''9 Songs'' is a 2004 British
art
Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas.
There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...
romantic drama film
Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion (emotion), passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typica ...
written and directed by
Michael Winterbottom
Michael Winterbottom (born 29 March 1961) is an English film director. He began his career working in British television before moving into features. Three of his films—''Welcome to Sarajevo'', '' Wonderland'' and '' 24 Hour Party People''†...
. The film stars
Kieran O'Brien
Kieran O'Brien (born 1973) is an English actor.
Early life and education
Born in Oldham, Lancashire, O'Brien grew up in nearby Royton, and was educated at the Bishop Henshaw Roman Catholic Memorial High School in Rochdale.
Career
O'Brien began ...
and
Margo Stilley
Margo Stilley (born November 20, 1982) is an American actress.
Early life
Stilley was born in Conway, South Carolina, and grew up between there and Swansboro, North Carolina. She was raised in a strict Baptist household in America's Bible Belt ...
. The title refers to the nine songs played by eight different rock bands that complement the story of the film.
The film was controversial upon original release due to its sexual content, which included
unsimulated footage of the two leads,
Kieran O'Brien
Kieran O'Brien (born 1973) is an English actor.
Early life and education
Born in Oldham, Lancashire, O'Brien grew up in nearby Royton, and was educated at the Bishop Henshaw Roman Catholic Memorial High School in Rochdale.
Career
O'Brien began ...
and
Margo Stilley
Margo Stilley (born November 20, 1982) is an American actress.
Early life
Stilley was born in Conway, South Carolina, and grew up between there and Swansboro, North Carolina. She was raised in a strict Baptist household in America's Bible Belt ...
, having
sexual intercourse
Sexual intercourse (or coitus or copulation) is a sexual activity typically involving the insertion and thrusting of the penis into the vagina for sexual pleasure or reproduction.Sexual intercourse most commonly means penile–vaginal penetrat ...
and performing
oral sex
Oral sex, sometimes referred to as oral intercourse, is sexual activity involving the stimulation of the genitalia of a person by another person using the mouth (including the lips, tongue, or teeth) and the throat. Cunnilingus is oral sex per ...
as well as a scene of
ejaculation
Ejaculation is the discharge of semen (the ''ejaculate''; normally containing sperm) from the male reproductory tract as a result of an orgasm. It is the final stage and natural objective of male sexual stimulation, and an essential componen ...
. The film was showcased at the
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...
.
Plot
The film tells the modern love story set over a period of 12 months in London, England, of a young couple: Matt, a British
climatologist
Climatology (from Greek , ''klima'', "place, zone"; and , ''-logia'') or climate science is the scientific study of Earth's climate, typically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of at least 30 years. This modern field of study ...
, and Lisa, an American
exchange student
A student exchange program is a program in which students from a secondary school (high school) or university study abroad at one of their institution's partner institutions.
A student exchange program may involve international travel, but doe ...
. The story is framed in a personal review from Matt's perspective when he is working in
Antarctica
Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...
. Their main common interest is a passion for live music and they frequently attend rock concerts together. The film depicts the couple, or Matt alone, watching the nine songs at
Brixton Academy
Brixton Academy (originally known as the Astoria Variety Cinema, previously known as Carling Academy Brixton, currently named O2 Academy Brixton as part of a sponsorship deal with the O2 brand) is a mid-sized concert venue located in South Wes ...
and other concert venues. It also shows their weekend getaway into the countryside, and their travels around London. Lisa brings their short and intense relationship to an end at Christmas time when she returns to the United States. After each concert a highly explicit sex scene is shown.
Cast
*
Kieran O'Brien
Kieran O'Brien (born 1973) is an English actor.
Early life and education
Born in Oldham, Lancashire, O'Brien grew up in nearby Royton, and was educated at the Bishop Henshaw Roman Catholic Memorial High School in Rochdale.
Career
O'Brien began ...
as Matt
*
Margo Stilley
Margo Stilley (born November 20, 1982) is an American actress.
