Life Itself | 2018 | R | – 4.6.8

Why is “Life Itself” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “language including sexual references, some violent images and brief drug use.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes several kissing scenes and scenes where cleavage is evident, several gory scenes of tragic accidents, gun violence and a suicide by gun, some drugs and lots of drinking, and at least 35 F-words. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.”

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From the creators of the NBC series “This is Us”: New Yorkers (Olivia Wilde and Oscar Isaac) meet in college and marry but close to the birth of their first child a tragedy changes their lives and dramatically touches other people through several generations. Also with Antonio Banderas, Annette Bening, Olivia Cooke, Sergio Peris-Mencheta, Laia Costa, Jean Smart, Alex Monner and Mandy Patinkin. Directed by Dan Fogelman. The second half of the film is in Spanish with English subtitles except for three phrases that are not translated. [Running Time: 1:57]

Life Itself SEX/NUDITY 4

 – Clothed, a man and a woman lie on a bed and kiss: he lies on top of her but rolls off because he was on a dog as well (there are no injuries). A flashback shows a couple under covers (part of his chest is bare). A clothed couple lie in bed and kiss several times. A young man and a young woman lie in bed clothed and talk; she kisses him once. A young woman wearing mid-thigh shorts is shown with her legs wrapped around a young man in bed. A woman sits in the lap of a man in a club and they kiss for several seconds. A man and a woman kiss for several seconds at an outdoor café.
► We hear that a woman’s college professor tried to have sex with her, unsuccessfully. We hear that a couple was married for 43 years and had four children. A man is jealous that his boss is friendly to his wife and son and the man leaves his wife.
► A woman wears a blouse opened down the front to reveal a bra and some cleavage. A woman wears a lacy top that bears her midsection and navel, with a bra underneath. A woman wears a tank top that reveals some cleavage. A woman appears in the 9th ninth month pregnancy with her swollen abdomen under a long blouse. A woman is pregnant in a brief scene and her swollen abdomen shows. A man lifts a woman and her dress slides up a bit to reveal one leg up to the mid-thigh.

Life Itself VIOLENCE/GORE 6

 - A woman asks a man to speak about his marriage, he cries, pulls out a pistol and shoots himself in the face; he falls off-screen as the woman screams and leaves the room (we see blood but cannot see the injury).
► A woman steps into a street, a bus strikes her, and she is thrown onto the asphalt, face up; we see three views of the blood on her face (one view includes a large pool of spreading blood under her head). Three scenes show a bus approaching a pregnant woman stepping backwards into a street and being struck by the bus; the first scene cuts away before the collision and we hear a thud off-screen as a man screams, a second view shows the woman's bloody face as she lies on the pavement, and a third view occurs from inside the bus as it strikes the woman and jerks to a stop with screeching tires and we hear the thud.
► A teenage girl points a pistol at a man and shoots him in the leg as she shouts angrily; he yelps in pain and falls (no blood is shown). A close-up of a young girl shows her flinching as two gunshots are heard off-screen. Movie footage features two men talking in a parked car with blood covering the back windshield.
► A wife slaps her husband in the face twice, throws his duffle bag toward the front door of their home and he leaves. A woman steps on a cell phone, punches another woman in the face, slams her head onto the floor and smashes a peanut butter and jelly sandwich into her face. A woman on a stage throws an empty glass at a heckler off-screen and we hear it shatter. A man throws an empty wine bottle over a tree (please see the Substance Use category for more details). A young boy has nightmares every night; his father becomes angry and curses and we see that the boy's pants are wet when he wakes up one night.
► A man tells how his wife was seven years old and stuck in the back seat of her father's car as an accident occurred that killed both parents; we see a close-up of a little girl's face grimacing as bits of glass fly into her face (without blood showing) and we hear that the father was decapitated and the girl was stuck in the car for over an hour.
► A young woman tells her boyfriend that she is pregnant, but that she can have an abortion or keep the baby; she keeps telling him about her pregnancy all day and finally laughs, calling out, " April Fool's!" and he breaks up with her (we see them argue but cannot hear them). A man argues with a woman, becoming loud. A man and a woman cry at a table in a café. A woman cries on a bus stop bench. A woman sings an extremely loud punk song, screaming the words.
► A young girl and an elderly man place flowers on a grave and the camera cuts to the young girl lying with her dying dog, petting it. A woman has a vision of her pregnant mother walking into the path of an oncoming bus and she shudders. We hear that a young girl's uncle took her in after the death of her parents and molested her and then killed her dog. A four-year-old boy sees a woman struck by a bus and has nightmares for weeks afterwards, requiring psychiatric treatment. A woman speaks with a man in her office and he becomes tearful several times. We hear that a man was institutionalized for six months after his wife's death. We hear that a patient in an institution committed suicide.
► A woman with cancer undergoes chemotherapy and we see her grimacing as a needle is inserted into her arm; the camera cuts to the woman wearing a headscarf in a wheelchair and in a bed later, dying and crying, with circles under her eyes; her son receives a cell phone call that she has died, and he cries. A young girl asks an elderly man if he is going to die and he says that he is, but plans to live for 10 years. An older woman says to a younger woman, "I'm glad your parents are dead." A man says his father was extremely abusive to his mother, who died at age 16. A man writes a letter to another man, telling him a woman is dying.
► A close-up of a woman's face shows her sweating and panting during the delivery of her child and the camera cuts to her holding a baby that has a few red smears on its head; the woman has an IV needle in the back of her hand.
► A waitress falls and drops an empty wine bottle, but it does not break and she is uninjured. A scene shows a person throwing snowballs at herself. A man pulls a woman out of a path of an oncoming taxi.
► A man shoots a water pistol into another man's mouth at a party and it may contain vodka; the first man points the pistol at his temple and his date tells him that his strong emotions scare her. A man sticks small candies up both nostrils and laughs. A man spits an olive pit into his hand, unseen, and discards it to a place below the frame.

