Memoir of a Snail | 2024 | R | – 6.6.4

Why is “Memoir of a Snail” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “sexual content, nudity and some violent content.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes several scenes of kissing and moaning, a few implied sex scenes, discussions of swingers and key parties, a kissing scene between two teen boys, several scenes of fully nude people with breasts and buttocks exposed, a few photos of nude people, discussions of nudists, discussions of fetishes, a woman dying of natural causes, discussions of the death of a woman in childbirth, a twin being born prematurely, a man being struck by a car and paralyzed, a man dying from effects of alcoholism, a teen boy purposely trapped in a fire, a woman’s finger being severed by a ceiling fan, discussions of extreme religious practices, discussions of orphanages, and some strong language and name-calling. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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A stop-motion animation feature about a woman (voiced at different ages by Sarah Snook & Charlotte Belsey) who grieves the death of her best friend (voiced by Jacki Weaver) by narrating her life’s story to her favorite pet snail, a life full of misfortunes and challenges, from the death of her parents to being separated from her twin brother (voiced by Kodi Smit-McPhee), and marrying a man with odd fetishes. Also with the voices of Eric Bana, Adam Elliot, Dominique Pinon, Nick Cave, Magda Szubanski and Luke Elliot. Directed by Adam Elliot. [Running Time: 1:35]

Memoir of a Snail SEX/NUDITY 6

 – We hear moaning and rhythmic panting while the screen is black, with only wide-open eyes seen, implying sex between several people; we hear that a man and a woman would go to “key parties.” We hear sexual moaning coming from inside a helicopter as a woman describes having sex with a man in a helicopter. We hear kissing and moaning sounds as a man and a woman kiss in an alley behind garbage cans; the woman puts her foot up on a can and sex is implied. Two young men kiss behind a church and are punished when a woman sees them (please see the Violence/Gore category for more details). Several men and women sit nude in a hot tub and we hear that one couple retired to a nudist colony (we see bare breasts, chests and partial abdomens) and as the scene ends, a woman’s voice is heard to ask, “Is that your foot?”
► A man is described as a magistrate that was defrocked for masturbating in court and we see the man duck behind a judge’s bench and hear rhythmic noises implying masturbation. A man and a woman are shown on a “nude cruise” and the fully nude woman skates on roller skates while the man photographs her; we see her bare breasts, abdomen, back, buttocks and legs. A woman finds a scrapbook with photos of her nude and in different sizes when she discovers that her husband has a “fat fetish.” A woman dances wearing pasties and skimpy underwear in an exotic dance bar (we see cleavage, bare abdomen, and legs to the hips. A man looks at a woman’s back as she sits by a swimming pool and her bathing suit bottoms reveal part of her buttock cleavage. We hear that a man is sterile from having worked with microwave ovens and we see an X-ray image of genitals.
► A young girl describes her foster parents as “swingers” and that they would go to “key parties.” A woman talks about having “hot flushes and damp knickers” when she sees a man. A woman says that her husband had a “fat fetish.” A young woman talks about longing for a boyfriend. A man sees a woman watching him as he juggles on a street and he flirts with her; we hear that they fell in love. A woman accepts a man’s marriage proposal and says that she is happy that he loves her “bum and wobbly bits.” Two young girls swoon over a boy as he sits in a schoolyard. A man recites a love poem that includes a phrase about wanting to be shipwrecked between a woman’s thighs. A young woman reads a book titled, “Memoir of a Sex Maniac.” A book title reads, “Ginger Chested Pirate.” A woman describes puberty and we see her reflection in a mirror as acne erupts on her face.
► Two snails are kept in a glass jar and they move close to each other as a child says they are hugging; we see spurts of goo on the glass and later a pile of eggs and then many more snails. Two guinea pigs have sex (we see one mounting another and hear rhythmic squeaking) and then we see many more young guinea pigs.
► A calendar is seen to have pictures of nude women posing and we see one with bare breasts, abdomen and legs. Cookies in the shape of people are seen in a few scenes and there are mounds resembling breasts and protrusions that imply male genitals. A photo of a shirtless man shows his shoulders, bare chest and nipples. A woman wears a low-cut dress that reveals cleavage in a few scenes. A young girl describes erasing rude drawings from the pages of library books and we see genitals drawn on a couple of pages. A woman describes hoarding everything related to and including snails; we see snail condoms among other things.

