Miss Potter

This topic contains:

• overall comments and recommendations
• details about Miss Potter's classification and consumer advice lines
• a review of Miss Potter completed by Young Media Australia (YMA) on 25 January 2007

Overall comments and recommendations

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) and the associated consumer advice lines.

YMA review

This review of the movie Miss Potter contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• themes
• use of violence
• material that may scare children
• product placement
• sexual references
• nudity and sexual activity
• use of substances
• coarse language
• the movie's message

A synopsis of the story

Miss Potter is the story of Beatrix Potter's rise to fame through her creative tales of the animals she sees as her friends, including Peter Rabbit and Jemima Puddleduck.

In an era when women of 32 are expected to be married, Beatrix Potter (Renee Zellwegger) is a single woman with a career ambition. This ambition is challenged by many hurdles as her pictures and stories are deemed silly and childish by both her family and the town's publishers. She is given her first break by a new publisher, Norman Warne (Ewan McGregor) whose abilities are also being challenged. Norman falls in love with Beatrix's stories and together they successfully publish the books that have become the most well-known children's stories throughout the world.

As Beatrix's animal friends come to life in popular children's books, love between Beatrix and Norman also grows. However, their love is overshadowed by parental disapproval and Beatrix seeks solace and encouragement from her new friend, Millie, Norman's sister (Emily Watson). The love story is marred by tragedy but Beatrix finds happiness in the beauty of the Lake District where she settles.

Themes

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Death of a loved one; the position of women in society

Use of violence

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is no violence in this movie.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Children under eight are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations, the death of a parent or child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters. Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

Some children may require explanation of scenes involving Beatrix's separation from, and grief over the death of, her fiance Norman.

Product placement

None

Sexual references

None

Nudity and sexual activity

None

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

• Norman attempts to intoxicate Beatrix's chaperone with sherry, after she has consumed a glass or two of wine, so that he may have a moment alone with Beatrix
• A number of guests drink alcohol during a Christmas party at Beatrix's parents' home.

Coarse language

None

The movie's message

Miss Potter is a captivating portrayal of the life story of Beatrix Potter which features enchanting animation and scenery. It will appeal particularly to adults and older children who have grown up on, and loved, Beatrix Potter's books. Her imagination, passion and determination make her a strong role model, particularly for adolescent girls, as the movie successfully demonstrates the constraints placed on women during this era.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

• Friendship and love
• Believing in your dreams
• Ambition and determination

This movie may also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children the importance of environmental issues as Beatrix becomes involved in land preservation.