Screen Sex Violence Comes Under Scrutiny of BBFC

Screen Scrutineers To Quiz Audiences For the First Time

The British Board of Film Classification has commissioned a team from Aberystwyth University is to research how audiences react to sexual violence in movies.

Researchers will now begin to quiz cinema-goers about some of the big screen's most controversial moments, in the first survey of its type commissioned by the UK film watchdog.

The BBFC hopes to find out what "ordinary members of the public" think of the sexually graphic films.

We don't always tap into people who don't feel the need to write into us -Sue Clark, BBFC

Irreversible, which caused outrage in 2002 for a rape scene, is one of five films under scrutiny. Some 250 people at a screening at the Cannes Film Festival in 2002 left before the end, some needed medical attention after they fainted. The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) awarded the uncut movie an 18 certificate, after consulting a psychiatrist.

The team at Aberystwyth will use an online questionnaire, among other things, to quiz cinema-goers about Irreversible and  four other films.

Interviewees will be asked to explain the kind of enjoyment they gained from such films. Researchers will also ask audiences whether they loathe or love the movies, and whether the way sexual violence is presented on film affects the ways audiences understand it.

UNDER SCRUTINY: À Ma Soeur; Baise-Moi; Irreversible; Ichi The Killer;  House on the Edge of the Park.

Sue Clark, from the BBFC, said: "It's the first time the BBFC has commissioned this type of research. We have not been in the position in the past to carry out this type of research. It's really for our own interest and if we get some good results it may help us when we consider future films."

Ms Clark said sexual violence in the adult category was one of the few areas still considered for censorship, and the BBFC would like to know what "ordinary members of the public" think about the individual films.

"It will be interesting to see what the audience reaction is to this," added Ms Clark.

"We don't always tap into people who don't feel the need to write into us."

The project is called Extreme Films Research. Led by Professor Martin Barker of the department of theatre, film and television studies, the university will try and gather thousands of responses during the next six months.

"We need to hear from people who have seen any of these films, so that the views of real audiences - whatever their views - for the first time can be properly considered," he said