If your film gets an N-17 rating (no one under 17 admitted) in America, it’s the kiss of death. “The rating board’s inscrutable, often infuriating judgment calls about sexual content are legend. No one, not even maverick Lions Gate, will release an NC-17 film — and with good reason. Key theater chains might not book it; many TV and newspaper outlets would refuse to advertise it; and once it went to video, where the real profits are for most films, major chains such as Blockbuster wouldn’t stock it. ‘American film is being horribly infantalized. If you want to see something adult, you have to stay home and watch HBO’.”