Censoring Sexuality – the Filtered Reception of Sexual Content in Portuguese Cinemas During the Dictatorship: The case of Helga

Abstract

Censorship under the Portuguese Estado Novo (1933-1974) exerted influence on foreign films from the initial translation stage through to the final approval or rejection of a film for the cinema. The Estado Novo was an authoritarian State whose prudish morality and fear of uncontrolled ideas cast a wary eye on eroticism and sexuality. Scenes of kissing or nudity were cut before foreign films reached Portuguese cinemas. Sexual allusions, erotic dialogues or comments were omitted or overwritten in a more neutral tone. Helga – vom Werden des menschlichen Lebens, directed by Erich F. Bender in 1967, a sex-education film, was the only one of its kind shown in Portugal during the dictatorship.