The film censor Robin Duval is in fighting
form. The contest is over the heaving buttocks of Ralph Fiennes in The End of the
Affair. Just a minute or two of his bottom and Julianne Moore's breast, but also,
as Duval so dispassionately puts it, the very clear mechanics of the act.
Duval has decided to take on the makers of the movie, which is based on the Graham
Greene novel. After all, director Neil Jordan and producer Stephen Woolley have publicly
complained that the BBFC has given the film an 18 certificate. So, too, have Fiennes and
Moore. Behind the scenes, the film's distributor, Columbia-Tristar, also wrote to Duval
that the film would not be commercially viable at 18.
So it's my turn to go on the attack, says a clearly angry Duval. It is his
first big row since he took over at the BBFC exactly a year ago from the often
controversial James Ferman. There's been an attempt to rough-house the BBFC. I think
that Stephen might have been looking for a row, too. After all, his aim is to sell the
movie.
Duval is adamant about not caving in to pressure. We get it from time to time from
producers and distributors. Usually it is kept away from the public. For example, the
distributors of The Green Mile, which opens soon starring Tom Hanks,
wanted a 15 classification. The BBFC, which had originally passed it as an 18, looked
again, showed it to one of its three-strong presidential team (Andreas Whittam Smith is
the president), but kept it at 18. We can't give in, says Duval.
If we did,
we would not be seen as independent. We would lose our credibility.
Duval has an intriguing revelation about The End of the Affair.
During a phone
conversation with Stephen, he admitted to me that the film did have some 18 material,
though both of us agreed that the overall tone was a 15. Actually, it's rather a sweet
film - a sort of Brief Encounter with some sex. Then Stephen asked if we could make an
exception and classify it 15. But we can't make exceptions."
In the land of the regulator, rules are rules and guidelines are guidelines. A 15
certificate allows simulated sexual activity, but without genital images. In
The
End of the Affair, the BBFC says genital images are evident. We were
unanimous in our decision about the certificate, says Duval, whose examiners took two
looks at the movie. A cut was never really considered.
Duval is a movie buff whose favourite directors are Bergman, Visconti, Losey and
Kubrick, though he also likes 1930s Hollywood musicals and westerns. One of his earliest
decisions at the BBFC was to pass Kubrick's final film, Eyes Wide Shut,
as an 18. We needed no cuts, he says, pointing out that in America the movie had
an R rating - the approximate equivalent of our 18 certificate - but needed some cuts from
the orgy scene.
Eyes Wide Shut was one of Duval's favourite films of last year, as was
Happiness, which caused some eyebrows to be raised at a scene in which a
dog licks some sperm off a window ledge and then slobbers on his unwitting owner. No cuts
were required. Nor were they in There's Something About Mary, where Mary
mistakes sperm for hair gel. It even got a 15 certificate. But it was funny,
smiles Duval.
Nor does the BBFC have particular problems with the male organ - even erect ones these
days, which made appearances last year in both The Idiots and
Romance.
Some say that these two movies got away with it because they were both foreign-made art
movies. They needed no cuts for the film versions, which received 18 certificates, though
the video of Romance will have one snip (the BBFC is more cautious with
videos, which can be viewed in the home by youngsters).
Some films and videos, though, appal Duval. When I first came here I quite enjoyed
some of the sex I saw, But now so much of it horrifies me. The nature of his job
means he tends to see only the most controversial movies, with the worst examples of sex
and violence. He says he will soon be taking a look at the film of American Psycho,
which, if it's true to the book by Bret Easton Ellis, will cause problems.
Duval has been particularly shocked by the R18 classified videos that can be sold only
in sex shops. I'd never seen the really sadistic sex of the R18s. It's been a voyage
of discovery for me. They are dehumanising. No love or warmth at all. Purely mechanistic.
Last weekend Duval was in Holland for a conference of European censors. However, the
eye-opener was the television set in his hotel bedroom. Duval says he was
really
surprised to find that hard-core porn was available, free of charge.
In Britain,
of course, you have to go through many, many channels before you find any porn. And then
you have to pay for it.
On Thursday the BBFC will go to the High Court to ask for the right to seek a judicial
review over the release of seven hardcore videos. It will be a test case for Duval.
It's
the first time we've sought judicial review. Last year the BBFC refused to classify
the seven videos on the grounds that they could cause harm if seen by children. The titles
included Office Tart and Nympho Nurse Nancy. But the
video appeals committee overturned the censor. The committee includes novelists Fay Weldon
and Nina Bawden. When they have overturned a BBFC judgment in the past, the ruling has
been accepted. Not this time.
The BBFC is also halfway through a huge consultation about its classifications and
guidelines. This has meant roadshows around Britain - citizens' juries where
"ordinary people" are quizzed - and a large public opinion survey. The BBFC has
adopted roadshows because it cannot rely on the letters and e-mails it receives.
"These represent the extremes," says Duval.
Mainly the view that we are far
too lax, particularly on sex and language.
He hazards a guess that BBFC classifications might be modified slightly this year to
become more liberal on sex in 15-certificate movies. This might mean that
The End
of the Affair would be classified a 15 if submitted then. So bad luck now for
Jordan, Woolley and Fiennes. But the video version, available in about nine months, could
be seen by most teenagers - if they want to. Whatever its certificate, it's an adult film.
