(Beijing) David Fincher’s cult film fight clubwhose truncated ending in China has aroused the amazement of moviegoers in recent weeks, is now broadcast in the country in its original version.
Posted at 10:12 a.m.
The communist power authorizes the distribution of only a handful of foreign films each year and the censors do not hesitate to delete scenes considered disturbing or subversive.
Corn fight clubwith Brad Pitt and Edward Norton, had its final scene completely rewritten, more than two decades after the American film was released in 1999.
Last month, moviegoers were moved that the version broadcast on the Tencent Video platform is the antithesis of the original work.
In the film, the narrator played by Edward Norton kills his imaginary alter ego played by Brad Pitt, then witnesses the explosion of skyscrapers – the destruction of the modern world dreamed by the hero.
The version originally released in China ended just before with a black screen and text saying, “Police foiled the project and arrested all criminals, preventing the bombs from exploding.”
The text specified that the character played by Brad Pitt had been interned in “an insane asylum”.
Tencent did not comment on the restoration of the original version.
It was difficult to say whether the changes were imposed by the authorities.
In 2019, several scenes of Bohemian Rhapsody referring to the sexuality of Freddie Mercury, the singer of the group Queen, had been erased from the version broadcast in China.
Hollywood studios sometimes take it upon themselves to cut certain scenes from films in the hope of obtaining clearance for the Chinese market.