The Krasnodar region's culture department has recommended that the region's cinemas stop showing Danish director Lars von Trier's latest film, "Nymphomaniac."
In the film, which is rated 18+, a woman played by Charlotte Gainsbourg tells the story of her sex addiction to a stranger. Part one opened in Russia on Feb. 13 and the second part will be released on March 6.
Vladimir Yareshko, deputy head of the culture department, said that he sent a letter to multiplexes earlier this month asking them not to show the film at all or to restrict its screenings to after midnight, Interfax reported Tuesday.
Most cinemas at least partially fulfilled the request from Feb. 17, only showing "Nymphomaniac Part I" late at night and in the original English.
The department said that movie theater managers should focus on showing "films with socially relevant themes intended for families, young people and children."
The authorities were reportedly responding to a complaint from the religious group Orthodox Union, which claimed the movie was "a pornographic opus with pretensions of artistic intentions."
According to the cinema website Kinopoisk.ru, the film has grossed $1.2 million in Russia so far. The art house film received 90 percent positive reviews from Russian critics and cracked the top 10 at the country's box office on its opening weekend.
In late January, the Romanian film commission gave "Nymphomaniac Part II" a rating that prohibited it from being shown in public, though the ban was later removed and the film was just given an 18+ rating instead.
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