9 SONGS

UK, 2004, 69 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Michael Winterbottom.

A test case for censorship boards around the world. For many, the explicit presentation of actual sexual activity will mean that the film will not be released in commercial cinemas. However, it did receive an 18+ certificate in the UK.

What is it about? Two twenty somethings meet at a rock concert in London, fall in love and continue their relationship for some months before she decides to return home to the US. He works, she studies, they go to more rock concerts (hence the 9 songs) and engage in sexual activity which would normally be private but which the director makes the audience privy to. There are some sequences in Antarctica where he has worked and his reflections on being in that continent and on relationships. There was no script as such and the actors improvised. It is inexpensively and digitally shot. The difficulty is that in its 69 minutes running time, we get only glimpses of the characters rather than an understanding of who they are and the non-sexual glimpses are really very ordinary (except for some cocaine snorting).

What is the controversy? Should images of actual and explicit sexual activity be included in a ‘commercial’ film that does not claim to be pornography? It raises the perennial problem for those who want liberalised regulations concerning sexuality but want restrictions on violence and for those (especially Christians and other religious people) who want restrictions on sexuality but are comfortable with explicit depictions of violence. (Of course, in movies violence is simulated as is sexual activity – but in this case the sexuality is not simulated.) Most boards use community standards as a guide for what is permitted. Some say 9 Songs indicates a healthy freedom, others that it indicates decadence in contemporary society.

Director Michael Winterbottom has worked on the principle that depictions of sexuality, which is good, is preferable to depictions of gratuitous violence. In 9 Songs, he is not simply depicting cold and clinical sexual activity or pornographically provocative sensuality. His characters are in relationship and their activity is directed towards the other in terms of their love for one another.

The debate will focus on whether the material is pornographic or not but, more seriously, whether actual sexual activity is appropriate for inclusion in films.