'Visions of Ecstasy' Movie Set for Release After 23-Year Ban
A controversial British film that had been banned for more than 20 years, the only film in the U.K. to receive such a prohibition for blasphemy, is finally being released.
The 19-minute short film, "Visions of Ecstasy" by director Nigel Wingrove, features a sequence in which a figure representing St. Teresa of Avila "interacts sexually" with a figure representing the crucified Christ, according to Reuters.
The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), who gave the film an 18 rating (meaning no one under 18 years of age can buy or rent the film,) lifted the ban in accordance of section 79 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act, which in 2008 abolished the common law offences of blasphemy and blasphemous libel. As the film no longer breaches British law, there was no more ground to keep it banned, the BBFC explained.
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"The Board recognizes that the content of the film may be deeply offensive to some viewers. However, the Board's Guidelines reflect the clear view of the public that adults should have the right to choose their own viewing, provided that the material in question is neither illegal nor harmful," the BBFC added in an official statement on Tuesday.
A spokesman for the organization explained that although the short work was the only film to be banned in the Board's 99-year history, many others have had overly offensive scenes cut out.
"Visions of Ecstasy" was first banned in 1989 after it was submitted for video classification. The decision to ban the movie was also upheld by the Video Appeals Committee. Wingrove took his case all the way to European Court of Human Rights in 1996, London's Daily Mirror newspaper shared. He lost the case, however, and the film had been locked away ever since.
After the ban was lifted in 2008, the director spoke with the Guardian and explained that even he had reservations about whether or not the movie should be released in today's age – and proposed that it come with a documentary to put it into context.
"If I made the film now I would make it very differently," Wingrove said, explaining his vision. "I was exploring areas of dark eroticism, but I had worked chiefly in prints, not films."
