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THE PRIVATE LIVES OF PIPPA LEE

What You Need To Know:

THE PRIVATE LIVES OF PIPPA LEE is the psychological study of a mixed-up woman. After living a bohemian 1960s lifestyle, Pippa Lee married an older writer with whom she had an adulterous affair. Now, 25 years later, she is having a “midlife crisis.” Then, Pippa Lee discovers her sickly husband, Herb, is having his own midlife crisis, in the form of an affair with the younger wife of a close friend. The movie explores the history behind Pippa Lee’s life. In present time, it shows her growing friendship with Chris, a mystical New Age man in his 30s who has created his own personal Jesus in his own image.

THE PRIVATE LIVES OF PIPPA LEE is a jumbled mess. This is probably because its view of human psychology and people’s personal relationships with God and their fellow humans has little Christian, biblical foundation. Instead, the movie has a strong Romantic worldview, in the philosophical sense. It doesn’t tell viewers much about the specifics of Chris’ religious views, but they seem New Age and amoral. The movie also contains some strong foul language, sexual immorality, brief nudity, and a scene with a sudden suicide.

Content:

(RoRoRo, Pa, HoHo, C, LL, V, SS, NN, A, DD, M) Very strong Romantic worldview with light New Age and pagan elements in a psychological study where a woman seemingly returning to her bohemian, 1960s lifestyle after a couple decades as a wife and mother, plus some strong lesbian homosexual content in reference to an aunt of the protagonist and a few positive Christian references, including a brief part of a sermon and an undeveloped reference to Jesus being both the Son of God and the Son of Man, but teenager’s pastor father is unable to heal rift between her and her mother, who is addicted to amphetamines to get her energy back up (which, of course, leads to manic depressive behavior, though the movie does not glamorize this drug content); 14 obscenities (including a few “f” words) and six light profanities; woman points gun at people, including her cheating husband and his mistress, and then turns gun on herself and the suicidal gunshot is heard but not seen; depicted sex in one scene and at least a couple scenes of implied adultery, plus protagonist’s lesbian aunt kisses her lesbian girlfriend; upper female nudity in one scene and two or three instances of upper male nudity; alcohol use; smoking and women take amphetamines; and, mothers and daughters are estranged but one mother and daughter reconcile, cheating, lying, betrayal, man has a tattoo of Jesus on his chest, and protagonist takes off traveling with a single man in his van after her older, cheating husband dies.

More Detail:

The field of psychology has a lot of problems in it, primarily because it’s usually run by people who don’t have a logical, comprehensive Christian, biblical worldview. There is, however, a Christian way of viewing psychology, if you think of human psychology as the spiritual, mental, emotional, behavioral states of human beings and their personal relationships, first, with God through Jesus Christ and, then, with their fellow human beings.

THE PRIVATE LIVES OF PIPPA LEE is the psychological study of a mixed-up woman who suddenly decides she’s made all the wrong choices in life.

After living a bohemian 1960s lifestyle, Pippa Lee married an older writer with whom she had an adulterous affair. Now, nearly 25 years later, she is having her own “midlife crisis,” which has resulted in periodic episodes of sleepwalking. Pippa Lee is also bothered that she is estranged from her rebellious teenage daughter. Then, Pippa Lee discovers her sickly husband, Herb, is having his own midlife crisis, in the form of an affair with the younger wife of his agent.

The movie explores the history behind Pippa Lee’s life up to now, including her failed relationship with her own mother, which causes her to run away to live with her lesbian aunt, and how she became Herb’s second wife. In present time, it also shows her growing friendship with Chris, a mystical man in his 30s who has created his own personal New Age Jesus in his own image. Ultimately, the movie has one of those open-ended, inconclusive, modernist last scenes that leaves viewers hanging, without much resolution of anything, including anything that really tells them who the characters they’ve been watching really are.

THE PRIVATE LIVES OF PIPPA LEE is a jumbled mess. This is probably because its view of human psychology and people’s personal relationships with God thru Jesus Christ and their fellow humans has little or no Christian, biblical foundation. Instead, it seems to have a strong Romantic worldview, in the philosophical sense of writers like Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Immanuel Kant, and Hegel. The movie doesn’t tell viewers much about the specifics of Chris’ religious views (though he does say a couple things that sound Christian), but his attitude ultimately seems New Age and rather antinomian or lawless. This is the case with many people in today’s modern society, so, in an unintentional way, this movie reveals the empty and vapid quality of a worldview that is not totally grounded in a Christian foundation rooted in the historical biblical text of the Old Testament and New Testament writings.

THE PRIVATE LIVES OF PIPPA LEE also contains plenty of strong foul language, sexual immorality (including a depicted sex scene), brief drug content and nudity, homosexual references to a lesbian aunt, and a shocking sound of suicide by gunshot. Though very coy about the specifics of its Romantic worldview, the movie is not something that discerning, media-wise viewers will want to take the time to see.

Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.


Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.