Foreign language films for all ages
Are your children learning a new language at school? Film can be a great way to immerse yourself in another language while you’re learning, which is why we’ve put together a list of French, German and Spanish language films for children of all ages that you can enjoy as a family.
Our age ratings can help you and your family choose what's right for you and avoid what's not - whatever you watch, wherever and however you watch it.
French
KIRIKOU AND THE SORCERESS
(Kirikou et la Sorcière)
Rated U for mild violence, peril and natural nudity
In a little village in Africa, a boy named Kirikou is born. But he's not a normal boy, because he knows what he wants very well. His mother tells him how an evil sorceress has dried up their spring and devoured all males of the village except for one. Hence little Kirikou decides, he will accompany the last warrior to the sorceress. Due to his intrepidity he may be the last hope of the village.
Spanish
THE UNBEATABLES
(Metegol)
Rated U for mild slapstick violence, threat and very mild bad language
An animated feature about a young boy who sees the tin players on his table football game come to life when their local town is threatened by a villainous football superstar.
Violence
Violence is slapstick and comic - for example there is occasional sight of players being hit in the groin by footballs. In one scene a young boy is whacked in the face by a little girl during an argument.
Threat
In one extended sequence characters try to escape from an industrial grinder, and in another scene a character is scared when he realises that what he thought was a flirtatious arm around him is actually a rat's tail. The rat screams at him and then pulls him and his fellow football player though a rubbish tip, with items of junk crashing around them and threatening to crush them.
Language
In one scene a bullying young boy refers to a statue in a park as an "old git", while other language includes a use of 'god'.
Other information
There is some very mild innuendo. After one football match a female player begins to take off her shirt to swap it with another player, but she is stopped by the other players.
German
KNIGHT RUSTY
(Ritter Rost - Eisenhart und Voll Verbeult)
Rated U for very mild comic violence
An animated fantasy feature about a robot knight who goes on a quest to fight a dragon and save his beloved from an evil Prince.
Violence
Violence is infrequent and mostly comic with no injury detail.
Some very mild threat, such as when Rusty encounters a dragon, is resolved very quickly. This film has a light and upbeat tone throughout.
French
Rated PG for scene of mild threat
A black and white romantic drama filmed in the style of a Hollywood silent movie. Set between 1927 and 1931, it follows the story of film star George Valentin, who is caught off guard by the arrival of the 'talkies'. The film was classified 'PG' for a scene of mild threat
Content advice
The BBFC's Guidelines at 'U' state 'Scary sequences should be mild, brief and unlikely to cause undue anxiety to young children'. During one scene, the increasingly despairing George contemplates suicide and places a pistol in his own mouth. After this, the screen cuts to black and the intertitle 'Bang!' appears on screen, in the style of a silent film. After this, the film cuts to sight of the heroine's crashed car, and her rushing into the house to help her friend. We then see that George has not committed suicide. The build-up of tension and despair, coupled with the sight of the gun in the mouth and the initial uncertainty about George's fate, have the potential to cause anxiety for younger viewers. However, in the context of this old fashioned romance, it is permissible at 'PG' where 'Frightening sequences should not be prolonged or intense'.
The film also contains a very briefly seen 'middle finger' gesture by an actress who is ignored by her male co-star when he's on stage taking the audience's applause. However, the scene is comic in nature. There is also one scene in which studio executives are smoking while they watch rushes from a film. However, this merely reflects the period in which the film is set and the characters in question are unlikely to hold significant appeal to young people.
Spanish
ZIP & ZAP AND THE MARBLE GANG
(Zipi Y Zape y el Club de la Canica)
Rated PG for mild bad language, comic violence and threat
An adventure comedy in which two mischievous brothers are sent to a strict summer camp.
Language
Infrequent mild bad language includes 'crap' and 'arseface'.
Violence
A character's face is punched, and another is struck between the legs in comic fashion.
Threat
A character slips off a zipline into a dark pit but it is quickly revealed that he is unharmed. In other scenes, children are chased by guards and a barking dog.
Other issues include mild rude humour when a character burps loudly.
German
SOPHIE SCHOLL - THE FINAL DAYS
(SOPHIE SCHOLL - DIE LETZTEN TAGE)
Rated PG for mild violence
A dramatisation of the final days of Sophie Scholl, one of the most famous members of the German World War II anti-Nazi resistance movement, The White Rose.
French
THE DIVING-BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY
(Le Scaphandre et le Papillon)
Rated 12 for sexualised nudity and one use of moderate language
An autobiographical work about the French journalist, Jean-Dominique Bauby, who in 1995 suffered a devastating stroke that left his mind active, but his body virtually totally paralysed.
Content advice
The film was classified ‘12’ for two scenes of sexualised nudity and one use of moderate language. In both cases the nudity comprised female breast nudity in a sexual context. The BBFC Guidelines at ‘PG’ only permit natural nudity when there is no sexual context. The moderate language in the film comprised a single use of the word ‘dick’.
The film deals with the mature themes of serious illness and disability, but these issues have been sensitively handled and their treatment in this work is suitable for young teenagers.
Spanish
INNOCENT VOICES
(Voces Inocentes)
Rated 12A for moderate violence
A young boy, in an effort to have a normal childhood in 1980's El Salvador, is caught up in a dramatic fight for his life as he desperately tries to avoid the war which is raging all around him.
German
DAS BOOT
Rated 12 for moderate sex references and violence
The claustrophobic world of a WWII German U-boat; boredom, filth and sheer terror.
French
AMELIE
(Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain)
Rated 15 for frequent moderate sex references
Amélie is an innocent and naive girl in Paris with her own sense of justice. She decides to help those around her and, along the way, discovers love.
Spanish
Rated 15 for strong language and bloody violence
A fantasy drama about a young girl who escapes into an imaginary world when reality becomes increasingly bleak.
Language
There is occasional use of strong language ('f**k') and other, milder terms.
Violence
Scenes of strong bloody violence include shootings, stabbings, a man's face being beaten with a bottle, and a torture scene with subsequent sight of a bloody and mutilated hand. In one scene, a man is shown stitching a large split in his cheek after he has been attacked with a knife.
There are scenes of threat in which a young girl is pursued by fantastical and dangerous creatures, and some distressing scenes of blood loss and trauma during childbirth.
German
Rated 15 for sexualised nudity and strong language
In 1990, to protect his fragile mother from a fatal shock after a long coma, a young man must keep her from learning that her beloved nation of East Germany as she knew it has disappeared.