Life Itself LANGUAGE 8

 - About 35 F-words and its derivatives, 5 sexual references, 9 scatological terms, 4 anatomical terms, 7 mild obscenities, name-calling (crazy, stupid, weird, silly, drunk, jealous, anorexic, loud girl, dirty Spaniard, molesting uncle), 3 religious profanities (GD, 12 religious exclamations (e.g. Oh My God, Dear Lord, Dear God, Lord Knows, Jesus Christ, I Swear To God, Holy [scatological term deleted]). | profanity glossary |

Life Itself SUBSTANCE USE

 - A woman at a party is shown lying on her back on the floor as a man jabs a hypodermic needle with an unknown substance into her chest causing her to sit up and smile (she leaves the hypodermic needle in her chest for the rest of the evening), a man takes Xanax with an alcoholic drink and becomes loud and is thrown out of a coffee shop, and a woman rolls a marijuana cigarette and hides it in a bureau drawer. A beer brand sign hangs on a wall in a frat house, a man lifts another man to a handstand on top of a beer keg where he begins drinking from the pumping spout, red cups of beer are set up for beer pong (no one drinks), a woman pumps beer from a keg but does not drink, men and women hold bottles of beer, two glasses of wine are shown in front of a couple at a café table and on a table in the background, a woman drinks wine and a man drinks from a short glass of whiskey, a man drinks whiskey from a short glass in half a dozen scenes, a man drinks several glasses of wine and his wife throws a glass at him complaining of his constant drinking (it hits the wall behind him and shatters), a man drinks from a glass of whiskey and a younger woman drinks from it as well, a man pours two glasses of sherry and drinks his entire glass and another man does not drink his, and a man pours two single serving bottles of vodka into a coffee and swallows the mixture. A woman smokes a cigarette on a street corner, a man smokes a cigarette in an office, a man and a woman each smokes a cigarette on a porch, and a poster of a man shows him with a cigarette dangling from his lips.

Life Itself DISCUSSION TOPICS

 - The human condition, extended families, tragedy, child and spousal abuse, sadness, sentimentality, addictions to fantasy football and celebrity activities, relationships, love, marriage, fidelity, pride, compassion, serious illness, death, loss, grief, memories.

Life Itself MESSAGE

 - We are essentially all the stories of all our ancestors.