BEIJING – Golden Lion-winner "Lust, Caution" will be trimmed of 30 of its steamiest and most violent minutes for Chinese auds, sparking renewed calls for the introduction of a film classification system.
The original runs to two hours and 36 minutes, but up to half an hour would be cut to make the film "relatively clean" for Chinese auds, helmer Ang Lee told Chinese media.
The spy actioner features explicit sex scenes involving a young woman, played by Tang Wei, and Hong Kong star Tony Leung Chiu-wai. U.S. censors have slapped an NC-17 label on the movie.

In Hong Kong, a Chinese Special Administrative Region where the pic is to be given a wide 50-print release by Edko Films on Sept 26, "Lust" is also likely to be sliced. "We are still waiting for the advice of the ratings board," said an Edko source. "But it seems pretty clear that we are heading for cuts in order to qualify for a III rating."

Of Hong Kong's four ratings, the III classification is the territory's only one with mandatory effect. It gives theater box offices the power to check IDs, requires that promotional materials are screened by the censors and that videos are sold in sealed plastic wrapping.

No such a rating option exists in the Chinese mainland, where either everyone gets to see a movie, from toddler to teen to pensioner, or no one does. Ang Lee's last pic "Brokeback Mountain" was banned in mainland China for its homosexual content.
The lack of a film classification system means the only tools at the censor's disposal are cutting entire scenes or simply banning a movie, both drastic steps when one considers that script approval was granted before a movie goes into production.

China's main movie watchdog, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) refuses to introduce the rating system as it believes that if a movie is unsuitable for children, then it's unsuitable for adults too.
"Authorities told me that there was no film rating system on the mainland so they let me cut it. Children are able to watch it on the mainland," Lee said.
"The spirit of the film remains despite the cutting and the fluency will not be affected…for a viewer who has not watched the full version, the short version remains reasonable," Lee said, adding mainland audiences might not feel "so uneasy" and "shocked" about the film.
Among the advocates of a film rating system are thesp Gong Li, who proposed a system in her capacity as a member of the advisory body to China's annual parliament, the National People's Congress.
"Lust, Caution" was originally due to open on Sept. 23 but is now more likely to bow on Oct. 26 only after completion of a special blackout period, known as "Outstanding Golden Domestic Film Exhibition Month," to allow for a crucial Communist Party congress.

© Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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