The Starling Girl | 2023 | R | – 6.3.4

Why is “The Starling Girl” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “some sexuality.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes a couple of sex scenes and a near sex scene between a married man and a teen girl, a couple of kissing scenes, discussions of courting and religious doctrine, non-sexual nudity, a punch in the face and a slap in the face, discussions of addiction and alcoholism, discussions of a suicide, several arguments and some strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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A teenage girl (Eliza Scanlen) is unsure of her place in her very strict religious community in Kentucky and when she starts a relationship with an older married man (Lewis Pullman) in the congregation, her life becomes even more confusing. Also with Jimmi Simpson, Wrenn Schmidt, Claire Elizabeth Green, Ellie May, Austin Abrams, Chris Dinner, Paige Leigh Landers and Kieran Sitawi. Directed by Laurel Parmet. [Running Time: 1:57]

The Starling Girl SEX/NUDITY 6

 – A married man gives a teen girl a note telling her to meet him in a secluded spot at midnight; she finds him parked in his car and they kiss, he removes her top (we see cleavage and her bra), lie back on the car seat, he pulls off her underwear (we see her bare leg to the upper thigh) and he thrusts on top of her briefly as she moans and whimpers (he withdraws and makes himself climax; we do not see anything else and the teen sees blood on her hand when she touches herself); she kisses him and tries to straddle his lap, he discourages her and she gets out of the car.
► A teen girl goes to visit a man in his home and they kiss on a sofa, she removes her top (we see cleavage, and her bare abdomen and bra), we hear the sound of a car outside and the man rushes the teen into a bathroom where she hides in the bathtub for hours. A married man kisses a teen girl. A teen girl follows a married man into the woods under the guise of finding more firewood and they talk, the man tells the teen to do a dance move for him and he moves close to her to remove a bug from her hair; they then linger gazing at each other.
► A teen girl sits in a shower (we see her bare shoulders, knees and she sits back moaning quietly, implying masturbation). A teen girl reaches her hand under her blanket toward her crotch and is startled when a young girl shifts in her own bed; the teen whispers, “Out Satan, Out.”
► A woman confronts her teenage daughter about a relationship she is having with a married man and asks her if they had sex; the woman tells her, “You’re ruined.” A teen girl is told that a teen boy wants to ask to court her. A man describes courtship as leading to marriage. A teen boy talks about South America and says, “There’s a lot of rape there.” A woman tells a teen girl that her bra is visible through her top and the teen apologizes and runs away crying. A teen girl says that she is “Humbled and ashamed,” and says that she had, “Lustful thoughts.”
► A teen girl dances to a choreographed routine in front of other teen girls who are dismissive and tell her that they don’t like the moves she has planned. Several teens perform a dance routine for a woman that tells them they need to change some of the moves to make them less individually focused. Teen girls dance in front of a congregation in a church.
► A man sits nude on a bed in his room and his two daughters enter the room and see him (we see his bare chest, shoulders, abdomen and legs to the hips). A shirtless man is shown and we see his bare chest and abdomen.

The Starling Girl VIOLENCE/GORE 3

 – A woman punches a man in the face and tells him to leave (we see blood on his nose later and he has a black eye); he gets in his car and drives away. A man and his teen daughter argue, he says, “You think I’m dumb,” he accuses her of talking back to him and slaps her hard in the face.
► A teen girl walks away from people gathered at a picnic, and she walks slowly into a river and under the surface; a teen boy standing on the bank is alarmed when she does not surface and goes into the water after her, they struggle and the girl pushes the boy under a couple of times until he surfaces yelling at her and storms away. A teen girl keys a car when she is upset with something the owner of the car said about her.
► A teen girl sneaks through a house after hiding in the bathroom for hours; she hears a knock at the door and runs to a room where she climbs out of a window and a young girl outside sees her. A married man and a teen girl splash water on each other in a creek and talk about their affair and whether they are wicked, they talk about feeling guilty, that their relationship “doesn’t feel like a sin,” and the man says that he and his wife “can’t stand each other.
► A married man becomes upset with a teen girl when she tells him that she told her sister about their relationship; he says, “We should stop,” she pleads with him and he yells at her to leave. A woman confronts her teenage daughter about a relationship she is having with a married man and asks her if they had sex; the woman tells her “you’re ruined,” and “every word coming out of your mouth is Satan flapping his tongue,” and the woman throws the teen out of the house. A woman yells at her husband and quizzes him about why he is late coming home from work; he says that he was let go. A man asks a teen girl about a sexual relationship with a married man and he says that she will be sent to a camp where they will expel Satan from her heart; her mother tells her that she will go or that she can no longer be a part of their family. Several teen girls mock another teen about her dancing and choreography. A man says, “When God asks you to give something up, it’s so you have more room for him.” A young man stands in front of a congregation in church and says that he turned away from God, but returns a cleansed man after being sent away to a camp where, “God works on you.” A woman tells her teen daughter that someone that her father knew died and that it was suicide. A teen girl says, “She’s going to kill me,” when she is late going home. A woman tells her teen daughter, “I am not happy with you.” A teen girl stands in front of a congregation and says, “I am a sinner.” Song lyrics include, “Were you there when they crucified my Lord?” A woman says that her young daughter “threw up” (we do not see any goo).
► A woman comes home and we hear her saying that she was sick in another woman’s car and asks her husband for Pepto; we hear her vomit in a toilet (we hear splatter and retching but do not see goo). A man stumbles and falls on the floor (a puddle of vomit is on the floor near his face) and his family tries to help him up and his wife says to call 911; the woman later says, “They don’t know if he’s gonna wake up,” and that he accidentally took too many of her pain pills.
► A married man attempts to pierce a teen girl’s ear and she stops him before he does so; she says that she wants to do it herself and she exclaims when she pushes the needle through her earlobe. A nude man sits on a bed in his room, he is seen shaking (implying drug withdrawal) and sweating and his two daughters enter the room and seem alarmed. A man appears inebriated and tells his teen daughter to lie on the ground and they talk. A teen girl runs after a man driving away in a car, he stops for her to get in and they drive away. A teen girl lets the air out of one of her bike tires and asks a married man for a ride home.”
► A man tells several teens in a youth group to lie on the floor in a classroom and the teens seem concerned. A married man asks a teen girl if she is chewing gum, she replies, “No,” but he tells her to spit it out and she does so, into his hand. A teen boy describes a chicken defecating everywhere and that it was so funny.

The Starling Girl LANGUAGE 4

 – 6 scatological terms, 1 mild obscenity, name-calling (weird, crazy, psycho, selfish, stupid, sinner, idiot, unforgivable), exclamations (freaked everyone out, you gotta be kidding me, I reckon, shut-up), 9 religious exclamations (e.g. the path God wants for us, trust the Lord, dear Lord, your Holiness, Amen, praise Him, Alleluia, God focused, Jesus). | profanity glossary |

The Starling Girl SUBSTANCE USE

 – A woman takes a prescription pill for pain, it is implied that a man is a recovering alcoholic, and a woman makes a comment about knowing a man “before he got clean.” A teen girl says that she thinks her father is “drinking again,” and a teen girl goes into a bar where we see some people drinking. A man smokes a cigarette outside a church and tells a teen girl not to tell anyone, and a woman smokes a cigarette in her house.

The Starling Girl DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Missionary work, Christian Fundamentalists, redemption, suicide, mindfulness, life choices, addiction, forgiveness, suicide, attempted suicide, vanity, doctrine, influences of technology, Daniel Fast.

The Starling Girl MESSAGE

 – Sometimes it’s hard to know the right path to take.