No video certificate for 'torture' film

A film-maker is in dispute with the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) over its refusal to grant his film a video certificate because of its "unrelenting" violence, writes Rhys Williams.

Boy Meets Girl was granted an "18" certificate to appear in cinemas this summer but James Ferman, of the BBFC, has refused to sanction a video release because of worries that its graphic violence could be seen by under-age viewers.

In the film, a man is picked up in a bar by a woman, doped, tied to a dentist's chair and tortured. His reactions are filmed by another woman wearing a mask. The second woman kills the first, before beginning to taunt the man and perform surgery on him.

Ray Brady, the film's director, argued that it was not an attempt to sensationalise violence, but a serious exploration of violent behaviour. "[The film] cuts off consequence from action by breaking down violence to its barest components and then blowing it all up with hot stylised air." But, in a letter to Mr Brady refusing a video certificate, Mr Ferman said: "This video focuses unrelentingly on the process of torture."

Boy Meets Girl joins a list of 38 films, including Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers, to be refused a video release by the BBFC.

Joining the Banned, Weekend