What age is Bad Seeds (Mauvaises herbes) appropriate for?

12 alone, 11 with a parent; 12 in France. The whole movie, watched in full: what's in it, and how to talk about it with your child.

Why is Bad Seeds (Mauvaises herbes) not recommended under 12?

What's in it: our reading; adult advice played for laughs; hard talk, hard words; scuffles, weapons, a wounded face; kids left on their own; cigarettes, drinks, and a drug named. The detail, fact by fact, is in the zinema guide, which reads the work itself (images, sound, dialogue).

zinema · movies · what age

Bad Seeds (Mauvaises herbes): what age is it for? 12 alone, 11 with a parent

12 alone, 11 with a parent.

Movie · 2018 · 1 h 44 · comedy, drama

YRS

The trailer

Alone, or with you

7891011121314151617

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

Alone from 12; from 11, with an adult or by talking about it afterwards.

The sweet spot: around 13-15, when a teenager recognises that an adult can say anything with total confidence, laughs at the con man without taking him for a model, and understands what being thrown out of school does to someone. Why a sweet spot?

In France, zinema would say 12.

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

Wael, a former street child, makes a living from small scams with his adoptive mother and partner-in-crime Monique. When this unconventional duo swindles the wrong guy, Victor, an old acquaintance of Monique now in charge of a support organization for troubled teens, they have no choice but to become his interim secretary and educator in order to redeem themselves.

Why 12

Our readingNot rated in the US. We say 12: It is a gentle comedy about a small-time con artist who ends up supervising middle schoolers who have been expelled, and most of the film is tender. But one adult strings together a series of absurd pieces of advice in front of the children, and one of them throws out that grown-ups who eat cake are often pedophiles. Nobody corrects him, and nothing in the scene would set straight a child who took the line at face value. Add to that heroin named as one character's problem, and a face with open wounds held for a few seconds. The film talks very rough, but it is those three things that set the age, not the swearing.
reading
Adult advice played for laughsAn adult strings together a series of absurd pieces of advice in front of the kids, and one of them throws out that grown-ups who eat cake are often pedophiles. Nobody corrects him, and nothing in the scene tells a younger viewer it is a joke. That line alone is worth a word afterward.
Hard talk, hard wordsThe film talks rough almost from the first minutes: swearing is constant, insults fly, and a slur slips out once. Fights, knives, guns and beatings are described in detail in the dialogue, and deaths are recounted without being shown. It is street talk, never glorified, but it is dense.
Scuffles, weapons, a wounded faceSeveral scuffles break out between the teens and around them, weapons are handled on screen, and a wounded face with open injuries is held for a few seconds. Nothing lingers, but the image is real and unvarnished.
Kids left on their ownThe story returns often to children alone, at night or shut out, and to the idea of being dropped by the adults who should be there. Several long dark stretches carry that feeling, along with a scene of crying that lands hard.
Cigarettes, drinks, and a drug namedCharacters smoke repeatedly on screen and drink in a few scenes, in the ordinary way adults do here. Heroin is also named as one character's problem, without any lesson attached.

What the movie brings

It shows kids written off by school as people worth believing in.
It makes the point that one adult who shows up can change a path.
The humor is warm and the ending lands on hope, not cynicism.

Watching it together

Before

Tell them ahead of time that one adult in this film says wild, made-up things to the kids, and that you will talk about it after.

After

at 12 and up

Why do you think the grown-ups had already given up on these teenagers, and what changed?

See the facts

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For the same age, on zinema

Drive – The Pretenders 17
Once Upon a Time 12, 11 with a parent
La Bataille de Gaulle : J’écris ton nom 13, 12 with a parent
Matchbox the Movie 13

The latest guides

A zinema reading from September 27, 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