Who Cut Scenes From ‘God’s Own Country’?
God’s Own Country (2017), a film by UK director Francis Lee, caused a stir this week when it became apparent the rental version on Prime Video, Amazon’s streaming platform was missing certain scenes.
Initially Amazon’s Prime Video had been blamed for cutting the sex scenes between lead characters Johnny (Josh O’Connor) and Gheorghe (Alec Secareanu) but it has since emerged the film’s distributor Goldwyn Films was the culprit.
Lee confirmed the cuts were made by Goldwyn Films via Twitter saying the US film distributor had “butchered” the film to get more revenue.
Earlier in the week Lee, who was not told about the cuts, urged people not to rent or buy the movie as it was not the film he’d intended.
Deadline reported the decision to cut the sex scenes was likely done to get the film out to a broader audience by avoiding a ‘Mature’ rating.
The full uncut version of the film is streaming now in Australia on Netflix, or you can buy it on Prime Video in the United States.
God’s Own Country is about Johnny, who has returned home to work on the lonely family farm in Yorkshire. After his father has a stroke, Gheorghe arrives to help work on the farm and he and Johnny find themselves falling in love – and resisting their feelings.
View the trailer below.
