MOVIES - Nov. 2, 1992

Damaging Rating: Director Louis Malle said in a statement he is stunned that his film “Damage” has been given an NC-17 rating by the Motion Picture Assn. of America. “It is a powerful and disturbing tale but there is not one scene in the film which is gratuitous or titillating,” he said of the movie starring Jeremy Irons as a member of Parliament who has an affair with his son’s fiancee. “I am very proud of ‘Damage’ and have no intention to cut it.” Malle noted that he has seen many R-rated films “that contained scenes of shocking violence, murder, rape, exploitative pornography.” New Line Cinema, the film’s distributors, said it will appeal the rating; the movie is due out in December.