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A Curious Case of the First British X Certificate

The X Certificate, once used by the British Board of Film Classification, was first awarded on the 9th of January 1951, 60 years ago. As the tag suggested, it was used to mark “adult-only” films. The funny fact is the very first X certificate was awarded to the French film about… Future. La Vie Commence Demain (Life Begins Tomorrow), a 1949 Nicole Védrès picture, was an exploration of the brave new world that lay ahead of the man, following the end of the Second World War, no less. It was nominated for a BAFTA as the Best Documentary Film, and here is what the French short synopsis and English synopsis tell us about the content:

André Labarthe (The Man of the Future) invites the Man of Today (Jean-Pierre Aumont) to abandon museums, to visit the people of the future. Sartre makes him aware of the collective responsibility of men; the psychiatrist Lagarche speaks of the unconscious; Jolio-Curie initiates him into the Atomic Science; Jean Rostand explains parthenogenesis; Le Corbusier takes him for a visit to the city of the future; André Gide, Pable Picasso, and Jacques Prévert complete this tour of modernity, and Labarthe finishes on a high note with a hymn to Life, which the man, as the master of Nature, must use sensibly.

As you can see, the semi-documentary feature was literally “stuffed” with the great names in French thought, art, and science. Looking at it today, one must feel puzzled as to what could possibly enrage the BBFC to award this particular film an X certificate. Apparently, there were scenes filmed in hospitals and nightclubs, which could be deemed “adult-only”. Or, possibly, the British film board didn’t wants young audiences to hear or see certain people. The fact remains: it took until 1985 to go “back to the future” without fear of being “x-certified”.

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