Mr. Scorsese: parents' guide
Best for ages 15 and up. Rated TV-MA.
A five-part portrait of director Martin Scorsese best suited to teens who are already serious about film. The talk itself is thoughtful, built on interviews with the director, his family and collaborators, but it is told through his movies, so it is packed with clips of shootings, stabbings and explosions, along with spoken accounts of rape. Expect f-words and other swearing, frequent talk about drinking and drugs, including Scorsese's own cocaine addiction in the late 1970s, which nearly killed him, and discussion of sexual situations without nudity. The violent clips are the main reason for the TV-MA and our suggestion of 15.
What's in it
Violence
StrongMany clips of extreme violence from Scorsese's crime films: shootings, stabbings and things blowing up. Rape is described in words, not shown. The ethics of screen violence is debated at length.
Language
ModerateSome profanity in interviews and clips, including f-words, s-words and bitch. Present but not constant.
Sex and nudity
MildSexual situations and his relationships come up in conversation across the series, but no nudity or sex scenes are shown.
Drinking, drugs and smoking
StrongDrinking and drugs come up often, and the series is candid about Scorsese's own cocaine addiction in the late 1970s, which nearly killed him, using interviews and footage from that era. Clips show intoxicated characters, and archival footage shows smoking and drinking.
Scary or intense scenes
ModerateNot a scary series, but the violent film clips are bloody and abrupt and could disturb younger viewers. Long stretches are calm interviews.
Sensitive topics
- Addiction
Worth talking about
Scorsese's films show brutal violence while condemning it. Can a movie depict something terrible without glamorizing it, and how can you tell the difference?
On our lists
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Checked October 13th, 2026 against Common Sense Media, apple.com, Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes, metacritic.com, collider.com, rogersmovienation.com. The age is our judgment, not an official rating, and every family draws its lines differently: read the notes, not just the number. Spotted something we missed? Tell us. How we rate.