What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that this romance is focused on the legendary 18th-century lothario, here revised to suit a secret identity plot and his romance with a proto-feminist writer. The film includes some raunchy sexual material, plus jokes about bodily functions (as well as verbal and visual jokes about one character's obesity). References are made to sexual pleasures, "whores," brothels, virgins, "fornication," as well as "coming" and "instrument" (as double entendres). Characters appear in various states of undress, women wear cleavage-revealing dresses. Characters drink at parties; one smokes cigarettes.
- Families can talk about the representation of marriage, as a means to solidify one's social status, clear one's name, cover up for sexual activity, and gain money. Francesca's argument for women's rights and against men's objectification of women is simplistic but also provides grist for conversation: how can she make her point clear in a film where she's the primary romantic object?