MPAA gives Blue Valentine an NC-17 rating for its shocking, gory depiction of a dying marriage

By Sean O'Neal  |  October 8, 2010 | 4:34pm
Aux Features Film

The MPAA, which recently celebrated 20 years of arbitrarily handing out the box-office-crippling NC-17 rating, proved it’s still got it today by giving the controversial rating to Sundance favorite Blue Valentine. The intense drama—which our own Nathan Rabin called “an unblinking, relentlessly honest and candid exploration of the life and death of a marriage,” the perv—was reportedly given the NC-17 over a single scene, which Deadline describes thusly:

The characters played by [Ryan] Gosling and [Michelle] Williams try to save their crumbling marriage by spending a night away in a hotel. They get drunk and their problems intensify when he wants to have sex and she doesn't, but will to get him off her back. That hurts his pride and the result is an upsetting scene that makes you squirm, but is an honest one that establishes clearly that this couple has nothing left and isn't going to make it because love has turned into contempt.

Hot! Admit it: If you were 16, you’d probably be making plans to sneak into that right away.

 
Join the discussion...