stendhal syndrome cuts

Below is a list of cuts that were made by the distributors BEFORE submission to the BBFC in 1996. They totalled 2m:47s:

In the rape of Anna (Asia Argento) by Alfredo (Thomas Kretschmann) 12s are removed that show Alfredo rolling a razor blade around in his mouth and then removing it. A couple of response shots from Anna are also effected.

14s have been removed from the subsequent rape of another woman whilst Anna is still watching. A shot of Alfredo holding a gun next to the victims face. The infamous slow motion close up of a bullet being fired through the victims mouth and face has been removed along with the view though the newly made hole.

An entire scene lasting 100s has been eliminated showing Anna returning home to a rather cold and unfriendly reception from her family.

Alfredo moves on to another rape of a woman from a dress shop.10s of Alfredo hitting the woman in the face have been cut along with another 6s of a slow motion bullet going off by the woman's head. The bullet reflects an image of Alfredo as it passes him by.

Anna gets raped again in Alfredo's hideout but we miss 11s of the action, Some screaming by Anna, shot of Alfredo from Anna's point of view and Anna being hit in the face.

In the video version, Anna suffers 10s less of a razor blade being drawn down her cheek and she loses a view of Alfredo.

Eventually Anna gets the upper hand and she gets to give Alfredo a beating with her gun. She hits him 6 times in the original but only 4 times in the video version.

The following is the reply I received from the BBFC after enquiring why the DVD appeared to be a different version:

" Thank you for your e-mail. The BBFC classified THE STENDHAL SYNDROME '18' without cuts in 1996, although this was in fact a pre-cut version. Since then the BBFC has not classified any other version of this film for tape or DVD. The approved running time was 1 hour 50 minutes 41 seconds."