Almodovar Loses Appeal of X Rating

Spanish film director Pedro Almodovar lost a bid today to lift an X rating the Motion Picture Assn. of America gave his latest film, “Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down.”

The MPAA’s appeals board voted 6-6 to sustain the rating despite an impassioned plea by civil rights lawyer William Kunstler. A rating can be overturned only with a two-thirds majority vote.

At issue was a sex scene in Almodovar’s film, “Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down,” a black comedy about an escaped mental patient who kidnaps a porn actress and then gets her to fall in love with him by tying her up. The X rating restricts audiences to age 17 and older.