The Winter's Tale (1981)

A husband falsely accuses his wife of adultery and his child of not being of legitimate birth. This, however, turns out to be false.

No adult content or nudity of any kind. While it may not interest children, this film is perfectly clean and suitable for family viewing and use in the classroom.

A husband becomes violently angry and imprisons his own wife.

Upon believing that his new-born daughter is illegitimate, he orders her to be thrown out into the forest and abandoned. He later realizes his error, and he sincerely repents of it.

It is reported that as a result of their son (who is living away from them and never gets a chance to meet his older sister) dies from grief over his mother's plight.

It is also reported that the king's wife has died in prison after he orders their son to be abandoned in the wilderness.

A man is chased off-screen, pursued by a bear. It is implied that he is killed and eaten.

While this is a comedy, it is one of Shakespeare's so-called "dark comedy," and thus it deals with somewhat darker and even at times disturbing themes. Everything is more or less resolved and happy in the end, however.

Mild violence and thematic elements, but almost all of it occurs off stage and is resolved and reconciled in the end. PG-rated violence at worst.

None whatsoever. Every line is taken verbatim from Shakespeare's play.

None at all

There is great emotional intensity when the king falsely accuses his wife of adultery and his child of being illegitimate. In response, he imprisons his wife and orders his daughter to be abandoned in the forest. As a result of despair over what his father has done to his mother, their son dies of grief. The father later repents of this with great contrition and sorrow, realizing he was wrong.

While the King banishing his own daughter to the wilderness and leaving her for dead is sad, she does not actually end up dead and is raised by a community out in the forest. The second half of the film/play is much happier than the first. The play evolves into a fairy tale later on.

This film follows Shakespeare's play exactly. Nothing unsuitable for younger audiences. Nevertheless, it does contain some brief moments that are disturbing as well as an overall mature theme.

This film would most likely be rated PG "for mild thematic elements and brief violence."