Ballad of Wallis Island, The

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Not suitable under 8; parental guidance to 12 (mental health themes, may lack interest for younger viewers)

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Ballad of Wallis Island, The
  • a review of Ballad of Wallis Island, The completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 2 September 2025.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 8 Not suitable due to mental health themes and lack of interest.
Children aged 8–12 Parental guidance recommended due to mental health themes and lack of interest.
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: Ballad of Wallis Island, The
Classification: PG
Consumer advice lines: Mild coarse language and mental health themes
Length: 100 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

Charles Heath (Tim Key) is an eccentric, twice winner of the lottery, who lives alone in a mansion on Wallis Island. His favourite musical duo is Herb McGwyer (Tom Basden) and Nell Mortimer (Carey Mulligan), whose records he plays over and over. He dreams of having the duo play for him on the island, but unfortunately Herb and Nell separated nine years previously. Nevertheless, Charles invites Herb to perform a gig (at a very high price) and, unbeknown to Herb, Charles invites Nell as well.

Herb is struggling to move on from his break-up with Nell, who is now married to Michael (Akemnji Nidfornyen), and is upset to find that Nell has also been invited to play. After a while, tensions ease and they start playing together again. Herb is obviously still in love with Nell, but she has moved on. The situation becomes untenable for them both and Nell leaves the island. Meanwhile, Charles, a simple soul, tries hard to make the reconciliation happen. When this fails, he feels the need to support Herb. In doing so, he also finds happiness himself, as does Herb, enabling them both to move on.

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.

Mental health issues; Musical duos; Separation and divorce; Fear of suicide; Loss and grief.

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.

There is some violence in this movie, including:

  • Herb slips over a bowl of rice, landing badly on his back.
  • Herb and Nell argue quite heatedly.
  • Herb yells at Charles.

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.

  • Nothing further noted for this age group.

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.

  • Nothing further noted for this age group.

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:

  • Charles talks about his wife Marie, and how lonely he’s been since she died five years ago.

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.

  • Separation and divorce issues.
  • Mental health issues such as loneliness, depression and loss. It also shows how people handle the fall from fame.
  • Herb strips down to his underwear and goes into the ocean. Charles is watching from afar and thinks Herb is going to commit suicide. Charles goes into the water after Herb, even though he can’t swim and needs to be rescued by Herb. Herb says he was just going for a swim.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in this movie:

  • Johnny Walker whiskey
  • Calippo ice blocks
  • Ikea.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

  • There is still chemistry between Herb and Nell and they are seen with their arms around each other.

Nudity and sexual activity

There is some nudity and sexual activity in this movie, including:

  • Herb is seen in the bath, naked from the waist up.
  • Herb takes off his dressing gown and Charles walks in on him in an awkward moment. (Nothing is actually shown.)
  • Nell walks in on Herb, undressed in the bathroom. She’s embarrassed but he says it’s nothing she hasn’t seen before.

Use of substances

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

  • Drinking at various locations – with dinner, and alone.
  • Herb smokes frequently.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

  • God yeah
  • Bloody
  • Shit
  • Shut up
  • Bullshit
  • Bloody hell.

In a nutshell

The Ballad of Wallis Island is a tragi/comedy based around the eccentricities of a man living alone on a remote island and the man/musician he admires who is struggling to move on from the past and come to terms with the loss of his ex-partner. While there is nothing particularly scary or violent in this movie, it isn’t suitable for children under 8 and is more suited to teens and adults.

The main messages from this movie are that bringing joy to others is often self-healing; and that it’s often a mistake to try and recreate the past.

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

  • The need to move on from the past and find fulfilment in the present.
  • Self-forgiveness and forgiveness of others.
  • Empathy.
  • Acceptance of situations.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children the importance of thinking carefully before making decisions that can affect your life and others; and that actions will always bring consequences.