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Film Reviews

F**K Reviewed & A Profanisaurus Of Cinema's Best Swearing
David Moats , February 13th, 2009 07:23

F**K, a documentary by the creators of The Aristocrats, mixes puerile humour with provocative questions to mixed results. David Moats puts the film, released this week by the ICA, in the context of the culture wars. Plus: we look at how cinema has best made use of cussin'.

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Bollocks

Etymology:
Originally spelt ‘ballocks’, this refreshing Caledonian word could be equally applied to either the testes or a man of the cloth. This came in handy for the Sex Pistols when they were dragged up in front of the beak for obscenity after the release of their album Never Mind The Bollocks and they used a priest as an expert witness to explain the root of the word. Nice work padre.

Essential use in cinema: Withnail & I
This film proves unequivocally that swearing reached its high water mark in Camden and Penrith 1969 with such bon mots as “Monty! You terrible cunt!”, “What’s your name? Macfuck?”, “Stop saying that Withnail! Of course he’s the fucking farmer!” and the example pertinent here: “Bollocks to the Wellingtons! We'll tell him they had a farmers conference and had a run on them.”