‘God’s Own Country’ gay sex scenes censored by Amazon Prime
Director Francis Lee has urged viewers in the US not to watch the doctored version of his acclaimed gay romance.
By Will Stroude
Update 21/05/20: God’s Own Country director Francis Lee has since tweeted that the film’s distributor, Samuel Goldwyn Films, was responsible for the edited edition available to stream on Amazon Prime.
God’s Own Country director Francis Lee has urged people in the US not to stream the acclaimed romantic drama on Amazon Prime after several of its gay sex scenes were reportedly cut.
Lee, whose 2017 film starring Josh O’Connor and Alec Secăreanu was nominated for two BAFTA and is widely regarded as a modern gay classic, blasted Amazon Prime on Twitter on Wednesday (21 May), writing: “It is not the film I intended or made.”
“Dear friends in USA, God’s Own Country appears to have been censored on @PrimeVideo (Amazon Prime)”, Lee wrote.
“Until this is investigated please do not rent or buy on Amazon Prime. It is not the film I intended or made. I will report back.”
Dear friends in USA, God’s Own Country appears to have been censored on @PrimeVideo (Amazon Prime). Until this is investigated please do not rent or buy on Amazon Prime. It is not the film I intended or made. I will report back ❤️
— Francis Lee (@strawhousefilms) May 20, 2020
Twitter users reported that two important sex scenes had been cut from streaming version of God’s Own Country on Amazon Prime in the US, through remained in place on the version that can be bought via the service.
The one that you can stream for free if you have Prime has been censored – which annoyed me – but if you buy it via Prime Video (as I did) then it hasn’t. I want to ask friends who have Prime to check it out for free, but not if it’s censored. Not the same!
— Dylan Sims (@DylanMSims) May 20, 2020
They cut most of the scene in the cattle trailer with Johnny and the trainee auctioneer and same for the scene in the mud. I stopped watching after that because it was bugging me they’d done that so I don’t know if anything else was censored.
— Dylan Sims (@DylanMSims) May 20, 2020
Partly based on Lee’s own experiences, God’s Own Country tells the story of a young Yorkshire sheep farmer (O’Connor) whose life is transformed when he begins working with a Romanian migrant worker (Alec Secăreanu).
Also starring Gemma Jones and Ian Hart, it was the only British film to form part of the world drama category at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.
Lee’s latest project is upcoming period drama Ammonite, which stars Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan as a 19th century lesbian couple.
The film also stars Killing Eve actress Fiona Shaw and reunites Lee with God’s Own Country stars Jones and Secăreanu.