Seom - Die Insel

This fell foul of the British Board of Film Classification who demanded cuts, not because of the scene where a metal object is inserted into a vagina but of cruelty to fish, which director Kim Ki-duk admitted was genuine.

The cut UK print was submitted to the Irish censor who cited the violence as causing concern - he gave the distributor (Tartan Films) two options:

• Resubmit the same version (presumably for an appeal/reconsideration)
• Submit an altered version to secure a certificate

They went with the latter, despite the changes not being required under law - this censored version was certified 18 on September 29, 2004. The cuts totaled 3m 15s on top of the UK's 1m 50s to animal cruelty - the running time of the Irish print is 84m 53s compared to the UK's 88m 8s. No details for the cuts or justification for the decision were made available. An article in the Irish Times issue dated October 1, 2004 explains it in further detail: "The Isle was due to open at UGC Cinemas in Dublin on September 10th as part of the touring Asia Extreme season organised by the London-based distributors, Tartan Films. On that date, showings of the South Korean film were listed in all the daily UGC advertisements, and a display ad for the film was run in The Ticket, as was Donald Clarke's review. But the film never opened and has yet to receive a public screening in Ireland. The Isle was submitted to the censor's office on September 8th, just two days before it was due to be released - very late notice at an exceptionally busy period for new releases. John Kelleher, the film censor, made time to view it the next day, but found that some elements of the film required serious consideration. "We contacted Tartan and drew attention to scenes of sexual violence and explicit self-mutilation that were causing us concern," he says. "It was entirely up to Tartan Films if they wanted to resubmit the same version of the film, or a different version." Tartan subsequently submitted an altered version of the film, which was viewed by Kelleher on Wednesday morning and passed with an 18 certificate. The film had already been cut by 110 seconds by the British Board of Film Classification because of a scene of animal cruelty. In his three-star review, Donald Clarke noted "the notorious scene in which the female lead, part avenging angel, part lady of the lake, inserts fishhooks into her vagina and then, as if that were not uncomfortable enough, hauls them out again". He also noted that in the film's "envelope-pushing shock therapy, the hero does something similar to his esophagus." The Isle will probably open at the end of the Asia Extreme season, on November 5th."

Referenced in Frühling, Sommer, Herbst, Winter... und Frühling (2003)