RELEASES Romania

by Ştefan Dobroiu

31/01/2014 - Following the formal appeal filed by local distributor Independenta, the film will be released as planned, on February 7

(UPDATE: Following public outrage, an appeal from the distributor Independenta Film and reactions from the Minister of Culture Gigel Stirbu and the President of the National Center for Cinema Mihail Kogalniceanu, the rating received by Nymphomaniac Part 2 has been changed to IM18, which means it can be screened in cinemas. Cristina Corciovescu has been removed from her position as president of the commission, but she is still a member, according to news agency Mediafax. No other member has been deposed yet.)

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Lars von Trier’s Nymphomaniac Part 2 may not be shown in Romanian cinemas after the rating commission of the National Center of Cinema gave the film an “IM-18 XXX” rating, which forbids the local distributor Independenta Film to show it in public spaces. The film was supposed to be released on February 7, but Independenta might need to postpone or even cancel the release.

Romania would be the first country where Nymphomaniac Part 2 receives this rating. According to the distributor, who will contest the rating commission’s decision, the film was considered unsuitable only for teenagers under 16 in France, Estonia, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland. In Romania, Nymphomaniac Part I received the IM-18 rating, which means that only adult cinemagoers were able to purchase a ticket.

It is not the first time that the Romanian rating commission proves more traditional than it is supposed to be: in 2009, Gus van Sant’s Milk received the IM-18 rating. When contacted by a Cineuropa reporter, film critic and FIPRESCI member Cristina Corciovescu, now the rating commission’s President, justified the decision with a simple “it tells kids it’s ok to be gay, so it has to be forbidden”.

The interdiction of Nymphomaniac Part 2 is even more surprising when one takes into account the members of the commission, a topic of great debate among Romanian film journalists: according to film website filmreporter, the commission is formed, among a few others, by Cristina Dochianu, a former model for the local edition of Playboy magazine, Narcisa Tcaciuc, a former entertainment show host, Alexandru Chifu, an accountant, and Tudorel Butoi, a trained criminal psychologist.