‘Rambling Rose’ Censorship Rumble

“Rambling Rose” went to London and ran afoul of the British censors.

The movie, starring Laura Dern, Diane Ladd, Lukas Haas and Robert Duvall, about a naive 19-year-old woman who shakes up a quiet Southern town with her alluring ways, was trimmed about 20 seconds--to remove portions of a bedroom scene with Rose (Dern) and a 13-year-old boy (Haas). In the scene, the boy expresses curiosity about a woman’s body and she lets him touch her breast.

James Ferman, chairman of the British Board of Film Classification, called it “a beautiful scene and a beautiful film,” but British law says an actor must be 16 to be in such a scene. Haas was 14.

Director Martha Coolidge, in London for the film’s royal premiere this week, said she was “shocked and disappointed” by the cuts. She said there had been no public protests of the movie in the U.S. “The scene is laced with humor and sweetness. Rose is so concerned about her own romantic woes that she is oblivious to the boy’s sexual curiosity.”

The British gave “Rose” a “15” rating, barring anyone under 15. In the U.S., the film received an R rating (those under 17 must be accompanied by an adult).