Oppenheimer is set to be one of the most-nominated films at the 2024 Academy Awards, after its unparalleled success with critics and audiences last year. The historical-biographical film, led by Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer, grossed just shy of $1 billion in theaters, making it both the highest-grossing biopic and second-highest-grossing R-rated film of all time. Early reviews hailed the three-hour epic as one of the best movies of the 21st century so far.
If you’re planning to catch up on this year’s most acclaimed movies and you intend to watch the film with children, here’s what you need to know about its suitability for younger viewers.
‘Oppenheimer’ age rating, explained
In the U.S., Oppenheimer is rated ‘R’ by the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America). According to the MPAA, an ‘R’ rating, short for “restricted”, means that viewers “under 17 require accompanying parent or adult guardian,” due to “some adult material” in the film.
In short, parents or guardians can let children – defined in this case as everyone under 18 years old – watch Oppenheimer. However, depending on their policies, some movie theaters may be reluctant to let younger children into a screening. If you’re looking to work out how appropriate Oppenheimer is for a young viewer, the parents’ guide breaks down why the blockbuster was given its rating.
‘Oppenheimer’ parents’ guide, explained
The MPAA cited “sexuality, nudity, and language” as the key reasons for Oppenheimer’s R rating. However, its content warning has massively understated the film’s violence. While the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are not shown on screen, the bombings and their devastating effects on the victims are discussed at length by several characters in the film.
In one particular scene, where J. Robert Oppenheimer addresses a cheering crowd after the bombings, he begins to imagine the effects of the bombing should it have happened in that room, leading to a highly disturbing sequence. Screams, sobs, and other distressing sounds can be heard, as well as visuals of a woman’s skin peeling off, as well as a burned corpse on the ground. While these visuals are brief flashes on screen, the overall visual and audio experience is intentionally highly disturbing.
The only bombing on screen is the Trinity Test, where the detonation of the first nuclear bomb is conducted on a test site in Los Alamos. While no one is hurt, there is a jumpscare from the delayed sound of the explosion, making for another deliberately disorienting experience.
While not violent in a typical way, a character dies by suicide by overdosing and drowning themselves in the bath. While this sequence is brief and tries to refrain from showing the suicide method, this could be disturbing as well as triggering for viewers.
Throughout Oppenheimer, but especially in its third act, the theme of human-enacted destruction of fellow human lives plays a big role. The opening scene of the film shows a young Oppenheimer poisoning an apple and presenting it to his hostile professor, before changing his mind. After the bombing takes place in the film, the physicist ponders if he has created an irreversible change to the world that could potentially lead to a nuclear war and wipe out humanity for good.
There are two sex scenes in Oppenheimer, with the female character appearing nude, showing bare breasts and buttocks. The male character is also nude, but is mostly shown from the torso up. No genitalia is shown, and is thus not considered as full-frontal nudity. Sexual intercourse is only shown briefly, and would generally not be considered graphic.
As the film is set predominately during the Second World War, cigarette and tobacco use are often shown on screen, as this was commonplace at the time. Some alcohol use is depicted. There are some strong swear words used in the film, but for the average R-rated film, the use is pretty minimal.
Oppenheimer would be highly inappropriate for young children due to its use of disturbing scenes and depiction of sex on screen. However, older viewers in the under-18 bracket, such as teenagers, may be able to watch with minimal discomfort. Parents or guardians of children around this age should also keep in mind the depiction of suicide as discussed previously, and come to their own conclusions about showing this to young viewers.