Cuts in Third Wellington Film Festival Films

Mon Oncle Antoine and The Merchant Of Four Seasons were the only two films in the Wellington Film Festival which the censor felt moved to cut. From Antoine he cut about six seconds in which an English-language subtitle saying "Fuck 'em" was visable. Festival filmgoers will remember the scene which was affected - it involved the father of the boy who later died; he was sitting with friends and abusing various people. Because of the censor's cut the scene ended abruptly and lacked the final emphasis. After cutting the two words (and the pictures that went with them) the censor gave Antoine an A certificate.

The Merchant Of Four Seasons involved the hero's wife in a one-night affair with a stranger. She was seen in a car with the stranger, discussing where they should go. Then the scene changed to a wide shot of the two making love (the man on his back, the woman astride him). This one shot, lasting about 8 seconds, was removed by the censor, who then gave the film an R18 certificate. Because of the cut, the continuity changed from the couple in the car to a closeup shot of the woman's daughter opening a door and seeing her mother making love (or "copulating" to use the censor's word). New Zealand audiences, at that stage, could not know what the girl was looking at because the scene had been removed. The remainder of the scene was left intact - the girl closing the door, the woman looking ashamed, and then climbing off the bed and weeping, so at the conclusion of the sequence it was reasonably obvious what had been going on, and with whom (the identity of the man being later relevant). Needless to say, both films have been shown at film festivals (and publically) in many other countries with no cuts being necessary.

The Auckland Film Festival suffered more heavily from censorship. Two feature films from South America were not shown because the censor demanded extensive cuts which were not acceptable to the organisers. A Japanese film shown at Auckland had a cut similar to Antoine in that the word "fuck" in a subtitle was removed.

In their annual report to Parliament, the Department of Internal Affairs says that there was a marked increase in the incidence of violence, sadism and indecent language in films examined by the censor last year. The Department says that as a direct result, the number of films judged suitable for General Exhibition dropped from 20% of the total in 1972 to 12% last year - the lowest proportion ever recorded. They attribute the big increase in screen violence largely to the popularity of American underworld gang warfare films. Cuts to films kept pace with 'the increase in indecent language and violence. Last year 39% of all films were cut compared with 31% the year before, and the total number of cuts doubled to more than 800. While cuts for violence and indecent language were up - accounting for about three quarters of all excisions - cuts for sex were down. Last year they totalled 26% compared with 28% the year before.

- reprinted from Sequence, August 1974.