THE PRIVATE LIVES OF PIPPA LEE is a drama about a woman reflecting upon all the varied episodes in her life as she watches her much older husband become more senior. It was classified ‘15’ as it contains strong sex and strong language, and references to sex, drugs, suicide and self harm.
A sex scene with female orgasm from unseen genital touching occurs at a late stage of the film. During one reflective scene, Pippa Lee recalls a stills shoot with BDSM themed dress. There is mimed spanking using a carpet beater and some wearing of collars, chains, and maids outfits. On another occasion, a reference is made, ‘stick your finger up his ass while he’s coming’. Guidelines at '15' state that 'sexual activity may be portrayed but without strong detail. There may be strong verbal references to sexual behaviour'.
The suicide references are to a scene of a shooting where a gun is paced in the mouth, but the firing is not seen. We also see the aftermath of self harm to the forearms with a disposable razor. At '15' Guidelines allow for representations of dangerous techniques, including suicide and self-harming, so long as there is no dwelling on imitable detail.
The drug use is seen during a montage of the younger Pippa shoving multi-coloured pills into her mouth, along with references to Dexedrine and speed. The character refers to a youth in which she tried any and all drugs. At no point is the detail instructive or condoned. Guidelines at '15' state that 'drug taking may be shown but the film as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse'. In this case the drug use falls within this allowance.
The strong language is also allowed under BBFC Guidelines at '15' where 'there may be frequent use of strong language (eg 'fuck').
This work was passed with no cuts made.
The main spoken language in this work is English.
Directed by Rebecca Miller
The cast for this work includes: Robin Wright Penn, Keanu Reeves, Julianne Moore, Alan Arkin, Winona Ryder, Maria Bello, Monica Bellucci, Zoe Kazan, Mike Binder, Ryan McDonald, Blake Lively.
When submitted to the BBFC the work had a running time of 98m 26s.
The running time of this film was calculated from the measured length of 8859+1 ( feet + frames ).
This work was submitted to the BBFC by Icon Film Distribution Ltd .
