Flach Pyramide's sexually graphic exploration of misogyny, Anatomy Of Hell by Catherine Breillat, has been denied an import certification by the Korea Media Ratings Board, which cited the film's "perverted sexual content."

Import company Duke Cinema was planning to release the film in a chain of newly-approved adult theatres, which are designed to accommodate films that receive a "restricted" rating from the ratings board.

Prior to this year, import certification was considered more or less a formality. But as of 2004, the ratings board has adopted a tougher stance, also rejecting Tinto Brass's Caligula and Ryu Murakami's Tokyo Decadence on similar grounds.

In response, a group of filmmakers and critics is calling for the total abolishment of the import certification system.

Romance, a 1999 film by Breillat, was earlier approved for import and is scheduled to open in adult theatres on May 14.