Sylvie’s Love | 2020 | PG-13 | – 5.2.3

Why is “Sylvie’s Love” rated PG-13? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “some sexual content, and smoking.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes a sex scene with partial nudity, a couple of implied sex scenes, several kissing scenes and an unplanned pregnancy, a death from a heart attack, arguments, and discussions of gender roles and responsibility, and some moderate language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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In 1960’s Harlem a chance meeting between a young woman (Tessa Thompson) and an aspiring jazz saxophonist (Nnamdi Asomugha) begins their complicated love story that proves to them both that following any path that leads to anything other than happiness is not worth it. Also with Eva Longoria, Aja Naomi King, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Jemima Kirke, Tone Bell, Alano Miller, Regé-Jean Page and Lance Reddick. Directed by Eugene Ashe. [Running Time: 1:54]

Sylvie’s Love SEX/NUDITY 5

 – A man and a woman kiss passionately in a hotel room, the woman enters the room and the man removes her dress (we see her corset, underwear, cleavage and bare shoulders); they lie on a bed and the man thrusts before the scene ends (the man’s bare back, abdomen and chest are seen and he is wearing boxers). A man kisses a woman, she resists, then kisses him and they lie back as the scene ends (sex is implied). A man and a woman kiss in a car and we see the woman straddling the man as they accidentally honk the horn (sex is implied). A woman talks about “skinny dipping” and leads a man off-screen by the hand (sex is implied).
► A man and a woman kiss deeply on a doorstep after he walks her home (she is engaged to another man). A man kisses a woman at a door and picks her up to carry her inside, to a party. A man and woman kiss goodbye. A man kisses a woman’s hand in greeting. A man and a woman dance in a club and he pulls her very close to him. A man and a woman dance in the street very close to each other and nearly kiss. A man applies sun lotion on a woman’s bare back and shoulders.
► Two women talk about one of the women having sex with a man and one asks the other, “You did it?”; a woman makes a sexually suggestive joke, and a woman tells another woman, “I’ve done it plenty of times.” A man refers to another man making an advance toward a woman. A woman sits in front of a toilet and it is implied that she has vomited (we do not hear retching or see goo); she admits not knowing when her last menstrual cycle was and that she fainted the month before (it is understood that she is pregnant). A woman is dismissive of another woman applying for a TV production position because she has no experience and calls her a “housewife”; the applicant confronts her about assuming that the job entails being chased around the office by the producer (implying sexual harassment). A man asks a woman to go with him to Paris for a music job. We hear that a young woman is engaged and that her fiancé is in Vietnam.
► Dancers in a club wearing skimpy outfits that reveal cleavage, bare abdomens, backs and legs to the hips, dance with swaying and gyrating hip movements while a band plays music. A woman opens her coat to reveal her bra, underwear and a garter belt toward a man as an invitation (we see cleavage, bar abdomen and legs); he closes her coat and puts her into a limousine. A woman dances and sings at a party and does a partial striptease (we see her wearing a low-cut bodysuit that reveals cleavage and bare shoulders and stockings). A woman wears a sundress that reveals cleavage, bare shoulders and back and a man walking past her on the sidewalk admires her as she passes and runs after her to strike up a conversation. A man watches a woman dance in a record shop and she is embarrassed when she realizes he’s watching. Two women wear swimsuits that reveal cleavage, legs to the hips and one woman’s bare abdomen. A woman wears a dress onstage that reveals cleavage and bare shoulders. Women wear low-cut dresses in several scenes throughout the movie. A man wears a large cloth wrapped around his waist like a diaper for a costume of the New Year baby at a party (we see his bare chest, abdomen and partial legs).

Sylvie’s Love VIOLENCE/GORE 2

 – A woman holding a stick walks toward her adult daughter when she comes home late and seems to be threatening her with it (we do not see any blows).
► We hear that a man died of a heart attack and we see people grieving. A woman yells at a man, shoves him and tells him to leave and not come back. A man and a woman argue briefly. A woman is dismissive of another woman applying for a TV production position because she has no experience and calls her a “housewife”; the applicant confronts her assuming that the job entails being chased around the office by the producer (implying sexual harassment). A husband confronts his wife about lying to him that she was working late. We hear that a woman is engaged and that her fiancé is in Vietnam. A woman tells her adult daughter that a man is “beneath her station,” and that she should not lavish praise on him. A woman says that kissing a man was a lapse in judgement. A man says that his mother died a few years ago. We hear that a woman is afraid of the ocean. A husband tells his wife, “You can work as long as it doesn’t interfere with your responsibilities at home.” A man tells another man, “Jazz is dead.”
► A woman sits in front of a toilet and it is implied that she has vomited (we do not hear retching or see goo); she admits not knowing when her last menstrual cycle was and that she fainted the month before (it is understood that she is pregnant).

Sylvie’s Love LANGUAGE 3

 – 3 sexual references, 1 scatological term, 4 mild obscenities, 5 derogatory terms for African-American people, name-calling (cheap, babe, bigots, shame, kiddo, bind kid, ice-cold, not cool, irrational), exclamations (wow, oops, jiving you, gosh), 3 religious exclamations (e.g. God No, Oh God). | profanity glossary |

Sylvie’s Love SUBSTANCE USE

 – People drink alcohol in several jazz club scenes, people drink liquor and smoke cigarettes in a couple of party scenes, people drink wine at a dinner, a man stumbles into a party and seems drunk, a man drinks in a bar, two women drink from bottles on a beach, and two men drink glasses of whiskey after a meal. Men and women smoke cigarettes in most scenes throughout the movie in interior and exterior settings, and a man lights a cigarette for a woman, and two men prepare to smoke cigars.

Sylvie’s Love DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Jazz music, gender roles, racial inequality, the Civil Rights Movement, NAACP, CORE, voter rights, copyright ownership, infidelity, divorce, mistakes, life choices, changing times, march for jobs and freedom, expectations, dreams, sacrifice, discriminatory hiring practices, “The Feminine Mystique.”

Sylvie’s Love MESSAGE

 – Life is too short to spend time on things you don’t absolutely love.