Is the film censor's passing of the sexually graphic '9 Songs' a sign that we are unhooking sexuality from voyeurism and porn? Fionola Meredith reports.
So now you know. If you're 18 or over, the Irish film censor, John Kelleher, believes it's perfectly acceptable for you to watch the graphic sex scenes in Michael Winterbottom's controversial film, 9 Songs. If it's OK with you, it's OK with him.
But you're in for something of an eyeful, by anyone's standards: throughout the film, the screen is almost continually filled with close-up images of explicit and unsimulated sexual acts performed by the two protagonists on each other. The mind has no need to boggle, since the authenticity of the action leaves absolutely nothing to the imagination.
Winterbottom, the English director of a thematically diverse set of movies including 24 Hour Party People, Welcome to Sarajevo, In This World and the Dublin-based TV series, Family (written by Roddy Doyle), aims to tell a love story purely through a series of physical encounters between Matt (experienced actor Kieran O'Brien, who has an Irish background) and Lisa ("non-actor" Margo Stilley). The narrative structure is simple. Recalled from the perspective of Matt, the film's framework is provided by the pair's visits to gigs in Brixton Academy, London. In between the punctuation marks provided by the "songs", Matt and Lisa immerse themselves in an intensely passionate sexual affair.
Irish Times Film critic Michael Dwyer says: "I have no doubt that it is the most sexually graphic film ever to be passed with a certificate from the Irish censor."
It all seems so far from the days of the first Irish censor, James Montgomery, who was in charge of protecting public morality from celluloid iniquities during the period 1923 to 1940. He regarded himself as "a moral sieve", declaring: "I take the 10 Commandments as my code." Excessive on-screen smooching was one of his particular bugbears: "Complaints are pouring in from all parts of this State regarding kisses shown on the screen that would not be attempted even on the stage. As a matter of fact a prolonged kiss on the stage provokes ridicule, but the cinema, to the accompaniment of the most sensuous music, lavishes miles of celluloid on this unsanitary salute."
But a rather more liberal approach has come to define the Irish Film Censor's Office (IFCO) in recent years, especially under Sheamus Smith (1986-2003) and present incumbent John Kelleher. Kevin Rockett, Trinity College Dublin academic and writer of the forthcoming book Irish Film Censorship: a Cultural Journey from Silent Cinema to Internet Pornography, believes that the IFCO has become more open and flexible, moving "away from a repressive censorship towards classifying on an age-related basis". He comments: "Morality is more inclusive when not driven by a strict Catholic and nationalist vision and when films are not regarded as invidious forms of alien cultural colonisation." But while Rockett acknowledges that discourses of pornography are increasingly finding their way into mainstream films, he believes the controversy generated by 9 Songs is an artificial one.
"From the beginning, cinema has pushed the boundaries, so there's nothing new there. There is no violence involved in 9 Songs. Yes, there's lots of explicit, consensual sex, but so what? There are other more serious issues in film that we could be discussing. For instance, the representation of women in mainstream cinema is arguably far more offensive than the authentic sex in 9 Songs."
ROCKETT'S REAL CONCERN is how such films are viewed in the home. "What happens to the film after it leaves the cinema? This is a much more disturbing cultural problem. I bet you know of 10-year-olds who have seen over-18 videos. Is this a form of child abuse? We need to sort out the relationship between the State and the home - who bears responsibility?"
Grainne Humphreys is assistant director of the Irish Film Institute in Dublin, which is currently delivering a course called "Incendiary Cinema", examining the history, politics and aesthetics of some of the most provocative films ever made. She believes that John Kelleher made the right decision about 9 Songs.
"Once you're over 18, you should be able to watch anything; it shouldn't need to be seen first by a censor. People always have the choice to watch or not to watch. But I don't think the problem here is with the public response; it's with certain sections of the media. The tabloid approach to film-making is incredibly negative and reductive. It's always 'is this film sick?'; 'is it shocking?'; 'does it corrode our moral values?' Films like 9 Songs are so rarely discussed in the context of the film-maker's existing work, or in the context of British cinema as a whole."
SO IS THE outcry over 9 Songs and other sexually explicit films merely a media creation, motivated by the knowledge that salaciousness sells, and tacitly condoned by a film industry that eagerly laps up all publicity, however vacuous? As Humphreys says: "As far as the industry goes, it doesn't matter whether you leave the cinema after 15 minutes or at the end of the film. You still pay the same money."
Angela McNamara, former agony aunt and parent counsellor thinks otherwise. "We live in a sick, sex-obsessed society which corrupts the children of today, and we don't need anything more explicit than we already have. Films have the power to deprave and corrupt, to harm people."
But surely films such as 9 Songs have an artistic credibility, aiming to do more than seedily inflame their viewers? As Margo Stilley, who plays Lisa in the film, insists: "The film shows sex in a good light. It is a monogamous relationship between two people who are in love. It isn't shocking. If you know you are going to watch a film like this, it's not abrasive. It's normal sex that everyone has, not crazy stuff."
McNamara disagrees. "It's a cop-out to say it's art. We can all distinguish between real art and pornography."
But some commentators feel that 9 Songs makes a clear distinction between the moral impoverishment associated with pornography and the sensual plenitude associated with eroticism.
Ailbhe Smyth, director of the Women's Education, Research and Resource Centre at University College Dublin, says: "I'm pleased that John Kelleher passed the film uncut. It's healthy because it means we're unhooking sexuality from voyeurism and porn; we're moving away from the notion of sex as perverse, sinful and dirty. It means there's more room for different representations and expressions of both straight and queer sexualities. I welcome the constructive debate that this decision brings."
Representations of sex and the reactions they evoke are often highly-visible markers of the values and beliefs to which a culture subscribes. If the response to the Irish censor's passing of 9 Songs is anything to go by, sex still has the power to polarise us.
Sinful cinema: the forbidden films
Ulysses (banned 1967)
Based on Joyce's novel, the film was notable for its fidelity to the original book. Not approved for general release in Ireland until 2000.
A Clockwork Orange (banned 1971) Stanley Kubrick film, based on Anthony Burgess's dystopian novel and nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture, considered extreme due to its explicit sex and violence.
Life of Brian (banned 1979 for eight years)
Monty Python's farce based on the life and death of Christ. Best known for several classic one-liners, including Brian's mother's comment, "He's not the messiah; he's a very naughty boy".
The Meaning of Life (banned 1983)
Monty Python comedy skits on the nature of human existence, including the 'Miracle of Birth, part 2', in which a Catholic family in the north of England sell their 63 children for medical research since they do not believe in birth control. The sketch concludes with the song, Every Sperm is Sacred.
Natural Born Killers (banned 1994)
Directed by Oliver Stone, and based on a script by Quentin Tarantino. The ultra-violent main characters embark on an orgy of killing.
Spun (banned 2003; overturned 2003)
Jonas Akerlund's film depicts three days of sex and drug-taking in Los Angeles. The only film to be banned by the current Irish censor, John Kelleher. it was quickly revoked by the appeals board.