What age is Julie & Julia appropriate for?

Rated PG-13 in the US. 13, alone or with a parent; 7 in France. The whole movie, watched in full: what's in it, and how to talk about it with your child.

Why is Julie & Julia not recommended under 13?

What's in it: the official rating, first; knives and a live lobster; tender couples in bed; a few swear words and tears of exhaustion. The detail, fact by fact, is in the zinema guide, which reads the work itself (images, sound, dialogue).

zinema · movies · what age

Julie & Julia: what age is it for? 13, alone or with a parent

From 13, alone or with a parent.

Movie · 2009 · 2 h 03 · romance, drama

YRS

The trailer

Alone, or with you

89101112131415161718

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, when you like cooking or watching people cook, and can follow two women finding themselves fifty years apart. Why a sweet spot?

Official US rating: PG-13. In France, zinema would say 7.

Watch the trailerContinue in zinemathen where to watch it, in zinema · more trailers, and where to watch films · Where to stream itWhere to watch

What it's about

Julia Child and Julie Powell – both of whom wrote memoirs – find their lives intertwined. Though separated by time and space, both women are at loose ends... until they discover that with the right combination of passion, fearlessness and butter, anything is possible.

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
Knives and a live lobsterDozens of images of kitchen knives, a lobster thrown into boiling water, a tonsil operation in flashback. Nothing violent: it is cooking.
Tender couples in bedTwo married couples who love each other, suggested and played for laughs, no nudity; wine at every meal, cigarettes in 1950s Paris.
A few swear words and tears of exhaustionFour swear words in English, a marital argument, a young woman crying over her ruined dish.

What the movie brings

A woman who finds her way at forty in a cooking school that did not want her.
Cooking as a thread between two eras, and the idea that a project kept up for a year changes a life.
Meryl Streep as Julia Child, funny and greedy.

Watching it together

Before

The film is long and talky for younger children; the lobster scene makes them laugh or shudder, depending on the child.

After

at 13 and up

Julie keeps up a year of recipes to prove she can finish something: what would you like to keep up for a year?

See the facts

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

A weapon shown or used●●○ · shownmeasured

Alcohol●●○ · shownmeasured

Kissing, romantic gestures●●○ · shownmeasured

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

Smoking●●○ · shownmeasured

Tense music or sound●●○ · shownmeasured

Visible injury, blood●●○ · saidmeasured

A weapon shown or used●○○ · suggestedmeasured

Abandonment, separation, confinement●○○ · shownmeasured

Alcohol●○○ · saidmeasured

Death of a character●○○ · saidmeasured

Humor●○○ · shownmeasured

Pace●○○ · shownmeasured

Sex scene, suggested or shown●○○ · shownreading

Smoking●○○ · saidmeasured

Swearing●○○ · shownmeasured

Visible injury, blood●○○ · shownmeasured

For the same age, on zinema

Tadeo Jones y La Lámpara Maravillosa 7, 6 with a parent
LEGO ONE PIECE 7, 6 with a parent
Les Vacances du Petit Nicolas 7, 6 with a parent
Les 12 travaux d'Astérix 7, 6 with a parent

The latest guides

Astérix & Obélix : Mission Cléopâtre 7, 6 with a parent
Les Blagues de Toto 7, 6 with a parent
Le Petit Nicolas 7, 6 with a parent
The Iron Giant 7, 6 with a parent

A zinema reading from September 20, 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