The imdb lists this as being rated PG-13 in the U.S. !
That CAN'T be correct. Or else the film was severely cut from the international version. I have a DVD version from Asia, and this film is basically NC-17, or at least a hard "R", in the States in the version I have. It is quite nasty at times. No way it's PG-13. Unless the US DVD cuts the hell out of it.
I watched the US version. You can tell they edited it. They dubbed over the profanity, and during any nudity, they cut to an insert of an owl, even in the middle of a shot. I'm not kidding.
share Yeah, the international version is basically Dafoe and Colagrande just being exhibitionists.
There are some bizarre sex scenes, too. In one, he buries his face between her legs, and she tells him she's on her period. He says, "I don't mind." She then asks, "How's it taste?", and he replies, "It's fine." Then, when he comes up, they kiss on the mouth, and as they begin to have sex, there is a shot of the bed as they roll over, that reveals a massive blood stain. Good God, this was nasty.
There's another sequence where they shove each other's hand down each other's pants, and mutually masturbate while she tells him of her early sexual experiences.
It is pretty nasty, I tell you.
There is no way that this film is PG-13 uncut. Maybe not even 'R'.
One reviewer mentions a scene with a bloody tampon, or was he exaggerating?
I never saw the uncut version. I have the PG13 release, and actually I thought it was pretty smooth. I didn't notice any disruptive edits or dubbing except at the very beginning where the kid in the street says "Forget you!"
The USA version is nudity-free and if you never knew about the extended sex scenes, you wouldn't find anything unusual about cutting to an owl like they did (is it any worse than panning to the fireplace like all the old movies tactfully did?)
If you've already seen the nasty version, I doubt you can ever take the PG13 version seriously, but for people who have only seen the PG13, it's not a bad movie at all. Without all the gratuitous exhibitionism, you can actually focus on the themes & mood of the film, and it moves along more purposefully. This is one of the rare times I think editing was a good thing.