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NORA

“Humanist Literary Icon”

Family Content: -3 Excessive sex, violence, immorality, and/or worldview problems. (Sometimes excessive content such as violence is in otherwise redemptive movies.)

Entertainment Quality:

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Language
Violence
Sex
Nudity

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What You Need To Know:

NORA depicts the early years of author James Joyce’s relationship with his lifelong love, Nora Barnacle. Passion erupts, but Joyce cannot stand the stifling, repressive atmosphere of Dublin, where his nemesis, the Roman Catholic Church, rules society. So, he and Nora pack up for Trieste, Italy, where Joyce struggles with becoming a published author while Nora tries to cope with Joyce’s insane jealousy. Eventually, they reach a level of understanding and love, just as Joyce’s career begins to blossom with the publication of THE DUBLINERS, several years before he published the controversial ULYSSES in 1922.

Although based on an acclaimed biography of Nora, whom Joyce married in 1932 in a civil ceremony, this movie never explains Nora’s love for Joyce, nor Joyce’s disturbing bouts of jealousy. The movie also fails when it comes to describing Nora as the muse responsible for Joyce’s writing, which she was. Neither Ewan McGregor as Joyce nor Susan Lynch as Nora are fully credible as these two important figures from literary history. Finally, although the movie depicts Joyce’s renunciation of Christianity, it fails to note that, despite his renunciation, Joyce’s writings retain many redemptive elements he learned as a youth

Content:

(HH, ABAB, LLL, V, SS, NN, AA, D, M) Solid humanist worldview with statements against Christianity in a Roman Catholic context; 23 obscenities (mostly the “f” word), 9 strong profanities & 3 mild profanities; slapping; depicted fornication, masturbation & cohabitation; partial sexual nudity; alcohol use & drunkenness; smoking; and, unmarried man is strongly jealous of his live-in lover.

More Detail:

NORA depicts the early years of author James Joyce’s relationship with his lifelong love, Nora Barnacle. Passion erupts immediately, but Joyce cannot stand the stifling, repressive atmosphere of Dublin, where his nemesis, the Roman Catholic Church and Christianity, rules society. So, he and Nora pack up for Trieste, Italy, where Joyce struggles with becoming a published author while Nora tries to cope with Joyce’s insane jealousy. Eventually, they reach a sufficient level of understanding and love, just as Joyce’s career begins to blossom with the publication of his trend setting collection, THE DUBLINERS, several years before he published the controversial ULYSSES in 1922.
Although based on an acclaimed biography of Nora, whom Joyce later married in 1932 in a civil ceremony, this movie never adequately explains Nora’s love for Joyce, nor Joyce’s disturbing bouts of jealousy. The movie also fails when it comes to describing Nora as the muse responsible for Joyce’s writing, which she was. Neither Ewan McGregor as Joyce nor Susan Lynch as Nora are fully credible as these two important figures from literary history. Finally, although the movie depicts Joyce’s renunciation of Christianity, it fails to note that, despite his renunciation, Joyce’s writings retain many redemptive elements he learned as a youth. The movie also includes strong foul language and graphic sexuality and nudity.