NC-17 comes out from hiding

Three NC-17 films have emerged since the first of the year. Bernardo Bertolucci's "The Dreamers" came out in February, while "Young Adam," starring Ewan McGregor and Tilda Swinton, premiered on Friday. And "High Tension," a French horror film, is due out from Lions Gate Films in the fall. If the films do reasonably well, industry observers suggest, some of the studios' psychological and economic resistance may start to break down.

Until this recent shift, the rating also had been a thorn in the side of the Motion Picture Assn. of America. Many moviegoers associated the designation (barring admittance to anyone younger than 17) with the former X rating, which -- in the absence of a copyright -- had been appropriated by the producers of pornography. In response, only 18 movies have been released with an NC-17 since 1990, when the MPAA created the NC-17 rating and did away with X. Not one film has been rated NC-17 in the last six years.

For its part, Lions Gate is going on the offensive. Rather than sending out "High Tension" unrated, as it did with "Irreversible," (a tack the company can take because it's not an MPAA signatory), or trimming to get an R, as it recently did with "The Cooler," Lions Gate is throwing down the gauntlet.

"We feel it's important to establish a legitimate adult rating," said Tom Ortenberg, president of Lions Gate Releasing. "If the MPAA won't do it, we'll do it for them. By refusing to use its tremendous lobbying power to lean on newspapers and theaters [resistant to showing or promoting NC-17 material], the organization has marginalized the designation.

" 'High Tension' has the potential to play beyond art-houses and become a commercial, mainstream movie," Ortenberg adds. "NATO [The National Association of Theatre Owners] maintains that exhibitors are willing to play it -- and I'm taking them at their word."

MPAA Chief Executive Jack Valenti acknowledges NC-17 has yet to fulfill its potential. "We've been urging exhibitors and distributors to use the rating for years," he said, "trying to convince them that it doesn't mean 'pornographic' or 'obscene.' In the end, it's up to the distributors, who have to offer their movies up, and the exhibitors, who have to believe that there's an audience for that material."