Synopsis                                                                                                       France. Director: Michel Reilhac. Producer: Michel Reilhac. Inspired by: Pascal Greggory . Based on an idea by: Michel Reilhac, Sébastien Marnier. Editor: Lobster Films. Music: Eric Le Guen .

Twelve short films dating from 1905 to 1930 featuring men and women in combinations of heterosexual, lesbian, gay, bisexual and group-sex scenarios. Across the variety of films spanking, cunnilingus, fellatio, group sex, voyeurism, urination, masturbation, anal and vaginal intercourse, ejaculation and bestiality are graphically depicted.

Review

To my knowledge The Good Old Naughty Days is the first R18-rated film to be reviewed by Sight & Sound , but then it is released under rather unusual circumstances. In the wake of classification sea changes on the part of the BBFC since 2000 there has been a greater tolerance towards consensual but explicit sexual material, enabling the jolly frolics of this film (made up of 12 shorts from 1905-30) to reach the UK public. However R18 is something of a ghetto category, legitimising hardcore pornography only available in licensed sex clubs. Because home viewing now dominates how people access porn (why watch in a public cinema when you can watch on your own sofa?), R18 has also effectively become a video-only category.

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