Turkish government officials have decided to ban Danish director Lars Von Trier’s latest film, Nymphomaniac, because of its explicit sex scenes and nudity. The organization decided that it was more pornographic than art.
The film, which was screened at the Berlin Film Festival, is a four-hour epic about a woman’s sexual journey. Charlotte Gainsbourg plays the main character, her recounts her sexual escapades. The all-star cast also includes Shia LaBeouf, Uma Thurman and Christian Slater.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the first half of the film was set to be released in Turkey on March 14 with the second out a week later on March 21. However, Turkey’s cinema board voted 6-2 to ban the film completely.
“This film is in the porn category...because of its explicit sexual scenes,” cinema general director Cem Erkul told the AFP. “It also depicts extreme violence against women.”
Yamac Okur, one of the members who voted against the ban, called the move “censorship” on Twitter, notes The Telegraph. “Barring any cinema movie from commercial screening is unacceptable,” Okur wrote. “It could have been displayed by age rating. Otherwise, it is censorship.”
Members of the Turkish film industry are also critical of the move. “I strongly condemn the ban on the film Nymphomaniac while there is in fact a policy in place on age limit,” acclaimed director director Nuri Bilge Ceylan tweeted.
Romania had sought to ban the film as well, but the film’s distributor there won an appeal to release the film as planned.
Magnolia has distribution rights in the U.S. and will be releasing the first part on Video On Demand and in theaters this month. The second half will be released next month.
image courtesy of Magnolia Pictures