Philomena poster

Philomena (2013)

Film · 1h 38m · Rated PG-13

Drama

An aging woman’s earnest quest to find her lost son unearths a heartbreaking, yet uplifting, journey.

Melancholy, with dry wit. A comfort watch at a measured pace. Emotionally it is heavy. Based on a book.

Streaming on Kanopy (free), Hoopla (free), Fandango at Home (free), YouTube (free), Plex (free) and Tubi (free).

Philomena parents guide

It stays inside its PG-13, with some innuendo or implied sex and mild language.

Rated PG-13, but by what is on screen our estimate is fine from about 10.

Scare
Not scary
Jump scares
None noted
Gore
No gore
Violence
No real violence
Sex and nudity
Mild
Mild means innuendo, or sex implied off screen, with no nudity.
Language
Mild
Mild words like damn, hell or crap.

How we rate: an AI reads what is known about each title and tags it 0 to 3; we check the tags against a hand-rated set and correct them by hand when readers tell us. Estimates, not a scene-by-scene review. Spot a mistake? Tell us.

What is Philomena about?

A woman searches for her adult son, who was taken away from her decades ago when she was forced to live in a convent.

Does it have a happy ending? (spoiler-safe)

Bittersweet. It earns its ending, but not everyone gets what they want.

Cast and crew

Directed byStephen Frears
StarringJudi Dench, Steve Coogan, Sophie Kennedy Clark, Mare Winningham, Barbara Jefford, Ruth McCabe

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Uses the TMDB API; not endorsed or certified by TMDB. Intensity, content, tone and pace tags are CouchRot's own.