Memoir of a Snail VIOLENCE/GORE 6

 – A man trips and falls into an open dishwasher with a knife blade that impales his chest; we see blood on his back and the blade sticking out of the wound. A crocodile eats a man standing on the banks of a river (we do not see him being eaten or any blood). We hear a car skidding on a street and understand that a man had been struck by the car (driven by a drunk driver) and ended up a paraplegic. Two young men kiss behind a church and are punished when a woman sees them; she attaches them to a battery “desatanizer” and they are shocked repeatedly to “shock out the gayness,” and we see them thrashing and moaning until one breaks free and attacks the woman, he runs out of the building and blows fire inside a church setting it ablaze; the woman closes the door locking him inside as he cries for help, presumably burning him to death (we see him escape unharmed later).
► We see a child on oxygen and being prepared for surgery to repair a cleft lip; the attendants panic and blood sprays on the screen when something goes wrong and they ask the child’s twin to give blood for her and he does even though he thinks he would have to die; after the surgery, we see the young girl with surgical staples on her lip. A woman dances on a bar and her hand is caught in a ceiling fan above her cutting off her pinky (blood spurts and we see the bloody, severed digit land in a Martini glass).
► A woman receives a letter telling her that her brother died in a fire. We hear that a boy saw people as a threat and he gets into fights with people that bullied his twin sister; three children call a young girl names, they steal her hat and throw it in a soiled urinal, a young boy charges into the scene and we hear punches landing off-screen; the boy is thrown back into the scene with a black eye and a missing tooth with blood on his mouth and gum, he charges back toward the bullies and breaks one boy’s finger (we see it bend unnaturally) and the bully screams and runs off-screen (he puts the tooth back in his bleeding gum). A young girl is struck in the face by a basketball and falls back on the ground gasping.
► A boy is described as having a love of fire and we see him lighting a string of matches that lead to a pile of fireworks that explode and leave him covered with char; a girl describes him as always smelling of burnt matches. A boy lights a handful of sparklers that burst into flames and he is seen covered with char and with a scar on his arm. A young boy dodges speeding cars and trucks to save a snail on the pavement; a truck squeals to a stop just before hitting the boy (he and the snail are unharmed). A boy touches his tongue to a battery and it sizzles. A boy describes his foster parents thinking that magnets would protect them from demons and we see several children with small magnets taped to their heads, faces and limbs. A boy does fire breathing in several scenes blowing large flames after drinking flammable liquid. A boy says that his foster parents forced him to be baptized and he filled his pockets with antacid tablets that bubbled up when he was dunked in the water, causing others to panic. A woman puts drugs in a boy’s sandwich and he pretends to eat them (we see him flush them down the toilet later); he lies on his bed drooling to make the woman think that he had taken them. A young woman describes being a kleptomaniac and we see her being confronted by a security guard in one scene and reporting to court in another scene. A young woman describes hoarding things and a heavily laden shelf falls off a wall crushing three guinea pigs (we see blood spurt and hear a squeak).
► After the death of their father, two young children are separated by child services and placed in foster homes in different states. A woman describes being raised in an orphanage and kept in cages with no human touch or love.
► Two children ride on their father’s motorized wheelchair and they speed through a street. A man and his two children ride a roller coaster and scream with joy. A young boy stands on his head upside down on his father’s head. A young boy opens a neighbor’s birdcage and releases it; we see it fly away. A boy opens a cage with budgies inside and frees them, and he opens a sty and frees several pigs as a woman yells furiously at him and punishes him by burning something that meant a lot to him, saying “An Eye for an Eye.”
► Twins are seen in utero with umbilical cords attached and we hear that one is delivered prematurely; we see the infant with a cleft lip as a voiceover talks about not having been fully cooked and we understand that the mother died in childbirth.
► A man suffers from sleep apnea and his two children clap their hands to wake him when he stops breathing; he does not revive during one episode and we are told that he was cremated by the government (we see ashes in a makeshift urn). A severely wrinkled woman is seen in several scenes and one scene shows her gasping deeply before taking her last breath; she revives briefly to utter a word and then dies, as a young woman sits next to her bedside and grieves. A woman eats a handful of snail poison but then spits it out.
► A woman talks about her childhood and having several health issues including asthma. A child is described by her father as a “China doll that will shatter with just a stare.” A young girl talks about helping a homeless man that slept on the ground after drinking bottles of liquor; she describes him as a magistrate that was defrocked for masturbating in court (please see the Sex/Nudity category for more details). We hear that a young boy became a vegetarian after developing instincts to save animals. A young girl says that sports were one of her allergies. A man is described as having stomach ulcers and takes antacid tablets that foam in his mouth. A young girl describes erasing rude drawings from the pages of library books (please see the Sex/Nudity category for more details). We hear about a man and woman trying to help a child with anxiety and sadness by using self-help techniques and smile therapy.
► A pig with three suckling piglets is seen as a woman raises an axe and we see one piglet cooked and on a serving platter; and we hear that a young boy that was vegetarian was forced to eat it. A yard filled with garbage and dangerous chemicals is shown a few times and we see a canister of gasoline, a box of snail poison, and a disconnected and stained commode among other things. A man gulps from a bottle of liquor and burps loudly. A woman’s ashes are sprinkled in her garden. A man’s ashes are sprinkled from the top of a roller coaster.