Early life
Stilley was born in Conway, South Carolina, and grew up between there and Swansboro, North Carolina. She was raised in a strict Baptist household in America's Bible Belt ...
as Lisa
The nine songs
* "Whatever Happened to My Rock and Roll",
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (sometimes abbreviated to BRMC) is an American rock band from San Francisco, California. The group originally consisted of Peter Hayes (vocals, guitar, harmonica), Robert Levon Been (vocals, bass, guitar), and Nick ...
* "
C'mon, C'mon",
The Von Bondies
The Von Bondies are an American alternative rock band formed in 1997.
The original line-up formed at the 1997 Cramps/Guitar Wolf show by Jason Stollsteimer and Marcie Bolen. They went through a variety of member changes and band names, including ...
* "Fallen Angel",
Elbow
The elbow is the region between the arm and the forearm that surrounds the elbow joint. The elbow includes prominent landmarks such as the olecranon, the cubital fossa (also called the chelidon, or the elbow pit), and the lateral and the media ...
* "Movin' on Up",
Primal Scream
Primal Scream are a Scottish rock band originally formed in 1982 in Glasgow by Bobby Gillespie (vocals) and Jim Beattie. The band's current lineup consists of Gillespie, Andrew Innes (guitar), Simone Butler (bass), and Darrin Mooney (drums) ...
* "
You Were the Last High
"You Were the Last High" is a song by American alternative rock band The Dandy Warhols. It was released in July 2003 as the second single from their fourth studio album ''Welcome to the Monkey House''.
Music video
The music video is an almost ...
",
The Dandy Warhols
The Dandy Warhols are an American alternative rock band, formed in Portland, Oregon, in 1994 by singer-guitarist Courtney Taylor-Taylor and guitarist Peter Holmström. They were later joined by keyboardist Zia McCabe and drummer Eric Hedford ...
* "
Slow Life
''Slow Life'' is an EP by the Welsh alternative rock band Super Furry Animals, released in 2004. The EP was made available as a free download and also saw a limited CD release, bundled with remix album '' Phantom Phorce''. Lead track "Slow Life" ...
",
Super Furry Animals
Super Furry Animals are a Welsh rock band formed in Cardiff in 1993. For the duration of their professional career, the band consisted of Gruff Rhys (lead vocals, guitar), Huw Bunford (lead guitar, vocals), Guto Pryce (bass guitar), Cian Ciaran ...
* "Jacqueline",
Franz Ferdinand
Archduke Franz Ferdinand Carl Ludwig Joseph Maria of Austria, (18 December 1863 – 28 June 1914) was the heir presumptive to the throne of Austria-Hungary. His assassination in Sarajevo was the most immediate cause of World War I.
F ...
* "Debbie",
Michael Nyman
Michael Laurence Nyman, Order of the British Empire, CBE (born 23 March 1944) is an English composer, pianist, libretto, librettist, musicologist, and filmmaker. He is known for numerous film soundtrack, scores (many written during his length ...
* "Love Burns",
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (sometimes abbreviated to BRMC) is an American rock band from San Francisco, California. The group originally consisted of Peter Hayes (vocals, guitar, harmonica), Robert Levon Been (vocals, bass, guitar), and Nick ...
Production
On the first day of filming in the fall of 2003, Margo Stilley and Kieran O'Brien shot a scene where they are just kissing and taking their clothes off. "It wasn't until after lunch that we had sex," O'Brien recalls. As would happen throughout the shoot, Winterbottom left little to chance. "He really mapped out everything," O'Brien says. "The order he wanted me to take off my clothes, her clothes, whether my socks stayed on or not. He had specific ideas of how he wanted our bodies to move. Sometimes, he would start us and then stop and say, 'Let's try this from a slightly different angle,' and then take 15 minutes to reset the shot. I wondered if he remembered the delicate machinery of the male sex organ."
Reception
Derek Malcolm
Derek Elliston Michael Malcolm (born 12 May 1932) is an English film critic.
