Circumcision in movies

Do you know a movie with a discussion about circumcision?

Not a movie but Seinfeld had a whole episode on it.

Also a TV sitcom: Thirty-something

Episode 63 (or 401 - 4th series, 1st episode) "prelude to a bris"

after this I couldn't follow anymore

In movies I don't know, but there is a "bande dessinée" called "Ma circoncision" by Riad Sattouf.

I only know one movie with its main focus on circumcision: "Simon sagt auf Wiedersehen zu seiner Vorhaut", a German movie from 2015 about a half-Jewish boy whose mother and father have differing ideas about this topic. I don't know if it is available in English (maybe at least subtitled?).

Actually there are also a couple of movies in which circumcision plays a more or less relevant underpart:

- The Physician

- Novecento - 1900

- Meet the Fockers

- Die Welt in jenem Sommer (German anti-Nazi movie from 1980, don't know if it ever became translated to another language)

There is also an Italian(I think?) movie about a growing up teenager in love suffering from phimosis, but I can't remember the name of that movie.

Finally there was also an episode of "Married ... with children" in which Al became circumcised (more or less by accident, as far as I remember).

East is East . British comedy drama from early 2000's ... Set in the Northern England about a mixed race family during the 1970's.

Lovely film

Actually there are also a couple of movies in which circumcision plays a more or less relevant underpart:

- Novecento - 1900

I know this movie. I think it's because Robert de Niro is circumcised and Gérard Depardieu is not. Director Bernardo Bertolucci therefore suggested that the character played by Robert de Niro could have been circumcised because he had problems retracting the foreskin as a child.

There is actually a scene where we see the penises of these two actors, a scene which may have been censored in certain countries.

In the movie Y tu mamá también (And Your Mother Too), two young men shower naked in a locker room and compare their penises, one of them is circumcised. The actor, however, was not circumcised and wore a type of condom to make it appear that he was.

I know this movie. I think it's because Robert de Niro is circumcised and Gérard Depardieu is not. Director Bernardo Bertolucci therefore suggested that the character played by Robert de Niro could have been circumcised because he had problems retracting the foreskin as a child.

There is actually a scene where we see the penises of these two actors, a scene which may have been censored in certain countries.

I have heart this argument before by another person and you both might be right. However, instead of writing and realizing such an explicit scene that nowadays nobody would dare to shoot anymore due to its very "special" features (that must have been deemed at least "x-rated" already back then in the 1970s), wouldn't it have been much easier to simply let another actor play only those penis close-ups in which de Niros circumcised penis can be seen?

And possibly the easiest way to hide de Niros circumcision would have been not to show his penis anyway 😉 (there are thousands of examples of movies including sex scenes where no genitals are shown at all).

I don't know for which reason Bertolucci let those two young guys perform this scene. Though, if I had to guess, I would say that many writers and directors include autobiographic items in their work (there are quite a lot of puberty-related scenes in Novecento). And maybe he wanted to try and show how far he could go within this movie.

Edit: This link provides a discussion about this scene and also other circumcision-related scenes in other movies:

https://www.circumstitions.com/Movies.html

that must have been deemed at least "x-rated" already back then in the 1970s), wouldn't it have been much easier to simply let another actor play only those penis close-ups in which de Niros circumcised penis can be seen?

I don't know for which reason Bertolucci let those two young guys perform this scene. Though, if I had to guess, I would say that many writers and directors include autobiographic items in their work (there are quite a lot of puberty-related scenes in Novecento). And maybe he wanted to try and show how far he could go within this movie.

I saw Novecento with my gf and a bunch of friends back when released in Belgium and I cannot remember any mention, discussion or remarks about such a scene. These kind of nude scenes were just par for the course back then.

Far more memorable and troubling was Donald Sutherland smashing a child's head against a wall in one violent scene.

I saw Novecento with my gf and a bunch of friends back when released in Belgium and I cannot remember any mention, discussion or remarks about such a scene. These kind of nude scenes were just par for the course back then.

