The Notorious BBFC V’s Bettie Page

Some time ago I wrote about Mary Harron’s fantastic film The Notorious Bettie Page (2005)… well, to be honest, I spent most of the time having a moan about the rather harsh 18 cert. bestowed upon the film by the British Board of Film Classification.  Anyway, in true ‘disgusted of Tunbridge Wells’ style I emailed the BBFC the following…

Good Evening

Having recently viewed The Notorious Bettie Page (Mary Harron, 2005) I was somewhat perplexed by the 18 rating.  Looking on the BBFC website the only comment I can see regarding the rating is ‘contains sexual fetish theme’.

Considering that the Irish Film Classification Office (IFCO) have given the film a ‘15′ rating (‘15A’ in cinemas) due to ‘moderate’ violence, sex/nudity and language (The further information on their website notes just ‘one expletive’ and their guidelines for the ‘15A’ rating state that “mild/moderate sexual activity/nudity is acceptable, particularly when portrayed positively”.) I was wondering if you had any more information on the decision and the reasoning behind the 18 rating?

regards

…and here is the reply…

Thank you for your email regarding our classification of the above.

Our classification decisions are carefully considered and made in line with published Guidelines and the available research evidence. Our Classification Guidelines are a product of both experience and an extensive public consultation process which is repeated regularly. Over 8,700 people contributed to the most recent revision of the Guidelines. These are available on our main website – http://www.bbfc.co.uk. THE NOTORIOUS BETTIE PAGE was classified under the previous Guidelines.

Our Guidelines for sex at ’15′ state that: “Sexual activity may be portrayed but without strong detail. There may be strong verbal references to sexual behaviour”. It was recognised that THE NOTORIOUS BETTIE PAGE is an intelligent and rather sweet-natured film which stays within our ’15′ criteria on a number of issues (eg. nudity and sex). However, it was ultimately judged that placing a work that dealt with S&M and other fetish activities at ’15′ would confound public expectations of the our classifications. Although THE NOTORIOUS BETTIE PAGE is not a ‘sex work’, its detail of fetish activity just pushed this work to the ’18′ category. At ’18′ our Guidelines state that the BBFC “will not normally override the wish that adults should be free to chose their own entertainment, within the law.”

Thank you for taking the time and trouble to express your views to us. Please be assured that the BBFC takes these issues seriously, and that your comments will be noted.

Yours sincerely,

Chief Assistant (Policy)

…which seems to suggest that no matter what the ‘content’ the subject matter is all that matters and some things, especially ‘country matters’, are just plain taboo.*

*please note that this obviously excludes stabbing people in the hand with a biro before repeatedly smacking their head against the floor in order to get some information – this is fun for all the family.

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