Nymphomaniac (2013)

[McCrutchy]

Originally Posted by MichaelB

In that case, can you explain why Score was cut only a year or so ago? The BBFC claims that it's a "sex work", which is baffling to me - it's primarily a comedy of manners (based on a dialogue-driven stage play) that just happens to have a brief if very explicit sex scene. If it's masturbation material you're after, there are far more obvious choices out there!

By contrast, The Erotic Films of Peter de Rome, which the BBFC passed uncut at 18, are unambiguously "sex works" - as cheerfully acknowledged by their creator in the delightful interview on the same disc!

But the real problem is that the BBFC pretends that there's no real difference between 18 and R18, but to a distributor this is the very real difference between being able to make back their money and pissing it down the drain. And until these inconsistencies are cleared up, distributors aren't going to want to risk even acquiring borderline titles, because if the BBFC requests cuts for an 18, this automatically gets publicised and the resulting disc gets boycotted.

I wouldn't mind if the system was similar to the distinction between R and NC-17 in the US - i.e. you sacrifice some venues and advertising platforms that you probably wouldn't be able to access on your budget anyway - but the present situation is ridiculously draconian. Get an 18, and you can sell it where you like. Get an R18 and you can only sell it over the counter in a licensed sex shop. The inevitable result: there are next to no R18 titles of any real artistic merit or adventurous DVD/BD curatorship.

Yes, the whole way R18 films are handled in one of the last vestiges of stupidity in the way the UK treats its films. They really should enact some legislation that allows sex shops (or various other web sites) to deliver by courier and have an over 18 sign for the package. Of course, then they would also have to do this for 18 cert films, and I'm sure that, as it stands right now, they don't, in practice.

And when it comes to the video market, the United States certainly wins out easily over the UK. I've always felt terrible for UK consumers, and the way that not only each film, but each Blu-ray or DVD extra feature (including every audio commentary) has to be vetted and certified by the BBFC. And of course, they don't work for free. I often think that BBFC classification is one of the huge stumbling blocks involved in why the UK is so routinely passed over for catalogue Blu-ray releases.

As to Score and The Erotic Films of Peter de Rome, you could of course argue that the BBFC is simply a flawed body with flawed decisions.

Who at the MPAA decides, for example, why a film like Titanic can show sexualized nudity at PG-13, or The Abyss or The Impossible can show brief natural nudity at PG-13, but Terminator: Salvation and 98% of other PG-13 rated films cannot?

Who decides that The Social Network and any number of certain PG-13 films can say the word "f**k" twice, yet Philomena is slapped with an R-rating and has to appeal for this exact reason?

All I know is, I'll be dammed if I'm not going to see the most uncut version of Nymphomaniac I can find. I'll import from Scandinavia if I must.