Product Code Database
An X rating is a film rating that indicates that the film contains content that is considered to be suitable only for adults. Films with an X rating may have scenes of graphic violence or explicit sexual acts that may be disturbing or offensive to some viewers. The X rating is used in different ways by different countries, and it may have legal or commercial implications for the distribution and exhibition of such films. For example, some countries may ban or restrict the sale or rental of X-rated films, while others may allow them only in specific theaters or with special taxes. Some countries may also have different criteria or definitions for what constitutes an X-rated film, and some may consider the artistic merit of the film as a factor in classification. The X rating has been renamed or replaced by other ratings in some countries over time.
People under 18 may not buy, rent, exhibit, or view these films in cinemas. The exhibition or sale of these films to people under the age of 18 years is a criminal offence carrying a maximum fine of $5,500. Films classified as X18+ are forbidden from being sold or rented anywhere in the six states of Australia. They are legally available to be sold or hired in the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory. Importing X18+ material from these territories to any of the Australian states is legal, as the constitution forbids any restrictions on trade between the states and territories.
1100 movies were X-rated in France, with the last classification occurring in 1996, as pornography went from theaters to video, which doesn't undergo as much control as cinema. The last adult movie theater in Paris, the Beverley in Paris, closed down in 2019 only leaving the Vox in Grenoble.
Only ten movies were X-rated for violence: Open Season by Collinson, Lola by José María Forqué, Pique Nique (short film) by Gérard Bienfait, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre by Tobe Hooper, Hitch-Hike by Pasquale Festa Campanile, Return of the 38 Gang by Giuseppe Vari, The Warriors by Walter Hill, Frauengefängnis 3 by Jesús Franco, Mad Max by George Miller and Dawn of the Dead by George A. Romero; most of these subsequently received lower ratings. For example, The Warriors and Mad Max are now rated '12'.
In 2000, some conservative associations sued the government for granting the movie Baise-moi ( Fuck me), which contained graphic, realistic scenes of sex and violence, a non-X classification. The Council of State ruled that the movie should have been rated X as it was then the only rating which banned this films to minors. The decision was highly controversial, and the '18' rating was reestablished for movies not pornographic or violence-inciting; Baise-moi became the first movie to have been awarded the newly reestablished '18' rating, which had been replaced by '16' in 1990.
In 2009, Histoires de sexe(s) by Ovidie and Jack Tyler was ordered by the Classification Board to be X-rated; the directors then withdrew their demand for a cinema certificate and released their movie direct-to-video.
Sometimes the rating of a film has changed significantly over time. For example, the French film Jules and Jim received an X rating in 1962 that was reduced to a PG (Parental Guidance) rating in 1991, and later raised to 12A in 2021. In some cases, films with extreme political content received an X rating. Battleship Potemkin was refused a certificate for "inflammatory subtitles and Bolshevist propaganda" in 1926, passed X in 1954, and finally rated PG in 1987. Case Study:Battleship Potemkin
Because the X rating was not trademarked, anybody could apply it to their films, including pornographers, as many began to do in the 1970s. As pornography began to become more popular and more legally and commercially tolerated, pornographers placed an X rating on their films to emphasize the adult content. Some even started using multiple X's (i.e. XX, XXX, etc.) to give the impression that their film contained more graphic sexual content than the simple X rating. In some cases, the X ratings were applied by reviewers or film scholars, e.g. William Rotsler, who wrote "The XXX-rating is for hardcore, the XX-rating is for softcore, and an X-rating is for comparatively cool films."Rotslter, William. Contemporary Erotic Cinema. New York: Penthouse/Ballantine Books, 1973. page 251. Nothing beyond the simple X rating has ever been officially recognized by the MPAA. Because of the heavy use of the X rating by pornographers, it became associated largely with pornographic films, so that non-pornographic films given an X rating would have fewer theaters willing to book them and fewer venues for advertising. Many newspapers refused to advertise X-rated films. This led to a number of films being released unrated sometimes with a warning that the film contained content for adults only. In response, the MPAA eventually agreed in 1990 to a new NC-17 rating that would be trademarked, and could only be applied by the MPAA itself. By the rating, the MPAA committed to defending an NC-17 film charged with violating obscenity laws.
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