Neil BakerLet’s Talk About Sex! 20 films exploring sex, discovery and desire.
1.
GOOD LUCK TO YOU, LEO GRANDE (2002)
I am always nervous when labelling any film ‘a sex comedy’; after all, it’s a sub-genre that has so often failed to explore the complexities of sex and our human need for physical connection. But, maybe, with director Sophie Hydes Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, the sex-comedy has finally come of age. This is a movie about a woman (Nancy) who has been denied sexual adventure and finally, in later life, decides it’s time to experience all the things her husband couldn’t give her. But it’s also the story of a young and devilishly handsome sex worker (Leo) and his need to separate his ‘work’ from his emotions as he feeds the needs of others with no thought as to his own needs in the process. It’s a film about finding yourself through physical intimacy and sexuality, regardless of age; a stunning two-person play that reminds us all that, for many of us, sex is a part of who we are, a foundation stone of our outward confidence and inward esteem. With intimate and tender performances from Emma Thompson and Daryl McCormack, Sophie Hyde’s intelligent, sharp and emotional sex comedy is a pure delight.
2.
WEIRD SCIENCE (1985)
The average teenage boy spends at least two years locked in their bedroom, slowly working through a year’s supply of tissues while fantasising about sex. Many of the sexual ideas that swim around the young male mind are based on pure fantasy, and many will never be experienced or enacted in later life. Weird Science understands the teenage male adolescent mind better than it is given credit for, as it reminds us all that our teenage dreams are often far more exciting than reality. Gary Wallace (Anthony Michael Hall) and Wyatt Donnelly (Ilan Mitchell-Smith) are on a mission to shed their geek label and harness deep dark magic and a sprinkling of new tech to make the perfect woman. But sometimes dreams come at a cost when all you really need is a good cuddle.
So why not take a trip back to those innocent days before internet porn and dating apps, days when the mysterious and exciting new world of sex still needed a bit of teenage imagination and creativity. John Hughes loosely based Weird Science on the pre-Comics Code EC Comics titles of the same name, which also inspired a young Stephen King. But in Hughes‘ world, the horror is replaced by laugh-out-loud comedy as Wallace and Donnelly desperately try to improve their street cred while battling the demands of their erections.
LET’S TALK ABOUT SEX!
3.
SAUVAGE (2018)
Camille Vidal-Naquet’s debut feature is tough, uncompromising and, at times, deeply uncomfortable as he explores the world of street prostitution through a series of conversations on sexuality, social isolation and power. Following a young street hustler, Leo (Félix Maritaud), as he works the streets of Strasbourg, Vidal-Naquet is not only interested in the physical and emotional toll of prostitution but also its place in our modern world of instant gratification.
Prior to filming Sauvage, Vidal-Naquet volunteered for many years with a series of charities supporting male street workers. Here, he would engage in daily conversations with the boys and men who sold their bodies on the streets of France. As a result, Sauvage carries an almost documentary-like realism as the handheld camera follows Leo through a city unable or unwilling to see the world through his eyes.
Leo’s emotional needs are reliant on his peer group, each of whom is struggling with their own inner turmoil. This is a life where drugs are an escape route as weeks and days merge into one. Sauvage may show male prostitution in all its grim reality, but it also isn’t afraid to reflect moments of tenderness as Leo offers a much-needed escape for his clients. Is Sauvage a portrait of a young man in freefall? Or is it an exploration of a tormented soul desperately seeking love? Videl-Naquet leaves that for you to answer.
LET’S TALK ABOUT SEX
4.
THE BLUE LAGOON (1980)
Watching The Blue Lagoon today is just as confusing an experience as it was in 1980. After all, Randal Kleiser’s third major picture as a director couldn’t be more different from the revved engines and leather pants of Grease (1978). Kleiser’s adaptation of Henry De Vere Stacpoole’s book was not the first, with a 1923 and a 1949 version before it. But it was the first attempt to dig into the challenging sexual themes found in Stacpoole’s work. After all, this is the story of two cousins marooned on a desert island as children who become young lovers and then parents. It’s the story of what happens when ‘society’ is absent in the lives of children and adolescents as they develop. But unlike Lord of the Flies, The Blue Lagoon is not interested in themes of violence or control but the formation of sexuality. It is, therefore, all the more confusing that The Blue Lagoon has the spirit of a live-action Disney movie and the soul of a 70s soft-core porn flick.
