An altered version of the film, released in China last weekend, is only around three minutes shorter than the original. But it omits crucial scenes.
HONG KONG — “Bohemian Rhapsody,” the Queen biopic, has been faulted by some Western audiences and critics for soft-pedaling Freddie Mercury’s relationships with men. But in screenings of the film in China, references to the singer’s sexuality have been removed altogether.
These holes in the plot incensed a generation of young movie buffs, who are largely more progressive than the country’s censors.
A censored version of the film, released in China last weekend, is only around three minutes shorter than the original. But it omits a crucial scene in which Freddie tells his fiancée that he is gay, and the scene in which his lover, Jim Hutton, is introduced.
A celebratory scene in which the band members perform in women’s clothing was also cut from the Chinese release.
These changes were not lost on the Chinese audience, many of whom sensed while watching the film in theaters that something was amiss.
Sun Jing, a 26-year-old office worker who saw the film with friends in Shanghai on Saturday, said she had quickly immersed herself in the music and the plot, but noticed that certain points in the story were left unresolved, and spotted several instances where the subtitles didn’t quite match what the characters were saying.
