Bertolucci's Dreamers gets NC-17 rating

Bernardo Bertolucci's controversial The Dreamers has received a prohibitive NC-17 certificate for its release in the US next month. It is the first studio film in six years to receive the rating, which is seen to spell box office death for a movie.

Set against the backdrop of the 1968 Paris uprisings, The Dreamers stars Eva Green and Louis Garrel as a pair of hothouse siblings who seduce the young American student (Michael Pitt) who moves into their apartment. Thanks to its explicit sex and full frontal nudity, the film has inevitably been dubbed First Tango in Paris - a nostalgic echo of the director's classic 1970s sex drama.

Until recently it had been assumed that the film's US distributor, Fox Searchlight, would impose heavy cuts in order to secure an R-rating. Bertolucci, for one, is pleased his picture has been left unmolested. "The Dreamers is finally making it to the US in its uncut version," he said in a statement yesterday. "I'm relieved - in so many ways - that the distributors have had the vision to release my original film. After all, an orgasm is better than a bomb."

Explaining the decision, Fox Searchlight president Peter Rice said: "By releasing the film as Bernardo intended we are following in the footsteps of classic films like Midnight Cowboy and Last Tango in Paris. We believe that NC-17 is the appropriate rating for The Dreamers, given that this is not a film for children under 17. It is an audacious and original film for intelligent critics and discerning adult audiences."

However, history suggests that such pictures struggle to reach a wide audience, with many US cinemas refusing to screen them. Only two NC-17 studio releases - 1990's Henry and June and 1995's Showgirls - earned more than $10m (£5.44m) at the US box office. The last NC-17 release, Matt Stone and Trey Parker's Orgazmo, bowed out on takings of $210,000 (£114,300).

The Dreamers opens in the US on February 13 and in the UK on February 6.

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