The result is a strange brew of Disney-esque innocence, sex and clunky dialogue that, while epic in construct, feels utterly confused in delivery. Here, its leads, Christopher Atkins and Brooke Shields, often feel exploited when viewed through a modern lens, their looks and bodies far more important than the story at play. But for many a teen, The Blue Lagoon and its stars were the foundation of their own sexual awakening as a strange survival drama became a VHS essential for a whole generation.
5.
SHIRLEY (2020)
What happens when you take the classic biopic and mix it with elements of fantasy, fiction and psychological drama? The answer is the deliciously dark, enthralling and compelling Shirley, a film that takes the real-life story of Shirley Jackson and merges it with a fictional young couple sucked into a psychological and sexual game of cat and mouse. Josephine Decker’s Shirley has no intention of playing by the rules as the naive and enthusiastic Rose (Odessa Young) and her loving, career-driven new husband, Fred (Logan Lerman), arrive at the home of Shirley (Elizabeth Moss) and Stanley (Michael Stuhlbarg).
In what feels like a homage to Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the story opens with Rose and her husband, Fred, en route to a new life in Vermont, where Fred will assist Shirley’s husband, Stanley, with his academic research. But as they await their young playthings, Shirley and Stanley have other plans: a dark social experiment in literature, class consciousness and sexuality. Josephine Decker and screenwriter Sarah Gubbins’ tale of 50s sexual conformity and oppression is far more than a historical dissection of the time; it’s a deep and thrilling journey into the mind of a literary genius who defied her time and place.
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6.
CRUEL INTENTIONS (1999)
Cruel Intentions would give a late 90s teen audience a dark, twisted, modern take on Dangerous Liaisons. Here, the Vicomte de Valmont and Marquise de Merteuil were transformed into two privileged Manhattan step-siblings, Sebastian (Ryan Phillippe) and Kathryn (Sarah Michelle Gellar). Following a salacious bet involving a car and anal sex, Sebastian and Katherine launch a deadly sexual game involving a new girl in town, Annette Hargrove (Reese Witherspoon) and the wide-eyed Cecile Caldwell (Selma Blair). Cruel Intentions is a sordid tale of wealth, manipulation, sex and control that has never been equalled or matched in its machiavellian teenage creativity. By the late 90s, filmmakers were joyously pushing the boundaries of what was deemed acceptable in teen filmmaking and storytelling. Cruel Intentions is one of the best examples of this newfound bravery. It’s a movie a whole generation slyly watched while their parents were out, but more than that, it’s a dark, wicked and highly sexual teenage tale that would redefine the boundaries of the teen movie.
7.
THIS IS NOT BERLIN (2019)
From the Kama Sutra to Michelangelo’s David, sex is art, and art is sex. Throughout history, desire, beauty, and allure have been explored through painting, literature, sculpture, clay, performance, photography and film. Hari Sama’s semi-autobiographical This is Not Berlin is alive with sex and rebellion, the intoxicating spirit of art and the energy of 1980s counter-culture. By lacing the classic coming-of-age movie with an exploration of a newly emerging national identity and sexual freedom, Sama’s film captures the moment adolescent rebellion and art combine on the streets of Mexico City.
Since childhood, Carlos (Xabiani Ponce de Leon) and Gera (José Antonio Toledano) have been classmates and close friends. Carlos lives with his younger brother and mother, who suffers from severe depression. In contrast, Gera’s home life is stable, with his well-to-do parents providing for his every need. Despite their different home lives, Gera and Carlos hold a deep friendship. Gera is fiery, volatile and rebellious, while Carlos is quiet and thoughtful. But as they sneak into an underground music club, both boys are about to find their lives, passions and loves thrown into a new and exciting adult world of rebellion, drugs, sex, and art just as AIDS rips through the city. Sama beautifully captures the vulnerability of young people taking their first steps into an exciting and dangerous world as Carlos and Gera’s friendship forever changes in a city that never sleeps.
