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During the second half of the 20th century, two cultural authorities regulated the French film industry. The State issued a certificate that was required for a film to be aired, while the Church granted a rating which, if morally critical, limited a film’s distribution. The rhetoric, practices, procedures and objectives of these two authorities during the first two decades of the post-war period are compared here. This study ends in 1966, when the scandal caused by Jacques Rivette’s La Religieuse discredited the ambiguous relationship shared by the Church and the State with regard to censorship.