Story
In Looking for Grace, Grace (Odessa Young) and her friend Sappho (Kenya Pearson) take a bus trip from Perth to Ceduna in South Australia, supposedly to see a death metal band. They steal thousands of dollars from Grace’s parents’ safe and leave home without telling their families. Along the way a young man, Jamie (Harry Richardson), gets on the bus and the three make friends straight away. Grace and Jamie are attracted to each other, and Sappho feels left out. She decides to go home, and Grace and Jamie spend a night in a motel. But Jamie leaves early in the morning, taking Grace’s money with him.
Grace is left alone, without any money and scared. She sets off along the road by herself. Meanwhile her parents Denise (Radha Mitchell) and Dan (Richard Roxburgh) hire a retired private detective, Tom (Terry Norris), to help them find her. They eventually do find Grace, but they also find out a lot about their own relationship along the way.
Themes
Violence
Sexual references
Looking for Grace has some sexual references. For example:
- One of the girls says her mother has big breasts. Another girl says that she has never slept with a boy.
- A friend of Denise’s speculates that Grace might have been raped or murdered.
- Denise tells Grace that she had a baby at 17, which she gave up for adoption. She’s never told Dan.
- Dan and a woman go to a hotel room to have sex. They kiss and try to have sex but can’t because Dan is too overcome by guilt.
- Tom tells Dan that his sister is a lesbian.
- Tom and Dan talk about being unfaithful to their wives and say that they’ve both tried but failed because they felt guilty. Dan says he can’t stop thinking about sex.
Alcohol, drugs and other substances
Looking for Grace shows some use of substances. For example:
- Characters drink wine at dinner.
- Tom and Dan smoke.
Nudity and sexual activity
Looking for Grace has some nudity and sexual activity. For example:
- Grace and Jamie sit on a bed in a motel room. They kiss and Jamie removes Grace’s top. She is seen naked from the back. The scene suggests that they go on to have sex.
- Tom pinches his wife’s bottom and pushes her onto the bed, but she isn’t in the mood.
- Dan and a woman kiss passionately and try to have sex, but Dan can’t because he feels guilty.
Product placement
The following products are displayed or used in Looking for Grace: Golden Gaytimes, Drumsticks, Cornettos, Kit Kats and Coca-Cola.
Coarse language
Looking for Grace has quite a lot of coarse language.
Ideas to discuss with your children
Looking for Grace is a long drawn-out drama. The story is told from several different perspectives, but it’s the same story repeated several times. The content makes it more suitable for older teenagers and the story raises some interesting discussion points, but it might not hold the attention of many teenage viewers.
The main messages from this movie are that life is often complex and that things aren’t always as they seem.
Ideas in this movie that you could discuss with your children include the often far-reaching and irreversible consequences of your actions. You could also talk about questions like the following:
- Why does Grace run off in the first place without telling her parents?
- Grace believes the money she steals belongs to her just as much as it belongs to her parents. Is this true?