Sex please, we’re British

British director Michael Winterbottom’s new film, 9 Songs, has been passed with an 18 rating by the British Board of Film Classification - uncut.

Oct 19 2004

British director Michael Winterbottom’s new film, 9 Songs, has been passed with an 18 rating by the British Board of Film Classification - uncut. Touted at Cannes 2004 as the most sexually explicit legitimate feature film to come out of Britain, it features real, rather than simulated sex. Although earlier releases Romance (1999) and Intimacy (2001) also feature real sex, Winterbottom gets about as close to the action as is humanly possible.

9 Songs is a rather beautiful, strange, experimental film. It is an elliptical love story, told in flashbacks as Matt remembers an affair with an American student, Lisa. His memories alternate between the gigs the two of them shared (Black Rebel Motorcycle Club; Franz Ferdinand; The Von Bondies) and their sexual escapades - which are indeed explicit.

The BBFC accept that ‘some people may find such explicit images shocking or unexpected,’ but concluded that ‘in this case adults should be free to choose whether or not to see the film’.

Mary Whitehouse will be turning in her grave.

Released nationally February 2005.

Aleida Strowger