I don't know if they did it intentionally let alone legally but Channel 4 showed the unedited version of Von Trier's "The Idiots" in the early hours of this morning
What makes me think it was unintentional is that the previous showing was edited so you couldn't see the penetrative sex during the "gangbang", my recording of that was on a tape which fvcked up my VCR which is why I taped it
It was definitely intentional. According to the blurb at the start, the penetrative sex was passed as legal by the BBFC as it was deemed "thematically appropriate". There was also a shot of an erect penis earlier in the film, which presumably received the same judgment.
Also, they *did* have a very clear 'awareness' campaign, with viewers being warned *very* often throughout the night about the explicit scenes.
Well done C4.
quote:
Originally posted by Owzat: I don't know if they did it intentionally let alone legally but Channel 4 showed the unedited version of Von Trier's "The Idiots" in the early hours of this morning
What makes me think it was unintentional is that the previous showing was edited so you couldn't see the penetrative sex during the "gangbang", my recording of that was on a tape which fvcked up my VCR which is why I taped it
Thanks, I wasn't sure as I was just checking the tape when I came in and didn't hear or see any warnings, just stopped the tape there while checking. Must be my lucky day, car passed MOT first time, my old man gave me £20 and the tape stopped exactly on the end. Better get myself a lottery ticket!
I'm surprised the legality has changed since previous showings, I would have thought while "legal" that C4 would not have shown it on taste grounds although I suppose it was after midnight.
I must admit while I don't mind them showing hardcore sex I am still surprised as what has sex got to do with them pretending to be "spastics"? If they were actually "spastics" then I could understand it but they weren't so it could easily have been edited out as you know they are having sex so why show it?
I'm surprised the legality has changed since previous showings, I would have thought while "legal" that C4 would not have shown it on taste grounds although I suppose it was after midnight.
I must admit while I don't mind them showing hardcore sex I am still surprised as what has sex got to do with them pretending to be "spastics"? If they were actually "spastics" then I could understand it but they weren't so it could easily have been edited out as you know they are having sex so why show it?
I think the idea was to show the motivations - the image portrayed early on was that there was some sort of high-brow reason they turned to "spazzing". The orgy scene was intended, I think, to show that at least some of them were doing it simply because they wanted a 'get out of jail' card, using the 'spazzing' to get a carte blanche. Within the pseudo-documentary style of the film I think this worked quite well.
The sex scenes were not really THAT explicit. Maybe the older I get the more desensitized I become to anything that is deemed as bad taste. The film over-all I really liked, I thought it dealt with issues in a really. The gang bang scene was as they described as "thematically appropriate" and I didn't take it as a bit of porn in a movie, more like something that was needed. When people such as these are taking SUCH extremes to venture out of the "norms" and to almost try to free themselves by letting go so much, sex as an animalistic raw human thing was shown and it worked. Like I said, over-all the film was really intresting, easy enough to watch and delt with issues that a few people are too scared or closed minded to think about. I know Channel 4's banned season isn't showing everyone's favorite banned films, but they're doing a good job bringing some taboo films our way... Even though I have to figure out how to set the video player because I'm at work when they're on!
The Idiots is regularly shown on FilmFour. It is shown unedited, as are the French films with explicit scenes.
Interestingly, the only extreme film I know of that they show where the action is edited, is in Ai No Corrida, where a scene showing a woman grabbing hold playfully of a little boy's peepee is deemed unsuitable.
Of course, they've yet to show Cannibal Holocaust! God knows how much cutting that will get!
