Is it the good print ?

#1 THE CENSORSHIP VISA ON FRENCH MOVIE POSTERS

This new series of articles aims to help the uninitiated or beginner collector identify a movie poster. Is it an original from the first theatrical release? A re-release? But from which year? Is it a reproduction?

You may have already noticed, on certain vintage posters, a small mention printed discreetly on the edge, sometimes barely legible: "Visa de Contrôle n°...", "visa de censure..." or simply "visa..." followed by a number. This seemingly trivial detail is actually a goldmine of information for the experienced collector. And that is exactly what we are going to explore today.

A Brief History

French cinema has not always been free from censorship. From 1895 to 1916, the distribution of films was entirely unrestricted. It was in 1916 that the first control commission was established, tasked with granting or refusing exploitation visas — which are distinct from the censorship visa. The exploitation visa is attributed to the film itself; the censorship visa, on the other hand, is attributed to the graphic work that is the movie poster. It is this latter that concerns us here, and more specifically one particular date: 1961.

Indeed, it was in 1961, in the midst of the Algerian War, that a new censorship code was introduced — one that applied notably to movie posters. The decree of 18 January 1961, enacted under Prime Minister Michel Debré, established a film control commission that was no longer bipartite but quadripartite, ostensibly designed to "safeguard the moral health of an endangered youth" and appease pressure from family associations.

From this point onwards, movie posters were required to carry the control visa mention — a sequential number assigned by the commission, applying to both the film itself and its promotional materials.

This 1961 decree also defined a first classification scale comprising four levels: all audiences, banned for under-13s, banned for under-18s, and total prohibition.

What the Visa Tells Us

The visa number is chronological — the lower it is, the older the poster. It is a first dating tool, admittedly imperfect, but valuable.

A word of caution, however: when a film is re-released with the same artwork as its original theatrical run, it may retain the same visa number. In this case, the visa alone cannot distinguish an original poster from a re-release.

This is where the collector must dig deeper. If the visa is identical on two posters with a similar visual, one must then look at the printer — whose mention generally appears at the bottom of the poster, close to the visa. This will be the subject of our next article.

The End of the Visa on Posters

It was the decree of 3 October 2008 that put an end to the obligation of the censorship visa on movie posters — 47 years after the Debré decree that had introduced it. Simultaneously, the Bureau de Vérification de la Publicité (BVP) was transformed into the ARPP (Autorité de Régulation Professionnelle de la Publicité), marking the shift from State control to professional self-regulation of cinema advertising.

Concrete examples? Visa n°151 corresponds to an attribution in 1961, while n°9301 corresponds to 1981. If you would like the full list of visas with their chronological correspondences — which is not an exact science, as it is the result of several years of personal research and cataloguing — let me know in the comments!

A Special Case: X-Rated Films

The mid-1970s saw an explosion of pornographic production in France. To curb this wave, the decree of 31 October 1975 — known as the X law — introduced a new category: films of a pornographic nature or inciting violence. These films were subject to particularly dissuasive fiscal measures — increased VAT, a 20% levy on profits — and were confined to specialist cinemas, excluded from any public subsidy. In total, nearly one thousand films would be affected by this law.

Two distinct categories coexisted: the X classification for pornography — of which Gorge Profonde (Deep Throat) was one of the first recipients in 1975 — and the X classification for incitement to violence, which would notably apply to Lucio Fulci's Zombie in 1980. Also worth noting is the case of Emmanuelle (1974): released just before the X law, it escaped classification but contributed directly to the emergence of this legislation. The most high-profile case remains that of Baise-moi (Despentes, 2000): initially authorised for under-18s, its visa was annulled by the Conseil d'État before being finally reclassified as banned for under-18s, without an X classification.

For the collector, this translates very concretely onto the poster itself: the mention "film X" or "banned for under-18s — X-rated film" was mandatory. It is an immediately identifiable visual marker, dating the poster to after 1975 and indicating a parallel distribution circuit.

Reference Works

For further reading on this period:

Christophe Bier — Censure-moi : histoire du classement X en France, Éditions L'Esprit Frappeur, 2000, 201 p. — the film historian retraces for the first time the complete history of this system, including the censorship committee's own commentary and the full list of X-rated films (with titles that are an absolute delight!).

For further reading on dating and authenticating posters, two essential references:

Stanislas Choko

• 100 ans d'affiches de cinéma, Les Éditions de l'Amateur, 1995, 394 p. — the collector's bible, somewhat dated, but still reliable.

• Affiches de cinéma, Trésors de la Bibliothèque nationale de France, 1896-1960, Les Éditions de l'Amateur, 1995, 295 p.

René Chateau

• Le Cinéma français sous l'Occupation : 1940-1944, Éditions René Chateau, 1996, 528 p.

• Les plus belles affiches de la Mémoire du Cinéma Français, Éditions René Château, 2004, 280 p.

• Les plus belles affiches du cinéma français des années 50, Éditions René Château, 1999, 450 p.

In the next article, we take a close look at printer mentions!

Quelques sources

• CNC — Les dates-clés du CNC — cnc.fr

• CNC — Protéger sans censurer : la classification des œuvres cinématographiques — cnc.fr

• Wikipedia — Autorité de Régulation Professionnelle de la Publicité (ARPP) — fr.wikipedia.org

• Légifrance — Code du cinéma et de l'image animée, articles R211-1 à R211-51 — legifrance.gouv.fr

• Ciné-club de Caen — La censure au cinéma en France — cineclubdecaen.com

• Antonis Kechris — Étude historique sur la censure des films en France — marenostrum.pm

• Jean-Luc Douin — Dictionnaire de la censure au cinéma, PUF, 1998

Albert Montagne — Histoire juridique des interdits cinématographiques (1909-2001), L'Harmattan, 2007