Sex and the cinema: some stuff isn’t even fit for the arthouse

AT the time of writing it seems unlikely that the explicit new film, 9 Songs, will go mainstream in cinemas around Ireland when it’s released this Friday. It’s not for the want of publicity, though.

The Late Late Show featured it some weeks back, there have been numerous media reports on the subject, and film censor John Kelleher has had a mountain of correspondence about it.

The film, according to critic Michael Dwyer, is “the most sexually graphic film ever to be passed with certificate from the film censor”. It shows graphic footage of sexual activity, not simulated but actually performed by the film’s participants, intercut with footage of concert performances.