The plot continues to thicken surrounding the deletion of several key sex scenes from the film God’s Own Country on Amazon.
Director Francis Lee expressed his ire on Twitter after Amazon Prime viewers noticed the omission of several scenes in the film depicting gay sex. Now Lee has issued an additional statement regarding the reasons behind the cuts.
“Dear USA friends,” he wrote. “After investigation God’s Own Country was not censored by @PrimeVideo (Amazon USA) but by the US distributor @GoldwynFilms who butchered the streaming version without consultation to get more ‘revenue’. @PrimeVideo were incredibly supportive in rectifying.”
Related: Well, the full “God’s Own Country” sex scenes have arrived
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“The rental version of God’s Own Country on @PrimeVideo is the correct version of my film. I would like to thank Amazon Prime for being supportive and I would caution any film maker of working with the aforementioned ‘distributor’. Thank you EVERYONE for all your support,” he also tweeted shortly thereafter.
In addition, a report on IndieWire states that sources close to Amazon have confirmed that Samuel Goldwyn Films, the distributor, uploaded the censored version of the film to comply with Amazon’s policies prohibiting “sexually explicit content.” Though films depicting explicit sex and nudity are allowed on Amazon Prime, those titles will not appear on certain carousels advertising the films. In other words, Goldwyn Films cut the scenes to increase the visibility of the movie in hopes of generating higher profits. The uncut original release is also available to rent or purchase on Amazon.
Jared MacBride
Fantastic, uncompromising film with the all too rare happy but believable ending. The scenes which were deleted are vital to the film, which would make very little sense without them.
Kieran
Whether you agree with something or not, seeking censorship as the answer is never the way to go. If you think you can live in a society where you can just censor anything that might cause you offense, remember that what goes around tends to come around. We want a society where people are free to express themselves without fear of some censor on a power trip, like those @GoldwynFilms.
Troysky
Good to hear. When the issue was mentioned the other day, I instantly went to porn hub to see the sexy scenes, because i’m horny. Kinda sexy and shouldn’t have been cut, because hetero stuff does this kind of thing frequently, and it doesn’t get cut. We all know it.
rbernard
It still seems like the US distributor, Samuel Goldwyn Films is still furnishing the same sex scenes edited out version of “Gods Own County” via Amazon Prime as they had been doing and the only thing we got out of this is the specific knowledge one can see the unedited version if they chose to either rent or buy it.
MountainQueer
Rental or Purchase at Prime does not give you any subtitles. In the scenes with the father the dialog is almost impossible to discern by ear. The Netflix DVD says it has subtitles but I’ve been unable to activate them on Samsung or two different Sony DVD player models. This is a major drawback to a great movie.
LamarTrotsky
I got the movie from the library and the cover claimed that it included CC (closed captioning/subtitles) but it didn’t.
djmcgamester
Great! The only time we even see nudity is post-sex in the barn. The sex scenes show nothing other than that, yes, people have it. If I had to guess, Amazon will make sure it’s not excluded from their carousel for sex scenes. That said, this movie was recommended to me when it first came to Prime!
ShiningSex
Great film!!! Very overlooked.
wally6966
i watched this movie twice i thought is was very good i tried to find it on netflix again but could not find it for some reason they have been changing movies to give us new stuff to watch i think as i cannot find other titles i want to rewatch but i seen this i will try to find it elsewhere i love this movie it would be nice if it were a series.
rocknstan
Straight audiences are not the target for this film to begin with.
Why de-sexualize it?
Much of the film’s greatness can be found in its inspired sex scenes.
Shove the status quo.
Doug
Wow. If there was any indication whatsoever that Hollywood has changed its view of gay people, this clearly cancels it out. This goes back to the fifties and sixties. Goldwyn films, of all distributors, clearly doesn’t want to turn off any of their precious straight audience with disgusting male-on-male love scenes. I’m all for boycotting.
balehead
Sounds like a fake controversy to get viewers….
mz.sam
In hindsite as seen with it’s original film screenings, there is unnecessary controversy for all who owned and viewed the BluRay/DVD format. Happy rewind film collectors.
MountainQueer
At Amazon USA neither the regular DVD nor the Blu-ray are shown as available. Amazon UK does have them but only as Region 2 (B), not playable here. Were you able to activate the subtitles on Blu-Ray? I got both the Amazon download purchase and the Netflix DVD. On neither one could I get the subtitles to work. (I recall that among Amazon users comments someone else had the same problem).
Would appreciate knowing about your Blu-ray experience.
nm4047
@MountainQueer, why do you need the subtitles, surely you can understand those thick Yorkshire accents. 🙂
jayceecook
@MountainQueer The DVD is in stock on Amazon but it doesn’t have CC despite what the packaging says. That’s another phuck up by the lovely US distributor Samuel Goldwyn Films. The Blu-ray does have CC but as you said it’s not available to buy from Amazon at the moment. I don’t think many copies were made of the BR. As I remember at the time they didn’t release it here until enough people demanded it. The distributor only put out the DVD. When I bought my copy I believe it was actually through Amazon’s print on demand service because they were the only place you could get the BR in the US. I’d look to see if any 3rd party sellers on Amazon have it or try eBay for a used copy.
