head has been shaved and she has a large scar on her head; she complains of being tired all the time and that she drifts off to sleep. A boy wakes with a start remembering an explosion and the death of his mother; a teen boy lying next to him holds him and they fall back to sleep. A boy searches a woman’s things trying to find money so that he can leave and he tries to convince a teen boy to join him (he leaves alone). A painting of a bird shows the bird chained to a perch. We see many homes boarded up with foreclosure signs in the yards.
► A teen boy talks about his father saying that he killed a man with a pipe wrench. A young man talks about his father and his younger brother drowning in a boating accident. A man speaks to a young man in a threatening manner about the younger man having sold him an antique that was not what he said it was; he also talks about an art theft and criminal gang activity. We hear that a man died in a car accident and that he had a high blood alcohol level. A boy says that he dreams about his mother and says that her death was his fault. A man tells a boy, “Your mother wasn’t so easy to get along with.” A boy talks about his father having “ditched them,” and that he drank. A boy is questioned by authorities about a bombing and on what he remembers of the incident. A teen boy tells another boy, “Tough luck” after his mother dies in an explosion. A girl talks about her mother having died and then her uncle died. A boy talks about Texas having the death penalty. A young man says that his father was bipolar. A teen boy says of him and his father, “People hate us.” A teen boy says that his mother is dead and that she got drunk and fell out of a window. A teen boy panics when his father comes home and says, “He’ll kill the dog,” and another boy sneaks out of the house with a dog. A woman tells a boy to stay out of her cigarettes. A man tells a boy to take something from a museum. A teen boy and a younger boy take acid and one talks about people having sparks coming out of their mouths. We hear about a raid on a place where stolen art was recovered.
► A man puts his fingers down the throat of another man that has taken an overdose of pills (the man’s face is blue-tinged); the man vomits a couple of times (we hear gagging and splattering but do not see any goo). A boy talks about another boy having to carry a baggy onboard a boat “to throw up in.” A woman talks about her mother being an alcoholic and that she would “throw up in her own glass and then drink it.” A man yells that a dog defecated all over the floor in their house when they return from a trip (we do not see it). A young man talks about another young man being “wrecked” and that he would get “black out drunk.” A man has blood on his shirt sleeves and we see blood dripping into a sink as he washes the shirt.

The Goldfinch LANGUAGE 7

 – About 22 F-words, 3 obscene hand gestures, 1 sexual reference, 9 scatological terms, 3 anatomical terms, 2 mild obscenities, name-calling (loser, creep-o, dunce, junk, jeez, changelings, klutz, liar, Harry Potter, wunderkind), exclamations (good riddance), 1 religious profanity (GD), 8 religious exclamations (e.g. Oh My God, Jesus, Good Lord, God, Jesus, God Knows, God Bless). | profanity glossary |

The Goldfinch SUBSTANCE USE

 – A young man lays out a number of pills (perhaps Vicodin) on a dresser and begins taking them with vodka (we see this scene a couple of times), a woman gives a young boy a vial of pills to help him sleep, a woman talks about a man going through detox and that he took valium to get through it, a young man smashes up pills and snorts the powder, a teen boy and a younger boy take acid and act under the influence, a teen boy holds up a bag with pills in it and labeled with a letter “V” and the boy says that they are Vicodin, a teen boy says to a younger boy that they should “trip” together, a teen boy and a younger boy snort crushed pills and drink from a vodka bottle, a young woman tells a young man, “Take all the drugs you want,” a young man goes to a bar to get “some” (presumably drugs), two young men drink shots of vodka and snort cocaine in a limousine, and a woman gives a boy a pill for anxiety and we see him falling asleep from it later. A young man drinks liquor from a small bottle in a hotel room, a boy talks about his father being an alcoholic, a teen boy offers a younger boy a beer and they both drink, two young men drink at a bar, a couple of bar and restaurant scenes show tables with glasses of wine on them, a teen boy asks a younger boy if he wants vodka (he declines), a woman drinks a glass of wine and a man drinks a bottle of beer in their home, a teen boy picks up a half-filled glass of wine and a woman tells him that he is too young to drink, a woman talks about a man having a high blood alcohol level, people drink and hold glasses of wine and champagne at a celebration, a man and woman drinks wine in a restaurant/bar, several people drink and hold drinks at a reception, a man drinks whiskey and smokes a cigarette in an apartment, a man offers a boy a drink calling it a “minor nip” after a traumatic event (he does not give it to him), and two boys drink beers and smoke cigarettes. A teen boy smokes a cigarette in a school bathroom, a teen boy smoke cigarettes in several scenes, a man rolls and smokes a cigarette, a man and a woman smoke cigarettes in their home, a woman tells a boy to stay out of her cigarettes, a young man and a young woman smoke on a stoop, and a boy talks to another boy about having gotten in trouble over “the cigarettes.”

The Goldfinch DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Death of a parent, fine art, antiques vs. reproductions, art theft, terrorism, running away, drug dealing, estranged parents, being orphaned, discipline, astrology, second chances, fate, suicide, drug overdose, shame, the honor system, reputations, infidelity, marriage of convenience, immortality, abandonment, guilt.

The Goldfinch MESSAGE

 – You never know what is going to decide your future.