Roma (2018): parents' guide
Best for ages 16 and up. Rated R for graphic nudity, some disturbing images, and language.
A slow, demanding black-and-white drama about a live-in housekeeper for a middle-class family in 1970s Mexico City, best for older teens who can handle long, quiet takes and heavy emotion. The biggest concerns are a long scene of full-frontal male nudity, a stillbirth shown in a hospital with the lifeless newborn on screen, and a real massacre of student protesters with shootings and bodies in the street. Children are nearly swept out to sea. Subtitles include a few f-words and s-words. The nudity and the wrenching hospital scene are why we suggest 16.
What's in it
Violence
ModerateA 1971 student protest becomes a massacre: armed men shoot people in the streets and storm a furniture store, where a man is shot in the chest. Bodies, blood and a crowded hospital are shown, and a man points a gun at a pregnant woman.
Language
ModeratePlugged In counted about four f-words and a similar number of s-words in the subtitles, along with ass, bastard, damn, piss, crap and goddamn. Dialogue is in Spanish and Mixtec.
Sex and nudity
StrongA man performs martial-arts moves completely naked in a long full-frontal shot. A young couple's sex is implied and leads to a pregnancy, a husband leaves for a mistress, and boys are seen paging through erotic magazines in the distance.
Drinking, drugs and smoking
ModerateAdults smoke, and partygoers at a New Year's celebration drink and some get visibly drunk. A pregnant woman nearly drinks a glass of pulque before it spills, and someone mentions inhaling chemicals.
Scary or intense scenes
StrongThe housekeeper goes into labor during the massacre, and a long hospital scene shows doctors trying to revive her stillborn baby. Two children nearly drown in rough surf. The MPA cites disturbing images, and the grief is raw.
Sensitive topics
- Death of a child
Worth talking about
Cleo is loved by the family she works for, yet she is still a servant with little power. How does the film show the gap between them, and does their bond change by the end?
On our lists
Similar picks around 16+
Checked October 13th, 2026 against Common Sense Media, Plugged In, bbfc.co.uk. 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.