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British actress Kate Winslet's controversial sex scenes in new movie The Reader have been slated for "trivialising" the Holocaust.
Winslet, who plays a former concentration camp guard with a voracious sexual appetite in the film, has been accused by an influential New York critic of using her "nubile" body to trivialise the true horror of the Holocaust.
At a private screening of the film last week, hosted by director Stephen Daldry, film critic Charlie Finch accused him of creating a "dishonest and manipulative vision of Nazi war crimes and post-war Germany," reports the Sunday Times.
"It trivialises the Holocaust," he said.
"What is repellent is how Daldry uses Kate Winslet's nubile body to create sympathy for a repellent character. [Director Stephen] Daldry avoided showing the horror of her crimes - instead we have Holocaust chic which is all about sex, not mass murder."
Winslet says stripping naked in the film took her to the "brink", and found playing a former concentration camp guard in the film physically and emotionally draining.
She told Entertainment Tonight: "It really took me to the brink in many ways. To bring my character Hanna Schmitz to life was an absolutely enormous challenge and a huge responsibility as well, because it's a much-loved piece of German literature. Many people have differing opinions of Hanna Schmitz - they love her, they loathe her."
Kate, whose character embarks on a relationship with a younger man in the movie, also revealed she had no problem filming the sex scenes with her 18-year-old co-star David Kross.
She said: "It was the same as shooting any other scene of that nature. A scene with that level of intimacy involving nudity, you know, it's always nerve-wracking, and you really have to rehearse those scenes so that everybody knows exactly what's going on.
"He didn't need that much looking after."
Responding to Finch's criticism, Daldry said: "I am sorry you feel that way. There are about 225 films about the Holocaust. There is room for mine."
The Reader, which also stars Ralph Fiennes, is released worldwide in January.
- NZ HERALD ONLINE / BANG! SHOWBIZ!
