Noe debuted the movie at the Cannes Film Festival in France earlier this year (15), and it was scheduled to hit cinemas in Russia in the autumn (15).

Love, which centres on a young student who cheats on his girlfriend with, was denied an exhibition licence by officials at Russia's culture ministry,

A statement from the department chiefs reads: "The decision is based on the fact that the film contains numerous pornographic scenes."

Reports suggest the censors asked for a thorough edit, but were not satisfied with the "softer" version of the movie, even though it had less sexual content than the one screened at Cannes.

However, Love did have a late-night screening in Moscow in June (15), which drew a surprisingly large crowd, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

This isn't Noe's first brush with movie scandal - many critics found his 2002 film Irreversible tough to watch because of a graphic rape scene featuring actress Monica Bellucci.