Wild Mountain Thyme

image for Wild Mountain Thyme

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Not suitable under 12; parental guidance to 14 (themes, language, sexual references)

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Wild Mountain Thyme
  • a review of Wild Mountain Thyme completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 8 February 2021.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 12 Not suitable due to themes, language and some sexual references.
Children aged 12–14 Parental guidance recommended due to themes, language and some sexual references.
Children over the age of 14 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: Wild Mountain Thyme
Classification: PG
Consumer advice lines: Mild themes and coarse language
Length: 102 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

Rosemary Muldoon (Emily Blunt) is head over heels in love with her neighbour, Anthony Reilly (Jamie Dornan), and has been since they were children. Despite Rosemary’s obvious affection, Anthony remains clueless as to how she feels for him. Things get even more complicated when Anthony’s ailing father (Christopher Walken) toys with the idea of selling his farm to his American nephew Adam (John Hamm), instead of passing it onto his own son. When Adam visits Ireland he is captivated by Rosemary, who is unlike any woman he has ever met, is unimpressed by cars or money and is determined to follow her heart despite the fact that it leads to man who barely knows that she exists. It isn’t until Adam expresses his interest in Rosemary that Anthony finally begins to see what is before him and all that he stands to lose. Unable to fight for what he wants, it is Rosemary who must make him see the possibility of a future, help him share his darkest fears and show him that he is so much more than what he believes himself to be.

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.

Unrequited love; Death (specifically of a parent); Grief; Foundations for marriage; Facing your fears.

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:

  • Rosemary’s dad shoots crows.
  • Rosemary pushes Anthony hard against a wall and jokingly threatens to shoot him with her father’s gun.
  • Rosemary briefly talks about suicide by hanging or gun shot.

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 five, including the following:

  • Some children in this age group may be upset by the scene mentioned below.

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.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes and scary visual images, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:

  • Rosemary’s father took to shooting crows near the top of his property. The sound was quite loud and jarring and, on occasion, a dead bird was shown.

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.

  • Nothing further of concern.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in this movie:

  • Aer Lingus planes are clearly featured for the flights that characters took between Ireland and America.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

  • After hearing how Anthony talks about his life, Rosemary says: “When he says those things, I know I must have him”.
  • A woman confesses to Anthony that she slept with a priest in her mother’s bed twice.
  • A man spreads a rumour that Anthony is in love with a donkey.
  • Rosemary asks Anthony if he is a homosexual and repeats the question to enquire if he is gay.
  • Rosemary asks Anthony if he has ever seen her naked in his mind and then asks if he is a virgin.

Nudity and sexual activity

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

  • Adam and Rosemary share a kiss in New York.
  • Anthony and Rosemary share a tender embrace and a number of kisses towards the end of the film.

Use of substances

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

  • Rosemary admits to being a smoker. She smokes cigarettes on a number of occasions as well as her father’s pipe after his funeral.
  • Alcohol is consumed on different occasions throughout the film: at an adult’s birthday picnic; in a restaurant; and Rosemary offers Anthony a Guinness at her home.
  • Anthony and a woman he just met share a drink called an Orange Blossom in a bar. A short time later they are shown on the outskirts of a cemetery and both appear to be drunk.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

  • Infrequent use of the terms –
    • Bastard
    • Damn
    • Mother of Christ
    • Duff
    • Hell
    • Shite.

In a nutshell

Wild Mountain Thyme is a romantic drama based on a play called Outside Mullingar by John Patrick Shanley. While the cinematography showcases the beauty of rural Ireland the dialogue sometimes comes across as stilted and strange. The film is best suited to older teen and adult audiences.

The main messages from this movie are to fight for what you want and to never give up on destiny and what you know in your heart to be true.

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

  • Persistence
  • Loyalty
  • Compassion
  • Strength
  • Resourcefulness
  • Patience.

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

  • Battling mental illness or depression and the support needed to get through tough times.
  • Allowing people to grieve loss in their own ways.
  • The ramifications of suicide.
  • Tying all your hope of happiness to the notion of being with someone who cannot seem to see you for who you really are.
  • Believing you are something that you are not.
  • Gender stereotypes determining what people can and cannot become – Rosemary does an excellent job of showing that gender stereotypes are irrelevant as she is as good a farmer as any man ever was, despite what some men in her village might have her believe.