Son of J. Douglas Malcolm (died 1967) and Dorothy Vera (died 1964; née Elliston-Taylor), Malcolm was educated at Eton College and Merton College, Oxford. As a child he ...
of ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' praised the film: "''Nine Songs'' looks like a
porn movie
Pornographic films (pornos), erotic films, sex films, and 18+ films are films that present sexually explicit subject matter in order to arouse and satisfy the viewer. Pornographic films present sexual fantasies and usually include erotical ...
, but it feels like a love story. The sex is used as a metaphor for the rest of the couple's relationship. And it is shot with Winterbottom's customary sensitivity."
''
Radio Times
''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in May 1923 by J ...
'' gave a lackluster review, awarding it two stars out of five and claiming: "From the hot, blurry chaos of the gigs to the sparsely furnished flat where the couple unite, this is very much an exercise in style over content. As such, some will find it a rewarding art house experiment with much to recommend it, others watching simply for the explicit and unsimulated lovemaking may well find it boring and pretentious."
Writing for ''
East Bay Express
The ''East Bay Express'' is an Oakland-based weekly newspaper serving the Berkeley, Oakland and East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. It is distributed throughout Alameda County and parts of Contra Costa County every Wednesday.
The ''E ...
'', Luke Y. Thompson claimed: "Michael Winterbottom delivers the sex, and not much else." He continued: "Though there isn't much narrative in effect, Winterbottom does quite literally build to a climax...O'Brien is
well endowed, while Stilley is all natural...If the movie were any longer, the onscreen events might become a lot more tedious, but there are just enough different things each time to avoid dull repetition. You may have seen a
handjob
A handjob, also spelled hand job, is a sex act, performed as either foreplay or as non-penetrative sex, that involves the manual stimulation of the penis or scrotum by another person to induce an erection for sexual pleasure, sexual arousal and s ...
onscreen, for instance, but have you ever seen a
foot job? It's interesting, to say the least."
''9 Songs'' holds a positive score of 24% on
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
based on 97 reviews with an average rating of 4.38/10. The site's consensus states: "The unerotic sex scenes quickly become tedious to watch, and the lovers lack the personality necessary to make viewers care about them."
Controversy
According to ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', ''9 Songs'' is the most
sexually explicit mainstream film to date, largely because it includes several scenes of real sex between the two lead actors. The film is unusual in that it features its lead actors,
Margo Stilley
Margo Stilley (born November 20, 1982) is an American actress.
Early life
Stilley was born in Conway, South Carolina, and grew up between there and Swansboro, North Carolina. She was raised in a strict Baptist household in America's Bible Belt ...
and
Kieran O'Brien
Kieran O'Brien (born 1973) is an English actor.
Early life and education
Born in Oldham, Lancashire, O'Brien grew up in nearby Royton, and was educated at the Bishop Henshaw Roman Catholic Memorial High School in Rochdale.
Career
O'Brien began ...
, having unsimulated and very graphic sex, including genital fondling,
masturbation
Masturbation is the sexual stimulation of one's own genitals for sexual arousal or other sexual pleasure, usually to the point of orgasm. The stimulation may involve hands, fingers, everyday objects, sex toys such as vibrators, or combinatio ...
with and without a
vibrator (including a footjob in a bathtub scene),
penetrative vaginal sex
Sexual intercourse (or coitus or copulation) is a sexual activity typically involving the insertion and thrusting of the penis into the vagina for sexual pleasure or reproduction.Sexual intercourse most commonly means penile–vaginal penetra ...
,
cunnilingus
Cunnilingus is an oral sex act performed by a person on the vulva or vagina of another person. The clitoris is the most sexually sensitive part of the human female genitalia, and its stimulation may result in a woman becoming sexually aroused ...
and
fellatio
Fellatio (also known as fellation, and in slang as blowjob, BJ, giving head, or sucking off) is an oral sex act involving a person stimulating the penis of another person by using the mouth, throat, or both. Oral stimulation of the scrotum may ...
