What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that this movie focuses on an adulterous relationship and the devastation it causes to its many victims. There are several scenes of frank sexuality, including passionate foreplay, suggested intercourse, and nudity (bare female breasts, buttocks, backs, and a fully nude woman seen from a distance). A violent explosion/fire that kills two adults is shown several times, though without any gruesome shots of the people inside. A young woman is seen mutilating her leg ("cutting") in a gesture of self-loathing, and two teens use a cigarette lighter to scar themselves. There's also plenty of strong language (including "f--k," "s--t," "bastard," "slut," etc.), smoking throughout, and occasional drinking.
- Families can talk about the fact that guilt is a recurring theme of the movie. Which characters feel guilty? How do the characters reveal their guilt? Are any of the characters strong role models?
- How many lives were affected by the behavior of two people who fell in love and had an affair? Can you think of other instances in which many people suffer because of the actions of a few? What can we do to be aware of this fact when we make important life choices?
- The filmmaker uses a nonlinear storytelling method, with repeated shifts of time and place. What do you think the goal behind that decision is? What does this technique require of the viewer?