Was sasha's head bleeding because of when they were fighting with each other? Or was that just him hallucinating? And what was up with the gay bar... when Romain followed that guy downstairs, why was he touching his nose and nervous looking? What was being done to him?
And do you know what my very first words were? New York Herald Tribune!
The bleeding was a hallucination, like several others in the film.
I'm not sure who you are talking about touching his nose and nervous looking. The guy in the sling?
The guy in the sling was using poppers, in preparation for what was about to be done to him. He was about to be fisted. If you're not aware of what poppers or fisting are, look the terms up on wikipedia.
I'm not sure that what was going on in that scene would be obvious to the uninitiated. It was quite short. I got it immediately because I've been in that position, so to speak. However, if one watched the extras on the DVD, the originally intended scene was somewhat longer, and more obvious. Still, the totally clueless would be lost. In the parts of the scene that were cut, it is my personal opinion that the actor in the sling was being overly dramatic. Maybe he was pretending it was his first time.
That the scene was cut quite a bit has no impact on the overall movie. My guess is it was better being cut. No need to offend anyone's sensibilities needlessly. I'm not sure what the director was even thinking in planning this scene.
There was another scene that was cut, with Romain in the mens room at the restaurant. There was another man in there "checking him out" at the urinals. The fact that this scene was cut somewhat changes the meaning of a later series of scenes in the movie. This guy turns out to be the husband of the woman looking to be inseminated by Romain.
"If you're not aware of what poppers or fisting are, look the terms up on wikipedia."
If you're not aware what poppers or fisting are, you probably don't want to know.