8.
AFTERSCHOOL (2008)
If Michael Haneke’s Benny’s Video observed and dissected the arrival of video culture and home filmmaking among early 90s teens, Antonio Campos’ 2008 feature debut Afterschool explored the arrival of internet porn, instant video sharing and YouTube. Antonio Campos paints a disturbing picture of a newly emerging adolescence, where online and offline personas merge. In Campos’ privileged boarding school, parents come to the rescue when required, and the truth is an inconvenience that costs money. In the hands of his young lead, Ezra Miller, a boy mildly obsessed with a new world of online porn and violence, Campos dissects the world of instant media against a backdrop of a growing wealth divide and increasing social paranoia. The resulting journey is profoundly uncomfortable but ahead of its time as it explores sex as a digital commodity and truth as an obstacle to progress. Here, the young people at the heart of the story are both the manipulated and the manipulators of a brave new world.
9.
FEMME (2023)
The best thrillers play with the multiple identities surrounding each of us, blurring the lines between compassion, empathy and fear. Take, for example, Hitchcock’s Psycho. Norman is both dangerous and vulnerable, a psychologically torn young man formed through a past of hidden abuse and manipulation who defies simple social labels. The same can be said of George MacKay’s volatile Preston as Nathan Stewart-Jarrett’s revenge-torn Jules enters into a relationship with the man who viciously attacked him months before. However, while Jules knows that Preston is his attacker, Preston is unaware of the cat-and-mouse game Jules is playing in a movie that dovetails nerve-shredding tension with deep discussions on the roots of homophobia and the protective personalities we all form in private and in public.
Femme is based on Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping’s 2021 short film starring Paapa Essiedu and Harris Dickinson. Here, the directors build upon the neo-noir style of their short in creating a contemporary erotic thriller that understands and unpicks the root cause of so much of the homophobia that continues to thread through our society: sexual insecurity, fear and hyper-masculinity. Cinematographer James Rhodes’ use of neon colours, street lights, intimate soft glows and dark foreboding shadows builds an exquisite sense of unease, sexual tension, and threat as Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping allow the outstanding performances of MacKay and Stewart-Jarrett to take centre stage.
10.
KNIFE + HEART (2018)
What do you get if you take 70s gay porn and mix it with the classic 80s slasher? The answer is Knife + Heart. Set in Paris, matriarch and auteur Anne (Vanessa Paradis) spends her time persuading amateur men to perform in a series of gay porn movies. Each young hopeful leaves their menial day job in the hope of fame while finally being allowed to embrace their sexuality free from hate or oppression – their taught and toned bodies becoming the stuff of gay legend in queer XXX cinemas. However, when Anne’s buff young film stars begin to die at the hands of a mysterious leather-faced murderer equipped with a deadly bladed dildo, Anne quickly changes the title of her new movie to ‘Homocidal’ and embarks on a creative mission to uncover the killer’s identity through film.
Yann Gonzalez’s film not only celebrates the history of gay porn and horror but wraps his narrative journey in a series of social discussions as 70s gay liberation was replaced by fear, discrimination, and AIDS took hold. The result is a gay slasher that pays homage to William Friedkin’s Cruising, the budget gay porn of the 70s, Giallo, and the simmering sexual tension of Stranger by the Lake.
There are a series of nods to classic horror, from An American Werewolf in London to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, A Nightmare on Elm Street and The Bird with the Crystal Plumage. Yet Knife + Heart also feels utterly unique; it’s camp horror full to the brim with broader discussions on the interface between sex and art on film. As a result, Gonzalez offers us something unique and compelling in the landscape of LGBTQ+ horror as he bathes us in an intoxicating and proudly queer mix of artistic styles that are as sharp as the razor-lined dildo the killer wields.
LET’S TALK ABOUT SEX
11.
