Lee | 2023 | R | – 6.6.5

Why is “Lee” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “disturbing images, language and nudity.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes a few kissing and implied sex scenes, an attempted rape scene, a discussion of a child being raped, several scenes of partial nudity, many scenes of war violence including explosions, gunfire and the bloody aftermath, many scenes of dead bodies in various states of decay, discussions of people having gone missing during World War II, many arguments, and at least 8 F-words and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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A biopic of Lee Miller (Kate Winslet), acclaimed war correspondent and photojournalist for Vogue magazine during World War II. Also with Alexander Skarsgård, Andy Samberg, Andrea Riseborough, Josh O’Connor, Marion Cotillard, Noémie Merlant, James Murray and Samuel Barnett. Directed by Ellen Kuras. [Running Time: 1:56]

Lee SEX/NUDITY 6

 – A man and a woman kiss passionately and we hear them having sex behind a closed door, with moaning and thumping sounds, as another man overhears the commotion. A man and woman kiss passionately in a hallway; the man asks if he can come into her room, they kiss as they enter the room and sex is implied. A woman removes her clothes (we see her bare breasts) and a man applies paint in order to test paint as camouflage; he reaches below her waist (off-screen) and they kiss (sex is implied).
► A man and a woman kiss and embrace.
► A man lying shirtless in bed (after having sex with a woman) pleads with her to come home with him and she becomes angry. A woman talks about being good at having sex. A man jokes asking, “Who do I have to sleep with to get some food around here?”
► Several women take off their tops and sit topless at a table with others (bare breasts, abdomens and backs are visible). A woman undresses, wraps a towel around her and asks a man to photograph her while sitting in a bathtub (we see her bare breasts and shoulders). A woman lies in bed wearing a tank top that reveals cleavage. A man and a woman wear swimsuits that reveal the woman’s cleavage, bare abdomen and legs and the man’s bare chest, abdomen and legs. A woman photographs women’s undergarments hanging in a window to dry in a barracks.
► Many dead and emaciated bodies are seen piled up in a few scenes, with some genitals evident in shadow.

Lee VIOLENCE/GORE 6

 – A man and a woman approach a series of train cars and gag at the smell, as children play nearby; the door of one train car is opened and we see the emaciated bodies of people inside as one body’s limb falls limp out of the door. Many bodies are lined up on the ground in a World War II death camp as people walk through the area; clothes and bodies are piled up nearby.
► A woman photographs wounded soldiers in a medical tent; we see men with bloody wounds and moaning and one man is unconscious as his leg is removed by a doctor holding a bone saw (we hear a crunch and see the severed leg wrapped in cloth and the bloody stump). A wounded soldier is seen with heavy bandages on his head, face, hands and legs. A woman photographs dead bodies after they suicide by cyanide poisoning. Many dead and emaciated bodies are seen piled up in a few scenes with some genitals evident in shadow. A woman drinks heavily while looking at photographs of emaciated dead bodies and suffering children.
► A woman hears a young woman’s voice pleading with someone to stop and the woman finds a man attempting to rape a young woman, pressing her against a wall; the woman pushes the man away, yelling at him and draws a knife on him as the man walks away sneering. A woman talks about having been raped when she was young and that her mother told her to never tell anyone; she says, “It happens all the time and they just get away with it.”
► A few scenes show military personnel and a journalist scrambling through gunfire and explosions in a war zone and we focus on a boot with what could be a portion of a spinal column near it; one explosion throws a woman back against sandbags and she is stunned from the blast. Two women with their heads shaved and a third woman are led out to a jeering crowd where the third woman’s head is shaved and we are told that they are collaborators.
► A woman talks about people being forced onto trains and taken away, never to be seen again. A man accuses a woman of being an informant and another woman reprimands him saying that she had been taken advantage of sexually. A commander tells a woman, “We don’t send women to combat.” A commander instructs a woman to write her own obituary and send it to her editor before she goes to the war front. A man talks about people in suicide pacts and that whole families have been found dead after taking cyanide. A young girl is frightened and cowers against a wall when a woman enters a room to photograph her. A woman is furious when her photographs are not printed in a magazine and goes to the office where she retrieves and destroys the original pictures and negatives as another woman tells her that the images will disturb people. People talk about politics and war, and the possibility of Adolf Hitler invading. A woman talks about people going into hiding in France and joining the underground resistance. We hear that Hitler and Ava Braun committed suicide. A man talks about feeling as if he was responsible for everything bad that happened to his mother. We read that Lee Miller died in 1977.
► A newsreel shows footage of Adolf Hitler and throngs of people cheering in support of him. A woman is stopped before being allowed to enter a press briefing and told that no women are allowed; we understand that women are not afforded security clearances. Military personnel are shown in an apartment that we understand belonged to Adolf Hitler and they drink, smoke, and bathe. A man talks about a woman having used his helmet to urinate in, and she then disinfected it with liquor and gave it back to him.

Lee LANGUAGE 5

 – About 8 F-words, 7 scatological terms, 11 anatomical terms, 8 mild obscenities, name-calling (model, muse, ingénue, square, frivolous, idiots, brainwashed, horrible, disaster, monster, crazy, disappointing, cruel, dumb, patronizing, fruitless, tenacity, old woman, irritatingly talented), exclamations (blew a gasket, getting your knickers in a twist, shut-up, hold your tongue, I swear, goodness, how dare you), 5 religious profanities (GD), 20 religious exclamations (e.g. Jesus, God, oh God, oh my God, Jesus Christ, God bless you, Holy [scatological term deleted], Holy [mild obscenity deleted]). | profanity glossary |

Lee SUBSTANCE USE

 – A woman takes unidentified pills in several scenes and offers one to a man (he declines). A woman talks about being good at drinking, a woman holds a bottle of brandy and stumbles in a street (she is inebriated), a woman drinks heavily while looking at photographs of emaciated dead bodies and suffering children, a woman drinks from a flask in a few scenes, a man drinks from a bottle of liquor, and people drink wine and smoke cigarettes at a gathering. People smoke cigarettes in many scenes throughout the movie.

Lee DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – World War II, the Blitzkrieg, the Holocaust, photojournalism, Adolf Hitler, Normandy, secrets, consequences, appearances, starvation, humanitarian aid, suicide pacts, promises, shame, liberty, truth, rape, parenting, women aging.

Lee MESSAGE

 – Seeing images of unimaginable acts of depravity makes it real.