Where’d You Go, Bernadette | 2019 | PG-13 | – 1.4.5

Why is “Where’d You Go, Bernadette” rated PG-13? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “some strong language and drug material.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes property damage caused by a collapsing wall and a mudslide into a home, a pedestrian is struck by a car and left with an injured leg, many arguments between adults and a teen and adults with one ending with a woman disappearing, and drug use, discussions of types of drugs, and 2 F-words and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.”

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A misanthropic, formerly celebrated architect and unconventional mom (Cate Blanchett) is determined to reconnect with her creativity after sacrificing too much for her family. When she suddenly disappears on a secret, far flung adventure, her teen daughter (Emma Nelson) makes it her mission to understand what happened and to find her. Also with Judy Greer, Kristen Wiig, Troian Bellisario, Billy Crudup, Laurence Fishburne, Steve Zahn and Megan Mullally. Directed by Richard Linklater. [Running Time: 2:10]

Where’d You Go, Bernadette SEX/NUDITY 1

 – A man and a woman hug briefly. A few young women in two scenes wear miniskirts that reveal bare legs to mid-thighs.

Where’d You Go, Bernadette VIOLENCE/GORE 4

 – A woman in a car pulls away from a curb and hits a woman pedestrian on the leg, sending her to the ground, shouting (we cannot see the injury); the victim rises and limps away with help, and we see a padded boot on that foot and lower leg for a few seconds in another scene.
► Two neighbors argue over huge blackberry vines that we see coming up inside a house, and under carpeting and pushing through a brick privacy wall; the vines are removed, but the brick wall crumbles in a mudslide that floods a house where party-goers that include young children scream and run, and the two women argue again, shouting, and a teen girl shouts at one of the women. A dog is trapped in a confessional closet in an old house: a woman climbs a shaky ladder outside, wraps a scarf around a hand to break a window, enters and kicks the door open, falls through without injury and the dog is retrieved unharmed. After an argument, a woman goes to the bathroom and escapes through a window in the rain; drenched, she runs to a woman’s house, apologizes for being continually rude to her, and the woman drives her to an airport. A man kicks open a bathroom door, and finds out that his wife, who had been inside, has left through the window in the rain. A woman stows away on a large shuttle boat and travels to a research station. A woman stumbles around on a ship in turbulent waters, but is unharmed.
► A woman has her virtual assistant order anti-anxiety medication (please see the Substance Use category for more details) and arrives at the pharmacy, only to be told that the pills are a combination of Haldol, Benadryl and two drugs used by the Russian government while torturing people. A woman tells a colleague that she had four miscarriages; she went to the toilet and “There it was” each time (blood and tissue suggested). We hear that a child was born with a heart problem that made her skin blue, but was saved by treatment; we see a snapshot of the baby with slightly blue skin and an IV line in one arm. A woman says that she will have wisdom teeth removed, but cancels her appointment; in a later scene, she agrees to have the teeth removed by a South Pole research station veterinarian (we do not see this). An FBI agent tells a man that his wife’s virtual assistant is really a band of Russian identity thieves set to steal the assets of the man’s family; two men and two women confront the wife in an intervention where she is told that she is aggressive, destructive, depressed, anxious, has an adjustment disorder and should be committed to a mental hospital for several weeks. A psychiatrist mentions a woman’s possible suicidal thoughts in an interview with her husband. A wife and her workaholic husband argue a few times, with him suggesting counseling and she refuses. A teen girl argues with her father several times. A woman complains perpetually and puts down other people and her town.
► Video footage from 20 years earlier shows a British TV producer purchasing and demolishing an award winning sustainability house designed by a woman architect and using the land for a parking lot; the woman then quit architecture. A family lives in a crumbling old house with peeling paint, ceiling leaks and barely furnished rooms.
► A woman cries at music on a radio and at children dancing on a stage. A teen girl cries and hugs her mother. A woman, her husband and daughter hug and cry briefly.

Where’d You Go, Bernadette LANGUAGE 5

 – About 2 F-words, 9 scatological terms, 3 anatomical terms (1 in Hindi), 6 mild obscenities, name-calling (crazy, stupid, dumb, ludicrous, menace, boring, rude, rotter, alcoholic, gutless, gnat, cheese-bag, mean girls, paranoid, First Lady of France, Microsoft Money, blue-Balakrishna), exclamations (oh my gosh, gosh, wow, shut-up), 12 religious exclamations (e.g. Oh God, Oh My God, Jesus Christ, Honest To God, I Swear To God, Say Amen To That). | profanity glossary |

Where’d You Go, Bernadette SUBSTANCE USE

 – A neurotic woman hoards several types of psychotropic medications in an apothecary bottle because they look colorful, a large medicine cabinet is filled with many prescription bottles (we do not see the woman take medication), a few pill bottles are shown on a kitchen counter, a woman has her virtual assistant order anti-anxiety medication (please see the Violence/Gore category for more details) and when she arrives at the pharmacy the pharmacist says that he will give her Xanax instead of what was ordered, a woman sleeps on a couch in a pharmacy and when she wakes up she slurs her words slightly suggesting that she swallowed medication that we never see, and a teen girl tells a woman that the woman’s teen son is often stoned. A woman tells another woman that her teen son is an alcoholic, a teen boy drinks an individual size bottle of dark alcohol, a party shows several adults holding clear plastic cups of alcoholic drinks and two women sip the drinks in front of kindergartners, two women in a café drink from martini glasses containing alcoholic “Pink Penguin” drinks with two empty glasses shown to the side and the women order two more drinks, two men hold beer bottles, and a woman sips white wine. A man smokes a cigarette.

Where’d You Go, Bernadette DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Social anxiety, depression, fears, insomnia, disappointments, miscarriages, painful secrets, bitterness, psychiatry, self-discovery, parenting, mother-daughter relationships, unconditional love, making changes, friendship, snobs, gossip, rivalry, the Catholic Saint Bernadette, Hindu religion, the upper-middle-class, people in midlife crisis, squabbling parents, neurotics, nosy neighbors, social climbers, complainers, artists, geniuses, computer engineers, psychiatrists, FBI agents, game show hosts, people who sacrifice too much, workaholics, Antarctica.

Where’d You Go, Bernadette MESSAGE

 – Sometimes, you need to get away from daily life to learn about yourself.