A PARENT group has slammed Netflix erotic drama Desire as "child porn" and demand it should be removed over a "suggestive" scene featuring a nine-year-old girl.
The streaming service could face an investigation over the 2017 Argentinian movie Desearas, meaning Desire, which is available on the US platform.
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The opening scene shows two girls, aged nine and seven, bouncing up and down in slow motion on pillows pretending to be on horses whilst watching a John Ford cowboy film.
But it's claimed that the older of the girls is depicted apparently accidentally experiencing an orgasm with the camera showing a close-up of her face.
The Parents Television Council, a media watchdog group, has written to Netflix CEO Reed Hastings calling for the movie to removed immediate, according to USA Today.
They accused the company of "showing a reckless disregard for the millions of families that keep your streaming platform alive and viable, and callously placing profits ahead of any sense of corporate responsibility, to potentially engaging in criminal activity."
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US conservative website PJ Media has also reported the film to the FBI, the Department of Justice and to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).
The NCMEC has reportedly launched an investigation.
Responding to the controversy, the film's director, Diego Kaplan, issued a statement to Indiewire, saying: "'Desire' is a film. When we see a shark eating a woman on film, no one thinks the woman really died or that the shark was real.
"We work in a world of fiction; and, for me, before being a director comes being a father.
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"Of course this scene was filmed using a trick, which was that the girls were copying a cowboy scene from a film by John Ford.
"The girls never understood what they were doing, they were just copying what they were seeing on the screen.
"No adult interacted with the girls, other than the child acting coach.
"Everything was done under the careful surveillance of the girls’ mothers.
"Because I knew this scene might cause some controversy at some point, there is 'Making Of' footage of the filming of the entire scene.
"Everything works inside the spectators’ heads, and how you think this scene was filmed will depend on your level of depravity."
Some people have been sharing the clip - many in outrage - but according to Department of Justice guidance this could still be against the law.
It says: "Notably, the legal definition of sexually explicit conduct does not require that an image depict a child engaging in sexual activity.
"A picture of a naked child may constitute illegal child pornography if it is sufficiently sexually suggestive.
"Additionally, the age of consent for sexual activity in a given state is irrelevant; any depiction of a minor under 18 years of age engaging in sexually explicit conduct is illegal."
Netflix is yet to respond to a request for comment.
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