Image via Complex Original
History was made at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year when the Palme d’Or was awarded to Blue Is the Warmest Color, marking the first time that the coveted top prize at the 66-year-old festival went to a lesbian drama.
A lot has been made about the film’s prolonged and explicit sex scenes, which apparently go on for several minutes at a time from oh so many angles. The Village Voice’s Stephanie Zacharek praised them as “perhaps among the loveliest ever put on film.” Meanwhile, Manohla Dargis at the New York Times decried voyeurism, writing “the movie feels far more about (director Abdellatif Kechiche’s) desires than anything else.”
Sex scenes on film ride a fine line between titillation and communication. The fact, someone can be turned on by the most meaningful sex on screen just as easily as they can watching somebody bend over to pick up a pen. Do we blame the film or the viewer?
In the case of Blue Is the Warmest Color, we’ll give Kechiche the benefit of the doubt. If you haven’t seen his earlier film, The Secret of the Grain, put that on your to do list. In the meantime, have a look at these important sex scenes on film, where your viewing pleasure is not the point. This is the opposite of gratuitous.
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Written by Radheyan Simonpillai (@FreshandFrowsy)
Sex & Violence
As Seen In: A History of Violence (2005)
Director: David Cronenberg
Participants: Tom Stall (Viggo Mortensen) and Edie Stall (Maria Bello)
Why it matters: Domestic abuse and passionate lovemaking collide in this pivotal moment from David Cronenberg's dissection of violence and repression. In stark contrast to an earlier, tender sex scene, where married couple Tom and Edie innocently role-play as teenagers (cheerleader outfit and all), this rough session masterfully suggests both danger and allure as violence penetrates the American household.
Becoming Family
As Seen In: Boogie Nights (1997)
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Participants: Dirk Diggler (Mark Wahlberg) and Amber Waves (Julianne Moore)
Why it matters: The characters in Boogie Nights are in the business of titillation but Dirk Diggler's debut in porn is far from that. His first sex scene with Julianne Moore's Amber Waves trumps porn conventions (even the camera can't handle it). Instead, it becomes a warm and inviting initiation into a makeshift family, with Amber playing the supportive matriarch guiding boyish Dirk's growth into a man.
Who's Looking at Who?
As Seen In: Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Participants: Dr. William Harford (Tom Cruise) and Alice Harford (Nicole Kidman)
Why it matters: Stanley Kubrick's final word on jealousy, voyeurism, and masculine hypocrisy gets going with an evocative sex scene in front of the mirror between a married couple, played by Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. He's into it. She's into the mirror. And from that point on, the film unfolds a mysterious tale of who's watching who, where the person doing the looking is the one in control.
Beginnings & Ends
As Seen In: Don't Look Now (1973)
Director: Nicolas Roeg
Participants: Laura Baxter (Julie Christie) and John Baxter (Donald Sutherland)
Why it matters: Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie play a couple mourning their daughter's death, a tragedy that strains their relationship. Director Nicolas Roeg captures the highs and lows of their marriage (or any marriage, for that matter) in a tender lovemaking session that is intercut with the business-as-usual morning after. In a scene that goes back and forth, like couples do, the sex, full of passion and affection, is interrupted by the somber act of dressing up. Both acts are emotionally and psychologically charged. The actors give such dedicated performances that it has long been rumored they were having sex for real. The scene is such a tour-de-force, it inspired Steven Soderbergh to emulate it with George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez in Out of Sight.
Heartfelt Submission
As Seen In: Secretary (2002)
Director: Steven Shainberg
Participants: Mr. Grey (James Spader) and Lee Holloway (Maggie Gyllenhaal)
Why it matters: Speaking to perceived gender wars everywhere, the sadomasochistic power games played by Maggie Gyllenhaal's titular secretary and her boss give way to a tender and affectionate bout of lovemaking where both sexes meet each other on an even keel. Call it a happy ending.
No Strings Attached
As Seen In: Last Tango in Paris (1972)
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
Participants: Paul (Marlon Brando) and Jeanne (Maria Schneider)
Why it matters: Anonymous strangers set up an apartment where they can escape their lives by having some NSA fun. However, the couple can't box out their personal hang-ups for long. Paul's aggression and issues with his masculinity and Jeanne's sadomasochistic naiveté creep into the apartment in the infamous butter scene, where he treats her like a piece of meat and she no longer has a choice of whether to take it.
