Resumen de France: : Ban on showing the film “Love” to under-18s - decision by the Conseil d’Etat
After the administrative court this summer (see IRIS 2015-8/15), it has been the turn of the Conseil d’Etat to consider the classification licence issued to Gaspar Noé’s film “Love”; and delivered its decision on 30 September 2015. In the case at issue, the Ministry of Culture - which in July had issued a classification licence preventing the film being shown to minors over 16 years of age - and the production companies had called on the Conseil d'Etat to cancel the order delivered under the urgent procedure suspending performance of the licence because it did not allow the film to be shown to minors between 16 and 18 years of age. In doing so, the Conseil d'Etat has given details of the legal framework for the classification of films presenting “scenes of non-simulated sex”. Thus, “when a film includes such scenes, the only classifications that are legally applicable are those provided for in paragraphs 4 and 5 of Article R. 211-12 of the Cinema and Animated Image Code”, i.e. they may not be shown to anyone under 18 years of age, and if appropriate, the film should also be listed as pornographic (“X-rated”). The Conseil d’Etat pointed out that scenes of non-simulated sex were “scenes which, without any dissimulation, presented practices of a sexual nature”, and that in deciding whether or not scenes qualified for this description it was necessary to take into consideration the more or less realistic manner in which they were filmed, and the effect they were intended to have on anyone watching the film. Lastly, if such a classification were adopted, it was necessary to appreciate the way in which the scenes were filmed and how they fitted into the work in question in order to determine which of the two possible restrictions was appropriate
