The US film censor has been accused of homophobia after a film about two older gay men which features no sex, nudity or violence was handed a restrictive “R” rating, meaning people under the age of 17 cannot view it without a parent or guardian.

Love is Strange, which opens in the US this weekend, stars John Lithgow and Alfred Molina as long-term partners forced to stay separately with friends when Molina loses his job after the couple marry.

While the film is unlikely to be catmint for children, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has noted a number of uses of bad language in its decision to hand down an “R” rating. However, critics have pointed out that two other new movies that feature far more obviously adult themes – but which do not focus on a gay relationship – have received the same grading.



Comic-book sequel Sin City: A Dame to Kill For features scenes of prostitution, extreme violence, nudity and drug use. Horror film Jersey Shore Massacre includes scenes of graphic gore and violence towards women, with one victim being disembowelled and another having her breasts sliced open. Both open on the same weekend as Love is Strange.

“If there’s an equivalence among these three films, and their equal unsuitability for anyone under 17, it’s lost on me — and, I suspect, on anyone but the censors at the MPAA,” wrote Stephen Whitty of the New Jersey Star-Ledger. “Not only is there nothing violent in Love Is Strange, there’s not even anything explicit. It is about as mild and mainstream a portrayal of gay life as you can imagine ... And it is very hard to imagine that – if it starred, say, Robert Duvall and Jane Fonda as a similar long-time couple suddenly facing homelessness – it would be lumped in with movies crammed full of queasily stylish sexism and sickening torture porn.”



J Bryan Lowder of Slate magazine added: “What is the ‘adult material’ in Love is Strange that might require “parental accompaniment” for moviegoers under the age of 17? Well, Lithgow and Molina do snuggle a lot. And they kiss and hug and express four decades’ worth of affection for each other. Ah, and there is some subtle intimation that one of the men’s nephews may be gay, too. Clearly, these offences are just as worthy of parental trepidation as the grotesquerie of watching a woman have her breast sliced open on screen – or at least that’s how the MPAA seems to see it.”



The MPAA, a voluntary body set up by Hollywood studios to self-censor movies, has come in for criticism in the past for zeroing in on sexual themes but allegedly turning a blind eye to violence. The critically acclaimed 2006 documentary This Film is Not Yet Rated also alleged that censors viewed movies with homosexual themes more negatively than those with heterosexual ones.

The MPAA has not yet made any public comment on the accusations of homophobia. Love is Strange has been rated a 15 in the UK, with the British Board of Film Classification also citing “strong language”, but the movie is a PG in Canada.



