What age is Free Solo appropriate for?

Rated PG-13 in the US. 13, alone or with a parent; 10 in France. The whole movie, watched in full: what's in it, and how to talk about it with your child.

Why is Free Solo not recommended under 13?

What's in it: the official rating, first; forty minutes hanging in the void; an adult portrait, without softening. The detail, fact by fact, is in the zinema guide, which reads the work itself (images, sound, dialogue).

zinema · movies · what age

Free Solo: what age is it for? 13, alone or with a parent

From 13, alone or with a parent.

Movie · 2018 · 1 h 40 · documentary, adventure

YRS

The trailer

Alone, or with you

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not yetwith an adult, or to talk about afteralonethe sweet spot

The official US rating is PG-13, and we never go below it. Alone from 13, and not before, even with an adult.

The sweet spot: around 13-14, the age at which you grasp what nine hundred metres means and the question of chosen risk becomes worth arguing about at home. Why a sweet spot?

Official US rating: PG-13. In France, zinema would say 10.

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What it's about

Follow Alex Honnold as he attempts to become the first person to ever free solo climb Yosemite's 3,000 foot high El Capitan wall. With no ropes or safety gear, this would arguably be the greatest feat in rock climbing history.

Why 13

The official rating, firstRated PG-13 in the US (parents strongly cautioned, some material may be inappropriate for children under 13). zinema never goes below the country's rating: it explains it.
rule
Forty minutes hanging in the voidThe final climb is filmed close up, ropeless, hundreds of metres above the ground. The camera operators, climbers themselves, look away and cry. Nothing goes wrong, Alex reaches the top, and it is still gruelling from beginning to end. The film names Alex's friends who died soloing, with their photographs, and shows his two roped falls, broken ankle, X-rays and physiotherapy.
An adult portrait, without softeningAlex talks about a childhood without affection, about a brain that does not react to fear, about what he puts his partner through. A few swear words in the original version, fewer in French, a little tobacco and beer around the van.

What the movie brings

A textbook case of preparation: years of roped rehearsals before a single attempt without a net.
A question asked head on and left open: do you have the right to risk your life for something gratuitous?
Climbing footage no fiction film can fabricate, with real vertigo.

Watching it together

Before

Say beforehand that he makes it to the top; otherwise the final climb is hard to bear at nine.

After

at 13 and up

Sanni asks whether he thinks of her while he climbs: what should he have answered?

See the facts

Density of dialogue●●● · shownmeasured

Pace●●● · shownmeasured

A moment that calls for a parent●●○ · suggestedreading

Abandonment, separation, confinement●●○ · shownmeasured

Death of a character●●○ · shownreading

Insults, hurtful words●●○ · shownmeasured

Kissing, romantic gestures●●○ · shownmeasured

Long dark scenes, night, storm●●○ · shownmeasured

Smoking●●○ · shownmeasured

Verbal threat or intimidation●●○ · saidmeasured

Alcohol●○○ · saidmeasured

Alcohol●○○ · shownmeasured

Drugs●○○ · saidmeasured

Frightening imagery●○○ · shownreading

Humor●○○ · shownmeasured

Mental distress, depression, anxiety●○○ · saidmeasured

Smoking●○○ · saidmeasured

Swearing●○○ · shownmeasured

Tense music or sound●○○ · shownmeasured

Visible injury, blood●○○ · shownreading

For the same age, on zinema

Les Parfait(s) : Arnaques en famille 10, 9 with a parent
Masterplan 17
Blücher 11, 10 with a parent
Le Château dans le ciel 11, 10 with a parent

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A zinema reading from September 23, 2026 · the whole movie, watched in full · the age by zinema's rules for the US and France, and a human reading · report an error · how this guide is made