Earlier this year, the Sapphic romantic drama Blue Is the Warmest Color took the Cannes Film Festival by storm, going so far as to win the Palme d’Or, for best feature film, at the festival.
[Image via Crave]
Thankfully, Blue is making its way to North America to play in select theatres in time to angle for an Academy Award nomination or two, but there’s a tiny catch: according to Indiewire, the film is being given an NC-17 rating, which can severely limit the number of people who can see it.
While issuing a lengthy decree about a number of upcoming movies and their respective ratings, the MPAA has revealed that the Palm d’Or-winning lesbian sex movie “Blue is the Warmest Color,” scheduled for release in America on October 25th, will carry with it the restrictive NC-17 rating for what they consider “explicit sexual content.” The ratings board couldn’t even be bothered with specifics. They might as well have just given the reason as “ewww two girls doin’ it,” but that would have probably undermined their godlike power.
I’m rather split on this, to be honest. On one hand, I understand sex scenes in general are more of an adult thing, but when you consider how much simulated violence gets a pass in PG-13 and R-rated movies, simulated sex seems almost quaint in comparison.
On the other hand, let’s be honest. How many teenagers go to see art-house Oscar bait? I’m not saying that demographic doesn’t exist, but I doubt an NC-17 rating is going to take a HUGE chunk out of their revenue. If it has enough good word-of-mouth and some decent reviews to help cement it, it definitely has the chance to score a Best Feature nod. (It’s a shoo-in for Best Foreign Language Film, at the very least.)
Why you can trust Xtra
