July 8, 2006 | Sex & Society

Tate to show hardcore sex film

When you press 'Play' on your favorite DVD, are you watching art, or pornography? It's a fine line between the two, a line that is tread in a controversial film making its London debut. While the movie features hardcore sex it's not screening at an adult cinema, but at Britain's national museum of modern art, Tate Modern.

"Destricted" is a two-hour compilation of seven short films trying to straddle the line between art and obscenity. The films are courtesy of artists and indie film-makers in the United Kingdom and the United States who were supervised by French director Gaspar Noe, made famous by the nine-minute rape scene in his 2002 film, "Irreversible."

According to London's The Daily Telegraph, one scene features a man masturbating in Death Valley while another shows a man having sex with the driveshaft of a 50-ton truck.

After much debate, the British Board of Film Classification gave "Destricted" an 18 rating this week, which will allow the film to be sold on DVD in regular stores, including the gift shop at Tate Modern, where five screenings of the film have been scheduled for September. The film almost received an R18 rating, which is reserved for porn films and would have relegated it exclusively to sex shops.

"This work is plainly a serious consideration of sex and pornography as aspects of the human experience," said Sir Quentin Thomas, president of the ratings board. "We think that there are no grounds for depriving adults of the ability to decide themselves whether they want to see it."

As a condition of its milder rating, the film must carry a warning stating that it "contains strong, real sex" -- our favorite kind! "Destricted" will surely appeal to art film buffs -- and those who are just fascinated by the idea of drive shaft sex.

• Hard-core sex film to be premiered as art at Tate Modern [Telegraph]