In a surprising development, the MPAA ratings board has slapped an NC-17 rating on Blue Valentine, the Derek Cianfrance-directed drama that is creating Oscar buzz for the performances of Ryan Gosling and Michelle Willams. The film, about the slow corrosion of the relationship between a young couple, was acquired by The Weinstein Company after its premiere at the last Sundance Film Festival. The film also played at Cannes and Toronto.
I’m told the rating was given for a scene in which the characters played by Gosling and 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. There is barely any nudity in the scene, as I recall (though I haven’t seen it since last January) and there is no violence. It was hardly a moment that would make you think, well here comes an NC-17.
They will most likely have to cut the scene in order to get an R rating, but we’ll see what happens!
Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams play lovers in this fall’s My Blue Valentine, and they look like lovers on the cover of October’s W Magazine.
Blue Valentine is the story of a young married couple and their fight to save their disintegrating marriage.
Set in two separate time periods you initially see the couple with a young daughter, taking a trip to help save their relationship before jumping back in time to look at the start of the relationship and how the couple fell in love.
The romantic drama got great reviews at Sundance and is even generating Oscar buzz.
What do you think of Michelle Williams‘ new platinum hair? I think she looks gorgeous! Here she is at the ‘Meek’s Cutoff’ premiere at the Palazzo del Cinema during the 67th Venice International Film Festival in Venice, Italy.
Could they be any cuter together? Rumors have been swirling that the costars are a couple…but I’m not buying it. I’m still holding out for a Rachel McAdams reunion!
“Blue Valentine” is the story of love found and love lost told in past and present moments in time. Flooded with romantic memories of their courtship, Dean and Cindy use one night to try and save their failing marriage. Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams star in this honest portrait of a relationship on the rocks.
Shia Labeouf and girlfriend Carey Mulligan share a intimate moment as they await their boat to leave the famous Hotel Eden Roc, during the 63rd Annual Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France on May 15, 2010
