The Motion Picture Association of America has, as expected, rated the acclaimed French drama Blue is the Warmest Color NC-17, the restrictive rating that typically dooms a film’s box office success. Still, Sundance Selects, the film’s U.S. distributor issued a response and is going ahead with an October release.
Directed by Abdellatif Kechiche, the film won the Palme D’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in May, beating out American films like Alexander Payne’s Nebraska and the Coen brothers’ Inside Llewyn Davis. The film, about the budding romance between two young girls, has a runtime of nearly three hours, but won critical acclaim. Hitfix notes that it feature a 12-minute sex scene that includes plenty of full-frontal female nudity.
After the festival, it was widely expected to get an NC-17 rating in the U.S. Box Office Mojo confirmed that the MPAA gave it the rating, citing “explicit sexual content.”
“The film is first and foremost a film about love, coming of age and passion. We refuse to compromise [director Abdellatif] Kechiche's vision by trimming the film for an R rating, and we have every confidence that Blue Is the Warmest Color will play in theaters around the country regardless,” Sundance Selects and IFC Films President Jonathan Sehring stated. “An NC-17 rating no longer holds the stigma it once did, and we look forward to bringing this unforgettable film to audiences nationwide.”
Sehring also took a dig at the MPAA, slamming it for allowing intense violence, while condemning sex.
The NC-17 rating means that no one under the age of 17 can be admitted. An R rating allows children under 17 to see the film with an adult.
Blue Is The Warmest Color will be screened at the New York Film Festival. Sundance Selects will release the film in select theaters on Oct. 25.
image: festival-cannes.fr/WILD BUNCH/QUAT’SOUS FILMS