Story
The title of this movie refers to the Melbourne Cup, and the movie tells the story of the Australian jockey Damien Oliver. The movie opens at a presentation dinner, where Damien Oliver (Stephen Curry) gets the Jockey of the Year award. He also tells the surprised audience that he’ll now be riding for the Irish trainer Dermot Weld (Brendan Gleeson). From here, the movie is a series of interwoven stories that show the events and people in Damien Oliver’s turbulent life in the weeks leading up to the 2002 Melbourne Cup.
At first, the movie focuses on Damien’s relationship with his brother Jason (Daniel MacPherson), wife Trish (Jodi Gordon), manager Neil Pinner (Martin Sacks), friend and mentor Lee Freedman (Shaun Micallef), and the handler of the horse Media Puzzle, Dave Phillips (Tom Burlinson). The movie goes on to trace Damien’s progress towards the Melbourne Cup and the family disaster that threatens his career.
Violence
The Cup contains no person-to-person violence to concern you. But it does show scenes with injuries and death resulting from horseracing. These scenes might upset children and are described below.
Sexual references
This movie has some infrequent, low-level sexual references. For example:
- When Damien talks about getting together with his wife, he refers to himself as ‘batting above my average’.
- When a man leaves his wife to travel to Australia for work, his wife tells him in a joking way to ‘watch out for those Australian women’.
- A man watches several women wearing bikini tops and shorts riding horses along a beach. The man says, ‘I think he likes the bikinis’ (‘he’ is one of the horses).
Alcohol, drugs and other substances
This movie shows some occasional alcohol use. For example:
- Characters drink champagne, wine and beer at social events.
- A bottle of spirits sits on a table in a man’s office.
Nudity and sexual activity
This movie has some partial nudity and infrequent low-level sexual activity. For example:
- Jockeys sit in a change room with bare chests.
- Damien’s wife sits up in bed wearing a nighty with a plunging neckline. Damien has a bare chest. He sits on the bed and then dives under the bed covers. He and his wife briefly move around under the covers.
- Women wear low-cut bikini tops, evening dresses and brief shorts.
Product placement
None of concern
Coarse language
This movie has some infrequent, low-level coarse language and name-calling.
Ideas to discuss with your children
The Cup is an emotionally charged drama targeting an adult audience, particularly those with a love for horseracing and an interest in the Melbourne Cup. It lacks interest for children and contains distressing scenes of injury and death.
The main message from this movie is that being a champion isn’t just about winning, but about never giving up, no matter how hard things are.
Values in this movie that you could reinforce with your children include friendship and never giving up. For example, with the help of family and friends, a strong will and determination, Damien gets through very hard emotional times.
This movie could also give you the chance to talk with your children about what it’s like to be a jockey and the consequences of taking part in the dangerous and demanding sport of horse racing.