A Port Melbourne film distributor is pushing for a movie described as the most sexually explicit English language film ever made to appear in Australian cinemas next year.

Director Michael Winterbottom's UK film 9 Songs, which charts a young couple's relationship, is almost entirely composed of real sex scenes between the two lead actors.

The film caused a furore in Britain before it eventually gained the UK equivalent of an R rating. Dean O'Flaherty. from Australian distributor Accent Film Entertainment, is hopeful it will also receive an R rating here before its January release. Accent admitted 9 Songs pushes the boundaries of cinema but said the hardcore sex sciences to a rock soundtrack was "really a sweet" film. "It is probably the most sexually explicit film ever made in the English language, but art is meant to push boundaries, it's meant to confront people and push people and change people" he said.

"It deals with intimacy and sex but it's not porn".

But family groups are not so sure. "There are plenty of places people can go to see this sort of stuff. There's no need for it in normal cinemas." Bill Muehlenberg, Vice-President of The Australian family Association said. He said if 9 Songs was like Irreversible or Romance or Anatomy of Hell, which the AFA had opposed, they might appeal against an R rating.

The Office of Film and Literature Classification has yet to classify the film.