Family Portraits: A Trilogy of America (2003)

First sequence: It is heavily implied throughout that the father is molesting his young son, the boy can be seen in a huge depression and at one part his mother asks him if he has been playing with his new toys and he tells her that his father has been playing with him.

In one scene the boy uses his toys so it shows one of the toys anally inserting into another toy. The father sees it and quickly hides it as if he never saw it and makes the boy go inside with him.

In another scene, in the wife's perspective, she lays in bed and overhears a conversation that is occurring in the young boy's bedroom. The father makes promises that he will 'make it up to him' for what he is about to do and the young boy says 'i don't think mommy would like this'; there is a little bit more to this conversation as the mother overhears it.

After the woman cuts off her lips (see Violence & Gore section) we see a trail of blood to the bed, we then see the blood covered woman lying in a blood soaked bed. The man is seen sitting on her pelvis (both naked but only the man's rear is seen). As the man is using hedge shears to cut her breasts off, we briefly see the woman's breasts, however it is covered in blood and can be barely recognized. During this scene it is possible that they were having intercourse.

Sexual intercourse for at least a full minute, involving blood

Second Sequence: The young boy walks up to his parents room (look Violence & Gore section for more info on scene) and sees his father is just his underwear and his naked mother. Her breasts are barely seen.

Intense gore, extreme self-mutilation (scouring, cutting off lips), plenty of blood

A woman cuts her finger, it starts to run down her finger. She smears her bloody finger on the mirror and makes a smile so it aligns with her lips.

[this scene is very prolonged and can get very visual with the mutilation, the cutting and squirting can be heard] A woman takes steel w and begins to scrub her lips with it, blood begins dripping down on the ground. She puts the steel down and we see she has scraped the skin off her lips and around her lips (blood is seen). She grabs a pair of scissors and begins cutting bits of her lips off as streams of blood drips down on her blouse and sink. (very gory) The bits of her lips can be seen dropping to the ground. We see the woman after she is finished and she no longer has any lips with bloody skin exposed. We see the whole sink is covered with blood and pools of blood on the ground. She comes out of the bathroom in just a bra and underwear that is covered with blood.

After the woman cuts off her lips we see a trail of blood to the bed, we then see the blood covered woman lying in a blood soaked bed. The man is seen sitting on her pelvis (both naked but only the man's rear is seen). The man is holding blood covered hedge shears, he begins cutting parts of the woman's breasts off as the woman is seen going into a spasm. We can hear the skin cutting and blood gurgle. The man then uses the shears to cut his penis off. No nudity is seen.

Second Sequence: We can see that the father is not kind to his family. When the boy is practicing his flute, his father pushes him out of his seat and breaks his flute.

A young boy is seen repetitively whipping his inner arm with a belt.

A man begins beating his hand with a wrench, the scene cuts after the first hit.

A man is seen repetitively whipping his inner arm with a belt.

A woman and a young girl is seen tied to chairs with gags in her mouth (the woman has blood on her gag implying she may have been beaten). The man begins to quote biblical passages about taking eyes, ears, and tongues. The scene cuts after he grabs a knife, we next see the man covered in blood, implying he killed his wife and child. He walks pasts a room and we see everything inside the room is covered in blood (walls, furniture, etc.) We then see the bodies of the woman and child covered in blood and dead (the angle of the shot only allows you to see their bloody clothing on their bodies. A young boy overhears his parents when he goes to the restroom, he looks through the crack of the door and sees his father being cruel to his mother. The father, who is wearing his underwear, circles his fully naked wife and forces her to do random things and if she doesn't do it correctly he verbally and physically abuses her. The boy watches this and watches at his naked mom. The boy starts to believe that is what it means to be a father.

(Sequence 2) At a party we see a series of characters smoking cigarettes and drinking beer through cups and bottles.

(Sequence 1) The self-mutilation scene with the woman can be very frightening, including the scene with the trimming shears.

(Sequence 2) The abusive father can be very intense throughout the sequence, especially with the wife.