Ang Lee's 'Lust, Caution' was heavily edited before release in mainland China, a country that currently has no formal film rating system.
China could be on the verge of implementing its first film classification system after the all-powerful State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (Sarft) submitted a new law to the cabinet -- but it faces hardline opposition at the senior level within the ruling Communist Party.
Films are currently deemed either suitable for all audiences or unsuitable, in which case censors cut entire scenes or ban the movie altogether -- both drastic steps considering that scripts must be approved before a movie goes into production.
Local filmmakers believe a ratings system would be a major advance for the biz, replacing the censor's scissors with reliable and predictable classifications and thus allowing helmers and producers to take more risks with content.
It will also help Hollywood because all a censor has to do to stop a film vying for one of the quota places that China allots to foreign films is to label it "unsuitable."
Sarft has filed the final version of the Film Promotion Law that would introduce ratings to the State Council, state media reported, citing a joint seminar for helmers from the Chinese mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Sarft could not be reached to comment despite numerous calls.
The issue is a hot potato politically and emerges periodically on the agenda, with the ratings system proposal going down in flames weeks later.
The government keeps a tight grip on the media, especially cinema, and the proponents of the law within the Communist Party have to overcome skeptical hardliners who feel a ratings system relinquishes too much control and opens the floodgates to politically suspect material, erotica and other decadent content.
The debate has been heating up again since Ang Lee's erotic thriller "Lust, Caution" in 2007. For release in mainland China, that film was heavily edited -- to the point where it was hard to work out the plot at times -- but still contained enough steamy scenes to anger parents who brought their children to see it.
Several months after the pic's release, the shutters came down on anything even slightly controversial. The ratings debate stalled, and the biz is still feeling the effect of the crackdown.
If the classification system becomes law this time, it will reflect the growing sophistication of the Chinese film biz, which is moving away from churning out costumed martial arts epics into more diverse fare.
One of the few big names to speak out in favor of a classification system is thesp Gong Li, who even attempted to introduce it at an advisory sitting of China's annual rubber-stamp parliament, the National People's Congress, although it didn't get far.
Some in the biz are not holding their breath. Sarft said in 2004 that a film classification system would be introduced in "accordance with China's legal framework," but the proposal disappeared.
And a series of sensitive anniversaries this year -- 60 years since China's Communist Revolution, 20 years since the Tiananmen Square massacre -- means the proposal could be put off until next year, biz sources said.
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