For the Love of Movies
As Seen In: The Dreamers (2003)
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
Participants: Matthew (Michael Pitt) and Isabelle (Eva Green)
Why it matters: Another Plato's Cave allegory from The Conformist director Bernardo Bertulluci, The Dreamers is all about the incestuous, hermit-like existence of obsessed cinephiles who isolate themselves in an apartment and live according to the movies. When Eva Green's Isabelle seduces Michael Pitt's Matthew, she's doing it as if putting on a performance for a director, who in this case just happens to be her brother.
Sex & Trauma
As Seen In: The Night Porter (1974)
Director: Liliana Cavani
Participants: Maximilian Theo Aldorfer (Dirk Bogarde) and Lucia Atherton (Charlotte Rampling)
Why it matters: A Nazi officer and his Jewish sex slave from the concentration camp meet each other more than a decade later and find comfort by falling back into their sadomasochistic relationship. Stockholm Syndrome, where abused prisoners become emotionally attached to their captors, is explored in this controversial couple's disturbing reunion.
Overcoming Disability
As Seen In: Coming Home (1978)
Director: Hal Ashby
Participants: Sally Hyde (Jane Fonda) and Luke Martin (Jon Voight)
Why it matters: Jon Voight's paralyzed vet may seem impotent when coming home from the Vietnam war, but this passionate moment shared with Jane Fonda's housewife rehabilitates him. With his tongue still functioning, he feels like a man again.
Victorian Sex
As Seen In: The Piano (1993)
Director: Jane Campion
Participants: Ada McGrath (Holly Hunter) and George Baines (Harvey Keitel)
Why it matters: Jane Campion's Palme d'Or winner stars Holly Hunter as Ada, a repressed and (literally) mute Victorian woman who is blackmailed into an illicit affair. However, in a passionate moment, Ada turns her oppression around by actually enjoying sex. The prim and proper gives way to animalistic pleasure, as Ada claims her sexuality in a refusal to be victimized by gender politics.
Standing Ovation
As Seen In: A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Participants: Alex (Malcolm McDowell) and the girl in the ascot fantasy (Katya Wyeth)
Why it matters: Malcolm McDowell's Alex has his way with a naked woman while a Victorian audience applauds him. That brilliant final shot in Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange encapsulates the film's perverse look at free-will and society's tolerance of sex and violence.
Sex With the Camera
As Seen In: Blow-Up (1966)
Director: Michelangelo Antonioni
Participants: Thomas (David Hemmings) and Veruschka von Lehndorff (herself)
Why it matters: A model writhes on the floor practically having an orgasm when a camera is thrust upon her. This may not be your traditional sex scene, but it has a lot to say about voyeurism and the power of the camera, both of which are prominent themes in Antonioni's meditation on the image.
Coming of Age
As Seen In: Y Tu Mamá También (2001)
Director: Alfonso Cuarón
Participants: Luisa Cortés (Maribel Verdú), Julio Zapata (Gael García Bernal) and Tenoch Iturbide (Diego Luna)
Why it matters: The final orgy in this coming-of-age gem features two young Mexican boys, from opposite ends of the class spectrum, discovering each other at the hands of an older Spaniard woman. The film and that brilliant finale delivers a provocative allegory for neocolonialism, where the growing friction between the boys speaks to Mexico's cultural divide, and the woman is the foreign presence that brings them together, if only for one night.
Turning It Around
As Seen In: Brokeback Mountain (2005)
Director: Ang Lee
Participants: Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Alma (Michelle Williams)
Why it matters: The illicit affair between the two cowboys in Brokeback Mountain could have been chalked up to desperation (they had no one else to cozy up to). But then comes the scene when Heath Ledger's Ennis is at home making love to his wife (Michelle Williams) and he flips her over as his mind wanders. That telling moment lets you know where his heart is.
Modern Masculinity
As Seen In: Fight Club (1999)
Director: David Fincher
Participants: Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) and Marla Singer (Helena Bonham Carter)
Why it matters: In Fight Club, men who feel castrated by an IKEA catalogue existence regress into caveman antics. Amidst all the underground brawls and acts of corporate sabotage, there’s a brief section where Tyler Durden goes to town on Marla Singer. We don’t see much but this little nugget says it all: Tyler opens a bedroom door to reveal his ripped torso and Marla crawling around the floor in the background. What’s important to note is that Tyler’s wearing nothing but a rubber kitchen glove, a sight that provokes even more questioning about modern men trying to reassert their masculinity.