File photo of Quebec director Xavier Dolan during Toronto International Film Festival, Sept. 13, 2012.Moe Doiron/The Globe and Mail
Quebec director Xavier Dolan is facing criticism for a graphic music video he directed for the French band Indochine.
In the video for the song College Boy, a teen is violently bullied, beaten and then crucified by his peers.
It has created controversy in France where the council that regulates media is concerned some of the scenes are too graphic and violent to be shown on television.
The French newspaper Le Monde reports that the group will study the video further to decide what regulations to place on it. Françoise Laborde, a member of the regulatory body, told the paper that she would like to at least restrict the video to people over 16 and possibly people over 18. The council restricted a Marilyn Manson video to those over 18 a few years ago, she added.
The black and white video shows a student being taunted by his peers who are throwing crumpled balls of paper at him. His locker is vandalized and he is then pushed down the steps of the school by his classmates and beaten bloody by an angry mob . In the closing scenes, blind-folded classmates busy with their cellphones stand by while he is crucified and shot to death.
Dolan, known for the films J'ai Tué Ma Mère (I Killed My Mother) and Laurence Anyways told CBC news the video contains an anti-bullying message designed to show how bystanders are complicit in bullying.
Indochine band member Nicola Sirkis defended the video in the French paper Le Parisien, saying the song was originally about intolerance.
On May 2, Dolan tweeted to fans in French thanking them for watching the video and tweeting about it.
The video is currently available in YouTube with a short message in French warning viewers of graphic content.
Editor's note: An earlier version of this article incorrectly referred to the French newspaper as "La Monde."