The Naked Truth

Well score one for freedom of expression. The long arm of the BBFC is deftly evaded and our God-given right to watch pornographic material defended as controversial release The Pornographer gets its bits out in public. Bertrand Bonello's risqu French drama was set upon by Blighty's censorship hounds immediately after arriving on these shores and, because we're just too sensitive to be exposed to full-on hanky panky, was slapped with an 11 second cut in order to gain its 18 certificate. Left untouched in every other country of release, The Pornographer nevertheless fell foul of our draconian censorship rules regarding the display of unmentionables on screen. “The Board may cut or reject 'the more explicit images of sexual activity – unless they can be exceptionally justified by context'", insisted our beloved BBFC. "The Board did not feel that the images cut were justified.” However, while the distributor was bound to abide by this decision, London's Metro Cinema - which has secured exclusive West End rights to the film - has found a handy way to pull the old bare-bum salute to the powers that be. While the film itself will lose the offending seconds, the cinema will be displaying full-colour stills from the excised footage in its gallery, allowing the so-inclined to gaze in awe and wonder at the naughty outtakes. Naturally we applaud this effort to flout the patronising restrictions of British censorship. After all, if God didn't want us to watch porn he'd have made us all like Action Man. The film and accompanying stills exhibition can be seen from Friday 19 April at the Metro Cinema in Soho.