If Beale Street Could Talk

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Synopsis

Romance/Drama. Based on the book by James Baldwin. A young woman (KiKi Layne) must cope with her fiancée’s (Stephan James) imprisonment for a crime he did not commit, while she carries their first child.

Content elements

• Frequent use of the sexual expletive, some in a sexual context; frequent use of scatological slang; infrequent use of cursing, profanity, vulgar expressions, and ethno-cultural and sexual slurs
• Infrequent references to sexual assault - no detail
• Infrequent portrayals of hand-to-hand violence in a domestic context - no blood, little detail
• Infrequent portrayals of sexual activity - breast nudity, some detail
• Infrequent portrayals of alcohol and tobacco use in recreational and historical contexts

Thematic elements

• Love and commitment
• Prejudice, injustice, and oppression
• Race and power

Classification rationale

Rated 14A for coarse language and sexual content

Classification date