A Month of Sundays

image for A Month of Sundays

Short takes

Not recommended under 8; parental guidance to 12 (coarse language, mature themes)

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for A Month of Sundays
  • a review of A Month of Sundays completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 27 April 2016.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 8 Not recommended due to coarse language and mature themes.
Children aged 8-12 Parental guidance recommended due to coarse language and mature themes.
Children aged 13 and over Ok for this age group.

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

Name of movie: A Month of Sundays
Classification: PG
Consumer advice lines: Mild themes and coarse language
Length: 110 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

Frank Mollard (Anthony LaPaglia) is a real estate agent who is struggling to move on with his life after his divorce from Wendy (Justine Clarke) and the death of his mother. It takes a call from a woman called Sarah (Julia Blake), who he thinks is his dead mother, to help him remember the important things in his life and to finally give him the chance to say goodbye to all that he has lost.

Themesinfo

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Family breakdown and divorce; Death of a parent; Cigarette dependence; serious illness and death

Use of violenceinfo

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

Nothing of concern

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under fiveinfo

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of eight, including the following:

  • Phillip’s father is in a nursing home with dementia and he is shown suffering from hallucinations and memory loss. This may be scary for some children.
  • Frank discusses the fact that his mother died, which is why he is in a bad mood. 
  • Frank Jnr. breaks his arm while rehearsing for a play and needs to go to hospital for a cast.
  • Frank finds Sarah collapsed on the floor and she is rushed to hospital. She is hooked up to several machines which may be confronting for children. Sarah eventually dies, which is emotional for both Frank and her son Damien.  

Aged five to eightinfo

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

Children in this age group are also likely to be disturbed or scared by the above-mentioned scenes.

Aged eight to thirteeninfo

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

In addition to the above mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged eight to thirteen, including the following:

  • Younger children in this age group may be disturbed or scared by the above mentioned scenes.

Thirteen and overinfo

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

OK for this age group

Product placement

None noted.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

  • It is suggested that Frank is an ‘ambulance chaser’- someone who flirts with older women.

Nudity and sexual activity

There is some sexual activity in this movie, including:

  • The auctioneer and his girlfriend kiss when he gets into the car

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

  • Frank is frequently shown smoking a cigarette. He lies to other characters when they ask if he is still smoking. However, at the end of the film Frank is shown using a patch to try to quit smoking.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

  • shit
  • prick
  • bullshit
  • bloody
  • shut up
  • piss off
  • hell
  • Frank says that he has Tourette Syndrome which is why he frequently swears

In a nutshell

A Month of Sundays is a funny and touching Australian film set in Adelaide. It is a refreshing story that highlights the importance of home and family. Parental guidance is recommended for 8-12 year olds, and the film is most suitable for aged children 12 years and older, due to the coarse language and mature themes.

The main messages from this movie are to remember to tell the people you love that you care about them and not to take your family for granted.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

  • honesty
  • kindness
  • perseverance

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss the different ways of dealing with grief and loss, and how some may be less healthy than others (for example, Frank’s dependence on cigarettes).