Memoir of a Snail LANGUAGE 4

 – 12 obscene hand gestures, 5 sexual references, 3 scatological terms (1 mild), 6 anatomical terms, 3 mild obscenities, 1 derogatory term for gay people, name-calling (pity pit, liar, stupid brain, Judas, homosexual sickness, shallow, pathetic, loveless, lonely, rabbit face, repugnant, dreadful, morons, hypocrites, anxious, strange, weird, old-fashioned, weirdo religion), exclamations (I’d rather eat glass, they can all get stuffed, bugger), 2 religious profanities (GD), 4 religious exclamations (several people pray in several scenes and it sounds like they are speaking in tongues, Judas, bless your cotton socks). | profanity glossary |

Memoir of a Snail SUBSTANCE USE

 – We see marijuana plant seedlings in a couple of scenes, a woman puts drugs (Phenergan) in a boy’s sandwich and he pretends to eat them, and we are told that a woman would make “ginger hash people cookies.” Bottles of liquor are shown and we understand that a man is an alcoholic, a man lies on the ground snoring and an empty bottle of whiskey is seen next to him, a man guzzles a whole bottle of liquor as a boy watches, a man gulps from a bottle of liquor and burps loudly, a man holds a bottle of whiskey, and a martini glass is seen on a bar. A man smokes a cigarette, a man smokes cigars in several scenes, a woman smokes cigars in several scenes, a child services agent smokes around children, and an ashtray with cigarette butts is seen in a house.

Memoir of a Snail DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Death of a parent, death of loved ones, death in childbirth, orphans, shame, regret, vices, child services, foster homes, trauma, stop-motion films, drunk driving accidents, self-help, self-pity, smile therapy, aging, secrets, memory loss, dementia, Alzheimer’s Disease, survival in numbers, fetishes, death of a twin, grief, optimism, sterility, virginity, kleptomania, lottery, sleep apnea, “Lord of the Flies,” “The Diary of Anne Frank,” “The Grapes of Wrath,” “Memoir of a Geisha.”

Memoir of a Snail MESSAGE

 – Be brave and move forward no matter the obstacles.