A viewer who got more than they bargained for when they watched Black Swan at Rialto Cinemas has had their complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority about a segment in the cinema's magazine thrown out. I Stanton complained to the Authority that there was no indication from Rialto in its InFrame magazine about "raunchy lesbian sex scenes" as well as coarse language, extreme violence and the use of mind-altering drugs in the critically-acclaimed film. The movie landed actress Natalie Portman an Oscar for her portrayal of a ballet dancer who explores the shadowy depths of her dark side for a pivotal role. It includes a sex scene between Portman and co-star Mila Kunis. "Before seeing the movie, starring award winning actress Natalie Portman, we saw various writeups/reviews which indicated that this was great movie, a psychological thriller, containing drama, music and ballet," Stanton said in the complaint. "We were a bit unsure quite what a "psychological thriller" represented but everything else seemed to have appeal to us as reasonably regular movie goers." The complainant asked that Rialto Cinemas, St Lukes Event Cinema and all other New Zealand cinemas not mentioning the sex, language, violence and drug facets of the film be charged for incomplete and misleading advertising. Rialto replied that it made it clear Black Swan was yet to be classified when the edition of InFrame was published. "We felt that by describing this film as a psychological thriller, there was a clear indication that this film contained some deep, dark and possible disturbing content. It says when the film screened its R16 rating and warnings were readily available. The Advertising Standards Complaints Board says there was nothing in the InFrame publication likely to cause serious or widespread offence and did not uphold the complaint.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Tuesday, 9th August 2011 - 12:20pm