Poor Things cut | Emma Stone-headlined film trimmed to get UK release

by Simon Brew |
Poor Things
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Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things gets an 18 certificate for its UK release – but it’s been cut even to get that. More here.

A decade or so ago, stories such as this were a little more commonplace, with distributors making small cuts to their films to get a desired certificate in the UK. We got tales such as Taken and Die Hard films being trimmed so they could land in British cinemas with family friendly ratings, bizarrely.

However, in the case of Poor Things, the new film from director Yorgos Lanthimos, cuts have had to be made to secure a release at all.

As per the BBFC website, Disney showed the film to the board for advice before formally submitting it for classification. This is something that the board offers with films, whereby you can make any trims before you go for a formal submission.

In the case of Poor Things, an Oscar favourite that may yet land Emma Stone a second Academy Awards, the BBFC advised Disney that it had to make “changes” in order to even secure an 18.

Read more: Die Hard 4 and the PG-13 experiment

Specifically, “We originally saw this film for advice. We informed the distributor we would be likely to classify the film 18 on condition that changes be made to one short sequence depicting sexual activity in the presence of children. This is in accordance with the Protection of Children Act 1978. When the distributor submitted the film for formal classification, the scene had been re-edited, and we were able to classify the film 18.”

Crikey.

Disney duly made the cuts, although that’s the choice of the distributor, not the BBFC itself. As such, Poor Things heads into UK cinemas on Friday the 12th of January with an 18 certificate. Still with some very, very strong guidance warnings, we should note.

You can read the full BBFC ruling on the film here.

In the meantime, we’ll leave you with the movie’s trailer…

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