Madonna has risked upsetting parenting groups by revealing she sat down for a family film night with her nine-year-old kids David and Mercy to watch R-rated movie Whiplash.

Ignoring the bad language and the violence in the movie, the pop superstar admits she "totally connected" to the film and "related to it" and decided her children had to see it.

She tells Rolling Stone, "I watched it with all my kids, and they were all very mesmerised by it, and I think a little speechless afterward.

"My son David was the most vocal about it... He said, 'Wow, I want to make my hands bleed'."

The Oscar-nominated movie follows the fortunes of a talented young jazz drummer pushing himself to the limit to impress his violent teacher, played by Academy Award winner J.K. Simmons.

Madonna adds, "When the character said, 'I'd rather be a 34-year-old genius who did something with his life, dead of a heroin overdose, than live to be 93 and do nothing', I totally was like, 'Yes'. That really resonated with me... I've had teachers like that, for sure.