Some critics walked out of the theater, while other praised the film’s realistic portrayal of sex.
Such hardcore fare is showing up more frequently in “legitimate” independent movies, further blurring the line between mainstream and adult entertainment.
“Battle in Heaven” is the latest in a growing trend of indie movies with scenes that are just as graphic as anything one would find on a typical XXX DVD.
This year’s Sundance Film Festival featured half a dozen movies with hardcore sex scenes, including “9 Songs,” widely considered the most sexually explicit film ever to hit legitimate theaters, and “Elke's Visit,” a 20-minute short that consists of a single hardcore sex scene on a train.
Almost without exception, however, the filmmakers run from the “porn” label and go to great lengths to argue that their productions are not pornography, regardless of how many sex scenes they contain or how graphic the scenes are.
“It’s not a sexual film; it’s not a porn film,” Carlos Reygadas, the film’s director, said in response to an onslaught of reporters questions following the screening.
Yet, the film contains two close-up, well-lit scenes of a young, beautiful woman performing oral sex on an obese, middle-aged man, as well as a graphic sex scene between the man and his equally obese wife, prompting one reporter to ask where the line between “art film” and “porn” lies.
For Reygadas, the line seems to have something to do with how attractive the actors are and how steamy the sex is. “Porn aims to sexually excite the viewer,” he said, perhaps meaning that because the male lead is unattractive and the sex routine, the film cannot be considered pornographic.
