Hemingway & Gellhorn Movie Poster Image

Hemingway & Gellhorn

age 17+
(i)

 

Acclaimed writers don't ring true in mature HBO biopic.
Watch
Write a review
See all 1 user reviews
  • Review Date: March 31, 2013
  • Rated: NR
  • Genre: Drama
  • Release Year: 2013
  • Running Time: 155 minutes

What parents need to know

Positive messages

Ernest Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn are deeply committed to their work, documenting the awful impact of war upon ordinary people, and their fervor comes through in this film. They make war seem both terrible and glamorous, and in the process they fall hard for each other -- two people drawn to each other's intensity.

Positive role models

Ernest Hemingway was a towering literary figure, but in this film, he's not especially likeable. He's thin-skinned, jealous of Martha Gellhorn's success, and self-centered, and all of those traits are exacerbated when he gets drunk, which is most of the time. He looks like good fun to have at a party and terrible to live with.

Violence

Many scenes show the two war correspondents at work covering battles that leave numerous bloody casualties. The fiery Hemingway also gets into more than a few fistfights.

Sex

Hemingway and Gellhorn have an intense love affair and a few scenes show them having sex, sometimes in explicit detail that includes vigorous motions and bare breasts and butts.

Language

Occasional swearing, including "bitch," "bastard," "pr--k," "c--t," and "f--k."

Consumerism
Not applicable
Drinking, drugs, & smoking

Hemingway was a man with big appetites, and he drinks and smokes throughout the film, often getting drunk. There's plenty of liquor, plenty of cigars, and plenty of cigarettes.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Hemingway & Gellhorn focuses on the intense relationship between Ernest Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn during their time as war correspondents, and depicts bloody casualties and passionate sex. There are combat scenes that leave bloody and mangled corpses, and plenty of drinking off the battlefield. Many characters smoke cigarettes or cigars, and there's a good bit of swearing, plus bare breasts and bottoms during sex scenes.

Parents say

Not yet rated
Review this title!

What's the story?

Martha Gellhorn (Nicole Kidman), soon to be a famed war correspondent, stumbles into a drunken Ernest Hemingway (Clive Owen) in a Key West bar, and soon they're both covering the Spanish Civil War, falling in love as bombs fall all around them. The two writers receive accolades for their work and make good partners in the field, in this biopic that's told from Gellhorn's point of view and shows the last act in Hemingway's career. The film includes plenty of well-known supporting characters, including John Dos Passos, Robert Capa and Max Eastman

Is it any good?

QUALITY

HEMINGWAY & GELLHORN is about two famous writers who lived big, exciting lives during important times, but the movie doesn't feel true to life. The Hemingway here is a character, larger than life at all times, even when it's just him and the woman for whom he's falling. He's never small, never off. Owen makes him seem adventurous and fun, but he doesn't seem real. Gellhorn, who serves as the narrator, is the secondary character here, and it sometimes seems like her job in this story is to explain what's happening to Hemingway, who she eventually married. She's there, but she's not the star of her own life.

Part of the problem is the script, which is packed with lines that look great on a page but sound terrible coming from an actor. We get it -- they were great writers -- but they probably didn't speak the same way they wrote. And of course, Hemingway gets the best lines. 

Families can talk about...

  • Families can talk about the character of Ernest Hemingway. Does this film portray him as a good person? A good husband?

  • How can you find out more about Ernest Hemingway? What are his most famous books? What else was he famous for? Why haven't you heard the name Martha Gellhorn before?

Movie details

DVD release date:April 2, 2013
Cast:Clive Owen, Nicole Kidman
Director:Philip Kaufman
Studio:HBO
Genre:Drama
Topics:Adventures
Run time:155 minutes
MPAA rating:NR

This review of Hemingway & Gellhorn was written by

S. Jhoanna Robledo
Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are conducted by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

Quality

Our star rating assesses the media's overall quality.

Find out more

About these links

Common Sense Media, a nonprofit organization, earns a small affiliate fee from Amazon or iTunes when you use our links to make a purchase. Thank you for your support.

Read more

About Our Rating System

The age displayed for each title is the minimum one for which it's developmentally appropriate. We recently updated all of our reviews to show only this age, rather than the multi-color "slider." Get more information about our ratings.

Great handpicked alternatives

  • Shattered Glass
    Journalistic scandal story best for older teens.
    age 13+
  • Capote
    Fascinating biography, but for adults only.
    age 16+
  • Shakespeare in Love
    Lavish historical drama has explicit sex scenes.
    age 16+

For kids who love true stories

Biopic Movies
Best Documentaries
See all recommended movie lists

Browse more movies

Top advice and articles

What parents and kids say

See all user reviews

Share your thoughts with other parents and kids Write a user review

A safe community is important to us. Please observe our guidelines

Teen, 15 years old Written byHaileyMarie July 14, 2013
age 14+

'Heminway & Gellhorn' Doesnt Serve Justice to the Real Writers

'Hemingway & Gellhorn' was disappointing. I was expecting more of a story about the writers themselves and less about their relationship with one another. This is definitely NOT a kids movie. Lots of sexual material. There are several sex scenes throughout. Hemingway and Gellhorn strip down almost full naked. All body parts are shown except pubic areas. They kiss passionately and make noises. The scenes are several minutes long making it uncomfortable to watch as a family. Not that you should have kids watching it in the first place, but if you have teen children, don't watch it with them. Lots of drinking and smoking. War violence isn't too gruesome, but a little intense.
What other families should know
Too much violence
Too much sex
Too much swearing
Too much drinking/drugs/smoking
Was this review useful?
Flag as inappropriate 

See all user reviews

Poll

Did our review help you make an informed decision about this product?