Company, The

image for Company, The

Short takes

Under 8s may be bored (Lang. Sex.)

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Company, The
  • a review of Company, The completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 5 May 2004.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 8 While there is nothing particularly scary or violent in this movie, due to its content it is not recommended to children under 8 who would probably find it boring.
Children aged 8-13 Children 8 - 13 will need parental guidance to view this movie.
Children over the age of 13 Children over 13 will be okay to see this movie with or without parental guidance.

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.

Name of movie: Company, The
Classification: PG
Consumer advice lines: Medium level coarse language, Sexual references, Nudity
Length: 111 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

The Company is a fictionalised ‘reality movie’ about the Joffrey Ballet Company of Chicago. It documents the lives and loves of various members, in particular that of Ry, an upcoming principal dancer. It shows the dedicated, hard work of practice and rehearsal required, as well as the partying outside of work. Josh, a chef, is attracted to Ry at a restaurant where he works and the two become lovers. Ry goes on to star in a major production but she falls towards the end and has to be replaced at the last minute.

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 no violence in this movie.

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.

The only scary scene in this movie is during the final production: the stage set is of a giant man’s face with his hands moving in front of him. He grabs dancers in his hands and swallows a couple of dancers in his mouth.

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 may be frightened or disturbed by the scene mentioned above.

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.

It is unlikely that children in this age group will be scared or disturbed by any material in this film.

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.

It is unlikely that children in this age group will be scared or disturbed by any material in this film.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie:

  • Several dancers are staying in a house and during the night one of the girls comes out to look for a condom.
  • At a party some of the couples perform a routine simulating sex.
  • One of the male dancers talks about the 60s as a time when people were “smoking pot, having sex and dropping acid”.

Nudity and sexual activity

There is some nudity in this movie – the revealing costumes are integral to the story and are shown in a respectful way.

  • Some of the costumes reveal buttocks
  • Ry is shown behind a screen getting out of a bath
  • Ry meets Josh in a pub; they go back to her place and he stays the night in her bed.
  • The girls are shown in their underwear in the change room.

Use of substances

There is quite a lot of drinking and smoking in this movie at various locations: at home, in pubs, restaurants, discos, etc.

Also one of the male dancers talks about the 60s as a time when people were “smoking pot, having sex and dropping acid”.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language with the occasional use of the following words:

  • crap
  • bloody
  • asshole

In a nutshell

There is no take-home message as it is more of a documentary.

Values parents may wish to discourage include:

  • excessive drinking and smoking
  • casual sex