. During a scene in which Stilley gives O'Brien a
handjob
A handjob, also spelled hand job, is a sex act, performed as either foreplay or as non-penetrative sex, that involves the manual stimulation of the penis or scrotum by another person to induce an erection for sexual pleasure, sexual arousal and s ...
after performing fellatio on him, O'Brien became the only actor who has been shown
ejaculating
Ejaculation is the discharge of semen (the ''ejaculate''; normally containing sperm) from the male reproductory tract as a result of an orgasm. It is the final stage and natural objective of male sexual stimulation, and an essential component ...
in a mainstream, UK-produced feature. To avoid a possible pregnancy, O'Brien wore a
condom
A condom is a sheath-shaped barrier device used during sexual intercourse to reduce the probability of pregnancy or a sexually transmitted infection (STI). There are both male and female condoms. With proper use—and use at every act of in ...
on his erect penis during the vaginal sex but not while receiving oral sex. Margo Stilley asked Winterbottom to refer to her simply by her character's name in interviews about the film.
The release sparked a debate over whether the scenes of unsimulated sex artistically contributed to the film's meaning or crossed the border into pornography. In the United Kingdom, the film received an
18 certificate from the
British Board of Film Classification
The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC, previously the British Board of Film Censors) is a non-governmental organisation founded by the British film industry in 1912 and responsible for the national classification and censorship of f ...
and became the most explicit mainstream film to be so rated in the country.
In Australia, the
Office of Film and Literature Classification
The Office of Film and Literature Classification ( mi, Te Mana Whakaatu), branded as the Classification Office, is an independent Crown entity established under Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act 1993 responsible for censorship ...
gave the film an
X rating
An X rating is a rating used in various countries to classify films that have content deemed suitable only for adults. It is used when the violent or sexual content of a film is considered to be potentially disturbing to general audiences.
Aust ...
, which would have prevented the film from being shown theatrically and restricted sale of the film to the Australian Capital Territory and Northern Territory. The OFLC Review Board later passed the film with an R rating, although the South Australian Classification Council raised the rating back to X in
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
.
In
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
, while the
Society for the Promotion of Community Standards
The Society for Promotion of Community Standards Inc. ("SPCS") is a conservative lobby group in New Zealand. A registered charity and incorporated society, the Society has taken a strong pro-censorship stance and clashed many times with the Office ...
lobbied for the film to be kept out of cinemas, it was passed uncut at R18 by the
Office of Film and Literature Classification
The Office of Film and Literature Classification ( mi, Te Mana Whakaatu), branded as the Classification Office, is an independent Crown entity established under Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act 1993 responsible for censorship ...
. The film was broadcast on New Zealand pay TV
Rialto Channel
Rialto, is a commercial television channel in New Zealand. It began broadcasting in November 2002 on SKY Network Television.
The channel screens films, documentaries and general entertainment programming. The channel has at times sponsored the ...
in July 2007.
In June 2008, the film was broadcast on Dutch national television by the public broadcasting station VPRO.
See also
*
Unsimulated sex
In the film industry, unsimulated sex is the presentation of sex scenes in which actors genuinely perform the depicted sex acts, rather than simulating them. Although it is ubiquitous in films intended as pornographic, it is very uncommon in o ...
References
External links
*
*
*
*
*
''9 Songs''at
Yahoo! Movies
Yahoo! Movies (formerly Upcoming Movies), provided by the Yahoo! network, is home to a large collection of information on movies, past and new releases, trailers and clips, box office information, and showtimes and movie theater information. Yaho ...
''9 Songs''at ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''
{{DEFAULTSORT:9 Songs
Films about sexuality
2004 films
2000s erotic drama films
2004 independent films
2004 romantic drama films
British LGBT-related films
British romantic drama films
2000s English-language films
Films directed by Michael Winterbottom
Bisexuality-related films
Films set in London
Films shot in London
Films shot in Norway
British independent films
British erotic drama films
LGBT-related controversies in film
Obscenity controversies in film
British musical films
Concert films
2000s British films