The Shocking Reason This Controversial Film Wasn’t Banned in the UK

Ever found yourself side-eyeing a friend gobsmacked at some gruesome onscreen horror, only to realize—wait, are they blushing at a particularly raw scene? Why do so many cinephiles (myself included—no shame!) get captivated by moments in film most people would avoid talking about at brunch? There’s a strange cocktail of taboo and curiosity bubbling up whenever a director dares to break the rules—especially around unsimulated intimacy. Call it voyeurism, call it art; but it sure is gripping.

This week, UK cinemas roll out the red carpet for Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Dogtooth”—over a decade old and still managing to shake the popcorn right out of people’s hands. This isn’t some cheap edge-lord shock-fest, by the way; critics (even Roger Ebert, bless him) and audiences can’t seem to look away from its utterly bizarre world of isolation, family dysfunction, and—yup—scenes that really happen, not just pretend. It’s equal parts unsettling, surreal, and, weirdly, darkly funny . The big question: what is it about witnessing raw human moments (even the twisted ones) in dark rooms full of strangers that keeps us coming back for more? Maybe we’re all just hungry for a different kind of thrill.

If you dare to venture into the strange, the audacious, and the undeniably memorable, you’re in for a real treat—or possibly a therapy bill . But hey, don’t just take my word for it—curiosity is only the beginning. LEARN MORE

A horror labelled ‘disturbing’ by fans with unsimulated intimate scenes will be screened in UK cinemas this coming week.

Film fans have a bizarre fascination with intimate scenes in films, particularly the incredibly rare occasions when these scenes are filmed for real.

Whilst there are rules films are breaking if they film these scenes in certain countries, there are still rare occasions where scenes of physical intimacy are not simulated but happen.

Major actors have engaged in these unsimulated scenes, most notably including Robert Pattinson, Aubrey Plaza, Chloe Sevigny, and Mark Rylance.

The film in question is directed by an Oscar-nominated filmmaker who has produced some of the most beloved and bizarre movies of the last decade.

Called Dogtooth, the film is by Yorgos Lanthimos, the director of Poor Things, The Favourite, Kinds of Kindness, and The Lobster, and features scenes of unstimulated sex.

The film follows a couple and their three adult children who all live in a fenced compound. Their son and two daughters have zero knowledge of the world outside the compound, and are told they will only be ready to leave once they lose a ‘dogtooth’.

The trio are all bored beyond belief as a result; however, their father hires distractions, such as an employee, Christina, who ‘sexually services’ the son.

Eventually, one of the daughters makes a plan to escape.

An utterly bizarre watch, it received a whopping 93 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes.

Legendary film critic Roger Ebert reviewed the film in 2010, just three years before his death, and said: “Dogtooth is like a car crash. You cannot look away. The Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos tells his story with complete command of visuals and performances.

“His cinematography is like a series of family photographs of a family with something wrong with it. His dialogue sounds composed entirely of sentences memorized from tourist phrase books.”

The BBFC, the UK’s film classification board, stated that the film contains real scenes of sex, including between characters who are family.

The film has bizarre unsimulated intimate scenes (Feelgood Entertainment)

Many may be shocked to find out that, despite this, Dogtooth will be available to watch in cinemas across the country in the UK this weekend for its 4K rerelease.

The BBFC, however, gave the film an 18 rating in spite of this, as opposed to refusing to rate it or requesting the scenes be cut.

When justifying the allowance of Dogtooth to be shown with an 18, the BBFC said that the real intimacy was ‘to establish the unusual and dysfunctional lifestyle that results from the isolation orchestrated by the dictatorial father, including incest’.

The regulator also operates on the assumption that they must pay special regard specifically to the potential ‘harm’ screening scenes could cause.

The scenes in the film are not unnecessarily explicit and are intended for mature audiences, so would likely not be considered to cause harm.

If you do fancy a disturbing and unsettling horror next week, and don’t mind a few intimate scenes here and there, Dogtooth is the perfect watch.

Dogtooth is available to watch in cinemas for its 4k restoration on Monday, September 1.