The film St. Narcissus, by Canadian director Bruce LaBruce, can no longer be seen on Amazon Prime Video. The reason cited by the streaming giant? “offensive content”. Despite his pleasure in breaking taboos, the creator says he is the victim of more insidious censorship than ever.
Posted at 7:00 a.m.
St. Narcissuswhich stars Félix-Antoine Duval in the lead role, had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival in September 2020. Exploring notions of narcissism, twinship, incest and homosexuality, unchecking a few slaps in the pangs committed by many priests, he left with the Graffetta d’Oro Best Film Prize, awarded on the sidelines of the festival.
Almost two years later, the film was rejected by the Amazon Prime Video platform in the UK. In the process, it was withdrawn by its American and French equivalents, where it had nevertheless been broadcast for almost six months. “The only reason given to us by our distributor in the United Kingdom, Pecadillo Pictures, was a question of offensive content”, explains the director during a joint interview with producer Nicolas Comeau.
He struggles to understand the situation. “In 2022, it makes no sense,” argues Mr. Comeau. If you’ve seen the movie, there’s nothing offensive about it… except maybe in the eyes of Mother Teresa. »
Bruce LaBruce steps in with a smirk.
I wouldn’t go that far. There are frontal nudity scenes, but they were shot with some distance. This is nothing unusual for Amazon Prime Video and for most streaming platforms.
Bruce LaBruce, filmmaker
He hypothesizes that other more subtly transgressive passages may have been disturbing. “There’s a scene where adult twins have sex, but you don’t see any genitalia. She is more romantic than mechanical. »
Having contributed to the financing of the film, CBC considered screening the film on its airwaves, before restricting it to GEM, the English-Canadian Tou.tv. “From what I understand, it’s because of the scene with a child who sees his mother having a moment of physical intimacy with a pregnant woman,” LaBruce said. Yet there is no nudity. »
Contacted on Tuesday, the British spokesperson for Amazon Prime Video did not respond to our interview request.
The insidious censorship
Descriptions of scenes taken out of context may be shocking. That said, the filmmaker has had a reputation for being provocative for decades. “It’s particularly irritating in a context where it’s increasingly difficult to make independent films and get them seen,” he says. We haven’t heard of any reaction from moviegoers who found the film scandalous. »
He says he doesn’t know who the film offended. “Is it because of complaints from two people? Or some guy at the Amazon Prime Video office who watched the movie and thought it was awful? Since they don’t have to explain their decision, they can withdraw the film without saying anything. »
In his eyes, this practice echoes social networks which often ban accounts and pages without specifying why.
PHOTO IVANOH DEMERS, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Filmmaker Bruce LaBruce
The rules are very vague and applied unevenly. It’s worse than the traditional form of censorship. Before, you knew they were moralizing and that you were breaking specific rules. Today, censorship is more insidious.
Bruce LaBruce, filmmaker
Producer Nicolas Comeau speaks of a scandal. “I find it retrograde. That a film by a confirmed artist be screened in world premiere at major festivals, that it be distributed in commercial theaters in Quebec, the United States and France, and that it is not admissible on Amazon in reason for allegedly offensive content is beyond me. »
A work for the general public?
Ironically, Bruce LaBruce was looking with St. Narcissus to make a more accessible film. “Just like with the movie Gerontophilia, I tried to make the transgressive aspects more digestible for people. There is no explicit sex. We attack taboos in a rather symbolic way. »
Even more ironic: the magazine variety had criticized Gerontophilia by writing “Bruce LaBruce goes limp” implying that he was becoming impotent and that his films were softer than before. “Yet they always gave me bad reviews saying my productions were too explicit. As we say in English: “Damned if you do. Damned if you don’t”. »