54: DIRECTORS CUT (2015)
Sex sells. Disco entrepreneurs Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager understood the importance of sex in putting on a show everyone wanted to be a part of in the creation of Studio 54. 54 wasn’t just a club; it was a lifestyle, fever dream and escape. It offered the rich an opportunity to meet the beautiful and the beautiful a chance to woo the rich in a club where rules didn’t apply. In 1998, director Mark Christopher and stars Mike Myers and Ryan Phillippe brought the hedonistic glory of Studio 54 to the big screen with the story of a New Jersey boy caught in the headlights of Rubell’s disco empire.
54 was slated by the critics, with many critical of Phillippe’s character, while others pointed toward a lack of raw sex appeal and subversive energy. But, it soon became clear that the theatrical version had been butchered by its executive producer Harvey Weinstein with the queer undercurrents all but removed for its cinema release. Thankfully, in 2015, 54 was put back together using rescued footage. While it’s not perfect due to the degraded video, Mark Christopher’s homage to hedonism, sexual freedom, and disco finally had its long-overdue moment in the spotlight.
12.
X (2022)
Horror and sex have been intrinsically linked since the creation of the motion picture. From the rampant sexuality of the vampire, as it sinks its teeth into a victim, to the sexual vulnerability of two stalked young teens making out before their murder. Sex, fear, and horror go hand in hand. The slasher sub-genre, in particular, is often viewed as being driven by sex. Here, not only is the ‘final girl’ threatened by a male murderer, but she is generally a virgin who doesn’t engage in sex like the other girls who are offed in the opening hour. Meanwhile, in the rare case of a ‘final boy‘, the young man’s sexuality is often placed under the microscope because a dominant male figure threatens him. Both porn and horror understand that fear and excitement are linked in the human brain and often converge like an exhilarating but petrifying rollercoaster ride.
Ti West’s incredibly clever homage to the origin of the slasher genre, X, pays tribute to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Psycho, to name just two, in exploring the cinematic foundations of porn, horror and art. But far from being a mere blood-soaked cinematic seminar, West adds a new layer to the frame: our fear of sex and age. If Good Luck to You, Leo Grande explored the power of rediscovering your sexual identity in older age; X demonstrated the horrors of an ageing body, the terror of losing your sexual identity and the fear of becoming sexually invisible. In West’s film, porn, sex, and pleasure are playthings of the young and the beautiful, and he isn’t wrong – look at the world of porn and moviemaking. In porn, careers are brief, and a mere wrinkle is the equivalent of a life-ending cancerous growth, while in Hollywood, youth and beauty always have and always will reign supreme.
West’s discussions on age, sexuality and horror certainly aren’t new; older people are regularly viewed as horrifying in films, from Norman Bates’ mother to the woman in the bathtub in The Shining. But West builds upon these depictions by further unpicking human fears of sex, age and sexuality in a world built upon youthful looks and ideals. Here he asks whether the porn industry and the film industry helped create a world where people feel discarded in later life or whether we made that world ourselves due to our obsession with youth and beauty.
13.
SALTBURN (2023)
Great Britain is a country built on a grand divide in opportunity, wealth and privilege. It’s a divide we proudly exported worldwide under empire and continues to see Britain largely governed by inherited power and a “who you know” culture of old-school ties. This wealth divide gives birth to Bullingdon Club leaders like Boris Johnson, who believe they are above the rules they dictate and many business leaders who talk about diversity in soundbites with little understanding of the communities they speak of. Many films have sought to explore and uncover the wealth divide at the heart of British life, from If….(1968) to The Riot Club (2014), with each dissecting the inherited power and privilege at the heart of the British state. Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn joins this prestigious club of films as it joyously takes a scalpel to the British wealth divide before sprinkling lashings of salt on the open wounds.
