My Sailor My Love

This topic contains:

• overall comments and recommendations
• details of classification and consumer advice lines for My Sailor My Love
• a review of My Sailor My Love completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 5 September 2023.

Overall comments and recommendations

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.

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• themes
• use of violence
• material that may scare or disturb children
• product placement
• sexual references
• nudity and sexual activity
• use of substances
• coarse language
• the movie’s message

A synopsis of the story

Dealing with the past trauma of a largely absent father and the guilt of losing her clinically depressed mother, Grace (Catherine Walker) struggles between balancing her marriage, her work as a nurse and her obligations to care for her ageing father Howard (James Cosmo), who still lives alone in his house by the sea. When Grace visits to find food rotting on the table and the kitchen in complete disarray, she hires Annie (Brid Brennan) as a housekeeper to come and help her father out. Annie, a widowed grandmother from town, is kindness itself and she is very understanding and accommodating as she does her best to make Howard’s home clean and cheerful. Howard, however, is less than thrilled with the new arrangement and eventually his rudeness causes Annie to leave. Almost immediately, the old sailor regrets what he has done and heads into town to make amends with Annie. A close friendship quickly ensues and before long Annie moves in, much to Grace’s horror. Despite their differences, Howard and Annie make plans to marry while Grace, whose own marriage is quickly crumbling, takes steps to persuade Annie otherwise. When tragedy strikes, Grace learns how much Annie really meant to her father and can only thank her for the light she brought to his life.

Family breakdown and dysfunction; Jealousy; Abusive relationships; Mental illness, including clinical depression; Failing Health and Lack of control.

There is some violence in this movie, including:

• Howard tells a group of children a story about strangling a gorilla.
• Howard suffers a stroke while driving and he and his passengers nearly collide with a bus.
• Annie alludes that she was in an abusive relationship after she confesses to never visiting her husband’s grave.
• Howard tells Grace that if he can’t have Annie with him, he may as well be dead. Grace says that is exactly what her mother used to say about him before she drowned. It is never stated but there are subtle implications that Grace’s mother committed suicide.

Material that may scare or disturb children

• Nothing further noted.

Product placement

• None noted.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

• In a therapy session, a member of the group confesses that she is there because of the, “things that her boyfriend did to her”. It is unclear as to whether they are sexual, violent, or both.

Nudity and sexual activity

• None noted.

Use of substances

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

• Howard’s sons give him a bottle of rum.
• Patrons drink in a pub.
• Characters pour champagne.
• Grace is angry about the fact that her brothers always bring their dad a bottle of Tequila or Rum for his birthday and that neither one has noticed that it has been years since their father stopped drinking.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

• Hell
• Bloody
• Jesus (used as an exclamation)
• Fool.

In a nutshell

My Sailor My Love is a later-in-life, romantic drama filmed and set in Ireland. While the film does not include a fast-paced plot, special effects or legendary love scenes, instead the characters are real, the acting believable and the cinematography lends itself to the barren starkness of this bittersweet tale. Likely to lack interest for most children and teens, the film is best suited to older audiences.

The main messages from this movie are to admit when you are wrong; to take chances; and to love with all your heart while you still have time.

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

• Forgiveness
• Compassion
• Empathy
• Helpfulness
• Persistence.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:

• Refusing to admit when you are wrong.
• Blaming others for your own mistakes.
• Disregarding doctors’ instructions and doing what you want to do, regardless of the consequences.
• Trying to control others or the outcome of events.