I saw this movie in 1977 when I was 19. I was still surprised by the scene between the two children, not the one with the adults. Two people left the room after the second scene. However, I had also seen Salò by Pasolini the year before, in Germany because it was banned in Switzerland.

The scene between the adults had been censored on a VHS tape that I watched later, while the one with the children was still visible. Quite surprising, nowadays we are much more sensitive to pedophilia and we would have done the opposite.

The scene between the adults had been censored on a VHS tape that I watched later, while the one with the children was still visible. Quite surprising, nowadays we are much more sensitive ...

I once saw a video clip of the "first scene" censored in the way that only the faces of the boys were visible (they were zoomed in). I don't know if this clip had been part of a full length version of the movie that got censored or if only the clip had been extracted and censored.

I once saw a video clip of the "first scene" censored in the way that only the faces of the boys were visible (they were zoomed in). I don't know if this clip had been part of a full length version of the movie that got censored or if only the clip had been extracted and censored.

In the european/german DVD both penes are good visible

In A Visit to a Chief's Son, when the american is skinny-dipping with the chief's son, the chief's son comments that the american boy is already circumcised.

The American "ER" series features several scenes and is probably a classic. There are a few scenes where baby boys brought into the emergency room have already been circumcised. Additionally, there are one or two scenes where doctors circumcise adults who have not yet been circumcised. All these scenes portray male circumcision as a common and routine practice, and the discussion taking place does not question whether the procedure should be performed, but rather which doctor will perform it. Residents, who often compete for more complex surgical procedures, do not want to do a circumcision because the procedure is quick, simple, and straightforward. I believe one of the surgical residents eventually completes the procedure.

Another circumcision scene, which spans across several episodes, involves a baby boy whose mother wants to circumcise him immediately. But, the boy's father, although in favor of the procedure, is uncertain whether circumcision should be delayed until the boy is older. This scene is particularly interesting in many respects. First, the disagreement is really about the timing, not whether the procedure should be performed or not – both parents agree that it is necessary for preventive, hygienic, family, and cultural reasons.

Second, when the mother asks a doctor to perform the circumcision without telling the father ahead of time, and the doctor proceeds with the procedure, it is portrayed as a minor, well-tolerated operation - which it often is. The boy remains calm throughout and falls asleep shortly after. When the father is told that his son has already been circumcised, he quickly accepts the mother's decision.

@madebare In response to phimosis, doctors propose circumcision, seldom preputioplasty. I thought this was because circumcision was easier, less skill required. But you seem to say doctors would rather do complicated procedures?

I recall reading a book. The author, a veterinarian, complained about his colleagues whose ideal work was to sterilize cats and dogs all day instead of, say trying to heal the exotic animals of the neighbouring zoo. That is, they preferred repetitive, straightforward surgeries that bring steady income to more interesting, but more incertain, activities.

There is a scene in the movie "When Father Was Away On Business" (1985) where a boy undergoes circumcision. A penis (prosthetic, one would hope??) is shown.

Not exactly a circumcision scene, but every male showing frontal nudity in "Spartacus" displays circumcised genitals, which is historically inaccurate. Not only was circumcision prohibited in the Roman Empire, but it was also considered vulgar and inappropriate for an uncircumcised male to expose the glans. I suspect "Spartacus" was filmed primarily for the US market where most consider male circumcision to be necessary.

@madebare Maybe it's just that they took American actors?

The American "ER" series features several scenes and is probably a classic. There are a few scenes where baby boys brought into the emergency room have already been circumcised. Additionally, there are one or two scenes where doctors circumcise adults who have not yet been circumcised. All these scenes portray male circumcision as a common and routine practice, and the discussion taking place does not question whether the procedure should be performed, but rather which doctor will perform it. Residents, who often compete for more complex surgical procedures, do not want to do a circumcision because the procedure is quick, simple, and straightforward. I believe one of the surgical residents eventually completes the procedure.

There's a scene in Scrubs, where JD, the protagonist, discusses with a couple that's split on the decision whether to circ their newborn boy.

Cut to JD's frequent daydreams, where the baby can talk, and he's says something like "Are you kidding me? I just got that thing!"