Bernardo Bertolucci; Still on the Barricades.(Interview)

Byline: Jennifer Barrett

Bernardo Bertolucci has been making provocative films for more than four decades. His latest movie, "The Dreamers," is no exception. It details the sexual awakening of a young American who moves in with a troubled girl and her brother in Paris during the protests of 1968. Rated NC-17, it's one of just a handful of films released in the United States this year to earn the "adults only" stamp from the Motion Picture Association of America.

The recent release of a DVD version of the movie comes in the heat of the U.S. presidential campaign, when Hollywood's moral "depravity" is often a favorite topic of the Republican right. Still, as Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" has demonstrated, such publicity often serves to raise interest, rather than diminish it. Bertolucci spoke by phone from Rome with NEWSWEEK's Jennifer Barrett. Excerpts:

BARRETT: There's been a lot of controversy over the sex scenes in "The Dreamers." How did you persuade your U.S. distributor to keep them in?

BERTOLUCCI: In the beginning, Fox Searchlight decided they couldn't come out with the NC-17 rating because they were claiming that no Hollywood distributors would [take on the film]. So there were two or three months of major anxiety, and then it was finally relieved by a decision to break this kind of secret law and to come out with it as NC-17. I think that was important, because there are a number of movies that are not American--what in Hollywood they call "the rest of the world"--that could rarely be seen just because they have this major thing that they are movies for adults.

Then why are there two DVD versions--the original and a toned-down R-rated version?

The DVD audience has the chance of choosing if they want to go straight to hell [laughs ] or if they are grown-ups and can decide for themselves. I am still against any kind of censorship. Up to age 12 or 13 there must be some protection [for viewers], but it's horrible violence that can shock more than sex. At the opening of my film, I remember everybody was asking me about that scandal with Janet Jackson because she had shown a nipple on TV.