I haven’t tried to rent or buy the film from Amazon but the listing for those options say it has CC. I haven’t watched anything through Amazon in years but I remember it was a tiny bit cumbersome to get CC working. It might be easier now. Usually it’s done through the Amazon app/website, not your device. Maybe reach out to Amazon for help.
If you do end up with a copy of the Blu-ray you’d access the CC from your player not the TV. If your remote for the player has a CC button I’d try that. If not you’d go into settings, look for either CC or subtitle settings and select the option. Every device is different so check your manual if you kept it.
In the meantime my advice would be to watch a lot of British television and films to acclimate yourself to the various BE accents. Especially ones filmed or take place in Northern England. Trust me it helps LOL. I was fortunate enough not to need the CC but agree some scenes were a bit tough. Good luck.
jayceecook
@MountainQueer Also, try Kanopy if you have a library card. They have the unedited version of the film to stream. I think it’s free too. Don’t know about CC though. You’d have to check.
Joshooeerr
Almost all producers, distributors and directors allow “censored” versions of their films on airlines, which generally have the same requirements. They also turn a blind eye to drastically censored versions of their films in religiously conservative Asian and Middle-eastern markets – where the films are often so seriously cut as to make no sense. It’s hard to see how this is any different. If you don’t want your films cut, then pay more attention to their distribution, rather than turn a blind eye and happily accept the royalty payments – which, I guarantee you, is what most do.
jayceecook
Yeah that’s not entirely accurate. Especially for first time foreign directors with no presence outside the U.K. Directors don’t typically have that kind of power unless they are big, big names. Everything you’re talking about is decided by the multiple distributors and producers. Directors often do complain against such things happening. However most don’t have the power to overrule the studios and distributors. And there have been cases just like this one where directors, actors, and writers are informed by fans about a censored version. Sometimes enough stink is caused by them to get it changed but sometimes not.
To your other point they wouldn’t edit the film so it *was* banned in the Asian and Middle East market place. The only Eastern European country that would show the film was Romania and only because of Alec Sec?reanu.
Also, when a censored version is going to be circulated it’s common courtesy for the distributors to let the director know. They didn’t do that in this case. What nobody has mentioned yet is that the film actually has 2 US distributors, Orion Pictures and Samuel Goldwyn Films. They partnered together to buy the rights for US distribution. It’s interesting that Orion doesn’t seem to know anything about what happened either. So obviously SGF made a unilateral decision to upload a censored copy to Amazon Prime.
Still, while it’s great the rental and purchased versions are unedited people shouldn’t be applauding Amazon including the director. The fact that Amazon Prime has these kinds of practices in place which precipitated SGF to decide to use a censored version should be what people are complaining about. With so many Prime members how many films and television shows are they watching not aware it could be or is an edited version?
nm4047
does this mean Murphy’s Hollywood was not a true reflection of Hollywood! Grasping at pearl in horror.
Saps48
What a rip off. When it was on the Netflix platform, it was included as part of the subscription, but now to see it on Amazon prime one must pay. As our friend Audra once said, bullshit.
hansniemeijer
I would censor the scenes where one animal is shot and another is skinned. Adds realy nothing to the story.
Paulie P
seriously? it adds nothing to the story? the lamb being skinned was major… the one lamb born was REJECTED by it’s mother….. then the other baby dies….. they SKINNED THE LAMB put it’s coat on the rejected baby so the mother could get the scent of her baby and she accepted the baby lamb as her own….How could you say it added nothing?
One could even go as far to say that was a metaphor for the relationship between the lead factor and his own mother….
Tim44309
I agree with Paulie P. – I think that although difficult to watch, it was an extremely powerful scene in the film. The idea that a seemingly barbaric act can represent the ultimate loving sacrifice. It also highlighted the stark difference in personalities between the two main actors.
ScottOnEarth
To each, their own, but, IMO, those scenes are completely integral to the story and quite profound.
Paulie P
I would say the film follows a little to closely to the Annie Proux short story of Brokeback Mountain down to the scene involving the green work shirt left behind when he leaves never mind the scenes on the mountain that lead to the two of them getting together.
ptb2016
I have to laugh at Mountainqueer not being able to understand an English language movie without subtitles. When watching an American movie once with my father he asked me if I could translate for him as he didn’t understand a word. We are English! Yorkshire has a great accent but is nothing in comparison to Glasgow!
I have the Blu Ray, but live in France which is region B.
Cam
Goldwyn films censored it, but why? Because Amazon screens out films that have that content.
Also, Amazon used to have a section called LGBT films, and it has now gotten rid of that grouping.
Looks like Jeff Bezos is trying to appeal to the FOX News Demo.
Aires the Ram
I’m glad I bought the original as soon as it came out in DVD.
gary69mike
Got to say Josh O’Connor’s full frontal scene made me a fan. The scenes weren’t cut out on Netflix, were they?