Film which was banned from British screens for blasphemy because it showed a nun caressing Jesus on the cross is finally set for release after 23 years
* The original 1989 production of Visions of Ecstasy goes on sale tomorrow
It was considered so shocking the Government fought a successful battle at the European Court of Human Rights to ensured it remained off limits.
But now the only film ever banned in Britain for being blasphemous is finally set to be released in its uncut form - more than two decades after it was made.
Visions of Ecstasy, a low-budget production from 1989, features a 16th Century Spanish nun, St Teresa of Avila, who has visions of Christ over a two-year period.
In portraying her experiences, the 18-minute film shows sexual scenes, including one where she caresses Christ as he lies nailed to the cross.
James Ferman, the then British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) director, said the film could be liable to prosecution under blasphemous libel law.
The film's director Nigel Wingrove, took the case to the ECHR in 1996 on the grounds that the ban violated his freedom of expression.
But in a rare victory for the government, the court ruled that while the video itself was not blasphemous, the Uk's blasphemy laws were consistent with the European Convention on Human Rights.
In 2008, however, the laws were abolished, meaning they could no longer be considered in the board's deliberations.
Mr Wingrove resubmitted the film for approval last December and will now go on sale in high street shops from tomorrow, the start of Holy Week, after the BBFC reversed its original decision. It will have an 18 certificate.
Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, Mr Wingrove said he was pleased with the decision.
'At the time, blasphemy was a very big issue and I think the film was caught up in it,' he said.
'But looked at now, it is very tame and of its time. The imagery is no different from what you see in many films and pop videos today.'
But the release comes as many British Christians fear their religion is being increasingly undermined due to issues like gay marriage.
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