Smile is a 2022 US horror mystery thriller by Parker Finn
Starring Sosie Bacon, Jessie T. Usher and Kyle Gallner
After witnessing a bizarre, traumatic incident involving a patient,
a psychiatrist becomes increasingly convinced she is being threatened by an uncanny entity.
Thanks to Daniel who comments: Channel 4's screening of Smile on the 19th October was censored.
Despite the fact that the screening started twenty minutes after the watershed and detailed warnings about the content were given just prior, the opening suicide scene was edited to remove a shot of Caitlin Stasey's character
impassively cutting her throat with a shard of broken vase. The scene is crucial in establishing the film's tone early on.
There may have been more cuts but I turned it off. I always understood that Channel 4 policy was to screen
films intact after the watershed...guess that's no longer the case.
It is worth noting that the subsequent repeat broadcast on 4seven after 10:00pm was uncut. I did query Channel 4 as to why the film's initial broadcast was
censored, and they cited Ofcom guidelines as the reason for the 16 second edit. As the film was shown after the watershed and has an 18 certificate, an uncut screening should have been possible.
As Film4 also cut the late night
screening of Lords Of Chaos some time back for images relating to suicide despite the fact that it was also classified uncut at 18, I get the feeling that the cut made to Smile is part of a pattern in which images of suicide are being singled out
specifically.
All that said, Channel 4 do deserve a bit of credit for correcting the much lower profile repeat. https://www.classification.gov.au/titles/falling-place
Update: There's no time left in the day for grown up viewing
9th November 2024. Thanks to Neil
There was a
report commissioned by OFCOM in Oct 2023 which discussed research into attitudes towards sex and violence on UK TV - primarily using the watershed as a benchmark for when stronger content can be scheduled by broadcasters.
The
broadcasting code, and the wider expectation of the general public as always been:
Whilst there were some initial calls to postpone the watershed to later in the evening to better reflect changing parenting styles, on
greater reflection, participants decided a gradual transition from 9pm onwards and the use of clear warnings, was a better option.
In the instance of SMILE on Channel 4, the broadcaster deemed the expository explicit
suicide as being too strong during the 9-10pm transition period, and hence why they decided to cut this scene to avoid reprimand from OFCOM.
I agree that Channel 4 should have scheduled this film later, given the 18 rating.
