The Palme d'Or winning French film Blue is the Warmest Colour, following the romance between a 15-year-old girl and an older female art student, was released in the US last week. It was given an NC-17 rating by the MPAA (the ratings board in America). NC-17 is often considered a major commercial handicap for releases, with most mainstream theatres refusing to show films hit with the rating that restricts anyone under the age of 18 attending. However, the film's distributors opted to not edit Abdellatif Kechiche's film to achieve a lower 'R' rating, and settled on a limited arthouse release instead.
Although the MPAA system offers guidelines rather than legally binding restrictions, a vast majority of cinemas typically obey their advice. However, in this case, the IFC Center in New York has opted to ignore the NC-17 rating, and is admitting older teenagers to the film.
Talking to the New York Times, the cinema's John Vanco explains “the M.P.A.A. is a group that makes recommendations for parents and whoever else wants to listen to them. But there are different perspectives, and our feeling is that for our community, not allowing anyone under 18 to see this film is overly restrictive. It means that a 17-year-old freshman at New York University could not see the film, and we disagree about how much protection teens need from the content of this film in particular."
IFC is also offering any Idaho residents a free ticket to the film, as the state's laws restrict any cinemas licensed to serve alcohol from screening sexually explicit films.
The ratings decision has attracted the attention of the Parents Television Council, a group set up "to ensure that children are not constantly assaulted by sex, violence and profanity". In an open letter to Vanco and IFC Center, PTC's Tim Winters writes "the IFC Center’s decision to usurp parental and family authority by allowing unfettered access to children of adult-rated, explicit sexual content is a direct assault on parents and families across the country. Your selective unenforcement of the MPAA guidelines in this instances approaches industrial fraud, in that the system is intended specifically for the purpose of parental reliance, and that reliance has been obviated".
Although the voluntary ratings system has been widely subscribed to, the MPAA has often been criticised for applying NC-17 ratings to films featuring sexually explicit content, with explicitly violent works often granted the R rating instead. In 2006, a documentary called This Film is Not Yet Rated was released, which was extremely critical of the MPAA's policies and decisions.
Blue is the Warmest Colour will be released in Ireland on the 22nd of November. The ratings debate is not the first controversy the film has has been at the centre of. The film's two lead actresses and members of the crew have claimed they were forced to work under challenging, 'horrible' working conditions during the shoot.
