A Ghost Story – WISE Score & Parent Review | Screenwise

A Ghost Story

Name: Screenwise
Author: Screenwise

movie2017

42%

WISE Score

Avg. Tomatometer

Glacially-paced art film about a bedsheet ghost watching his wife grieve—critics loved it, audiences walked out, your kids will be asleep in 15 minutes.

6.8/10

91%

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A Ghost Story

movie

R, 2017

42%

WISE Score

Avg. Tomatometer

Glacially-paced art film about a bedsheet ghost watching his wife grieve—critics loved it, audiences walked out, your kids will be asleep in 15 minutes.

6.8

91%

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Screenwise Verdict

Let's be real: this movie is not for kids, not for most teens, and honestly not for most adults either. It's the kind of film that film critics adore (91%!) and regular audiences tolerate or abandon (67% audience score, 6.8 IMDb).

The concept is brilliant—a ghost in a literal bedsheet confronting grief, time, and legacy. The execution is... an endurance test. If you've got a 16 or 17-year-old who genuinely loves arthouse cinema, wants to study film, or is dealing with grief in a mature way, this could be profound. For everyone else? It's 92 minutes that feel like 4 hours.

The brief nudity and death themes aren't the real barrier here—it's the pacing. This makes Terrence Malick look like Michael Bay. Your kid will either find it deeply moving or fall asleep. There's no middle ground.

Bottom line: This is homework, not entertainment. Assign it to your film student teen, but don't expect anyone to actually enjoy it.

Age Fit

Realistically, this is for film-obsessed older teens (17+) or adults who enjoy experimental cinema. Despite the PG-13-ish content, the glacial pacing and philosophical heavy-lifting make it unwatchable for most kids and even most adults.

WISE Breakdown

Wholesome

This is a deeply melancholic meditation on grief, loss, and the passage of time. While it models genuine emotion and explores profound themes of love and legacy, the overwhelming tone is one of sadness, isolation, and existential dread. The pacing is glacially slow with extended static shots (including a famous 5+ minute pie-eating scene). It's emotionally heavy rather than emotionally healthy, and while not inappropriate, it's more likely to leave viewers—especially younger ones—feeling depressed rather than uplifted.

Imaginative

Strikingly original concept: a ghost literally wearing a bedsheet with eyeholes returns to haunt his home. The film takes a familiar trope and transforms it into high-art cinema, exploring time, memory, and existence through a deeply unconventional narrative structure that spans centuries. Director David Lowery crafts something genuinely unique in the cinematic landscape—meditative, poetic, and willing to break every convention of mainstream storytelling. The visual language and philosophical ambition are remarkable.

Safe

Common Sense Media rates it 15+. The film contains brief nudity (a woman is shown topless from behind in a non-sexual context), some profanity, and themes of death/suicide (the main character dies in a car accident early on). The ghost witnesses his wife's grief in raw, uncomfortable ways. However, there's no gore, no violence beyond the implied car crash, and no sexual content. The safety concerns are moderate—it's not traumatizing, but it's definitely not family-friendly viewing. The emotional weight and existential themes may be disturbing for sensitive viewers.

Enriching

This is art-house cinema that grapples with profound questions: What is our legacy? How do we process grief? What remains after we're gone? For mature teens and adults who can engage with its philosophical depth, it offers genuine insight into mortality, memory, and meaning. The 91% RT critic score and 84 Metacritic reflect its artistic merit. However, its entertainment value is extremely limited—this is homework cinema, not popcorn viewing. It demands patience and intellectual engagement but offers little conventional narrative satisfaction.

Parent Info

✓

Why It Might Be Great

Genuinely original take on ghost stories and grief—this isn't Casper, it's closer to Terrence Malick meets The Sixth Sense if everyone was sedated
Stunning cinematography and visual storytelling that uses almost no dialogue to explore big existential questions about legacy and time
Could spark deep conversations about death, memory, and what we leave behind for philosophically-inclined older teens
High critical acclaim (91% RT critics, 84 Metacritic) makes it valuable for film students or teens interested in cinema as art form

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What to Watch For

Brief topless nudity (non-sexual but still there) and themes of death including suicide—Common Sense says 15+ for good reason
This is SLOW. Like, watch-paint-dry slow. There's a 5+ minute unbroken shot of someone eating pie. Most kids and teens will be bored to tears
Heavy themes of grief, loss, and existential despair—this is a downer, not a feel-good family movie night choice
The 24-point gap between critic and audience scores tells you everything: critics appreciate the artistry, regular viewers found it tedious

Conversation Starters

"What do you think the movie is saying about what we leave behind after we die?"
"The ghost can't communicate with anyone—how would that feel? What would you want to say if you could?"
"Why do you think the director chose to show the ghost as just a sheet with eyeholes instead of making it scary or high-tech?"
"The movie shows time passing in really long, slow scenes. How did that make you feel as a viewer?"

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