9 songs has managed to gain an uncut 18 certificate from the BBFC. Well done them, and according to Reuters:
Censors have no regrets about allowing a ground-breaking film showing real sex to be screened uncut, despite receiving numerous protests ahead of its release on Friday.
They shouldn’t, the laws relaxed around the BBFC rating scheme a long time ago, and full, real sex has been allowed in British cinema since. If I remember rightly it was the movie Intimacy which first broke that taboo, with Kerry Fox, from Shallow Grave, and Timothy Spall, famous for Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, indulging in oral sex onscreen. In mainstream British cinema I think that was a first! At the time, IMDB carried the news of the alleged outcry against that movie…
the British Board of Film Classification is defending its decision to grant an 18 certificate — roughly comparable to an R rating…The London Sunday Observer quoted Sue Clark, a spokeswoman for the board, as saying, “There is one very explicit scene, which features fellatio, which has not been seen [in an English-language movie] before now. Some people may think it is too strong, particularly when it is with actors they recognize, but we passed the film without cuts because there is no violence … and it does not contravene our guidelines. Serious filmgoers will think it is a good film.” Opponents of sexually explicit material in films are apparently getting set to campaign against it when it is released next month. John Milton Whatmore, chairman of Media Watch, told the Observer, “I have not seen Intimacy, but if it is as explicit as reports suggest, giving it an 18 certificate is not enough.”
Sigh…maybe Whatmore should return to his darkened room and slap an orange back in his mouth.
So why, and what is, the great outcry for this movie then? Well it does appear to go a little bit further again, particularly when you read the blurb.
Dubbed by its director Michael Winterbottom the most sexually explicit film in mainstream British cinema, “9 Songs” explores a relationship via a succession of intense sex scenes, complete with natural sound rather than the usual musical background…The scenes include shots of fellatio and masturbation, filmed in natural light. They are interspaced with live performances at concerts the couple attend.
Ah, so a bit more than a single scene then. So let’s see what form the outcry took…
A British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) spokeswoman said it had received a stream of complaints since October’s decision to show the film uncut with an 18 rating.
“We have probably received about 100 letters — only one was in favour of our decision,” she said on Thursday.
Oh lord. If they had an email address I would say go to the site and let’s build up over 100 letters in defense of the movie. I mean we haven’t seen it either so we have just as much right to say we want to see it as those saying it’s evil and we shouldn’t be allowed to make our own minds up. The BBFC save me from further rant.
“The rating was given within the BBFC’s guidelines. There is nothing illegal or harmful shown in the film. If people don’t won’t to watch it, they don’t have to go to the cinema to see it.”
Thank you, and good night.