With lashings of delightfully dark comedy, Fennel’s film, like Triangle of Sadness, isn’t just interested in dissecting wealth and privilege but the power and political gameplay that leads to the throne. As a result, Saltburn feels like Game of Thrones meets Brideshead Revisited as the chess game that starts at Oxford and continues at Saltburn reaches its delightfully dark and wicked climax. Fennel’s film bathes in the sultry summer sun of an estate inhabited by eccentric, polite, yet obnoxious people who lack any understanding of the world outside the gates; Saltburn is their kingdom, their castle and their prison as they lounge, eat, drink and discuss the beauty of their privilege. Here, an outstanding ensemble cast relishes every word of dialogue with outrageous gags and conversations demonstrating their separation from reality. But it’s Keoghan and Elordi who steal the show.
14.
RAW (2016)
Teenager Justine (Garance Marillier) may be a vegetarian as Raw opens, but after eating a rabbit kidney as part of a college hazing ritual, she quickly develops a taste for meat that can’t be controlled. French director Julia Ducournau’s debut feature isn’t just a delicious slice of modern horror; it’s a veritable banquet of discussions on sexual hunger and female empowerment. In Ducournau’s wild, vivid and gory celebration of womanhood, the body horror of Cronenberg is mixed with a genuinely unique exploration of a girl’s sexual awakening.
Ducournau explores the erotic nature of Justine’s insatiable new appetite before launching into a genuinely horrific final act where sex, desire and hunger take control. Like Bones and All, it’s clear not everyone will survive this buffet of body parts and discovery, but it’s also clear that Justine’s newfound confidence in her desires and wants knows no bounds.
15.
STRANGER BY THE LAKE (2013)
For many men, the excitement, apprehension, fear and desire of cruising for sex remains a core part of their world, whether in person or online. These secret, clandestine and often risky public encounters transcend simple labels in a secretive world where sexual identity is obscured by desire. Over the years, the act of cruising has found a voice in several thrillers, but in 2013, it truly came out of the closet as Stranger by the Lake brought us a thriller steeped in themes of trust, desire, fragility, masculinity and connection. Alain Guiraudie’s film burns bright with the sheer heat of male sexual desire in a slow-burn mystery thriller that is utterly captivating and beautiful.
Stranger by the Lake is not only a groundbreaking LGBTQ+ thriller but a commentary on blind love, a need for belonging at any cost and the choices we make when searching for a quick release or a more meaningful connection. The result is an atmospheric, Hitchcockian thriller that works on multiple levels, leaving its audience with a nail-biting cliffhanger Hitchcock himself would be proud of.
LET’S TALK ABOUT SEX
16.
GOOD BOYS (2019)
Max, Lucas and Thor are desperately searching for experiences that will transform them from mere kids into cool young teenagers as they approach their thirteenth birthdays, and a risque kissing party appears to be the perfect opportunity. The trouble is they need to be invited. Therefore, Max (Jacob Tremblay), Lucas (Keith L. Williams) and Thor (Brady Noon) develop an elaborate plan to get in, one that dramatically fails in a 24-hour sprint wrapped in danger, humour, excitement and drama. Directed by Gene Stupnitsky (The Office) and produced by Seth Rogan (Bad Neighbours), Good Boys inhabits the same world as many of the teen comedies that have come before it, including Ferris Bueller, Superbad and Sixteen Candles. However, it also charts new ground by mixing this energy with a pre-teen cast of actors. The result is a sharp comedy exploring the precipice of teenage life. Outrageous, in your face and bold, Good Boys is also incredibly warm as it reflects the uneasy void between childhood and adolescence.
17.
THE DOOM GENERATION (1995)
Twenty-eight years on from its premiere, The Doom Generation still retains the award for one of the most fucked up film endings ever! But aside from its shocking conclusion, the second part of Gregg Araki’s Teenage Apocalypse trilogy remains one of the most audacious, fascinating and brave teen movies of the 90s with its endless pop culture references, razor-sharp satire and discussions on gender and sexuality. The Doom Generation is a one-off gem of 90s independent cinema that has never been equalled in its ability to weave psychosexual discussion with themes of a changing 90s youth experience. Labelled as a “heterosexual movie,” The Doom Generation is anything but as two teens pick up a violent, handsome drifter who sparks their interest and desires as a series of violent events unfold. In Araki’s twisted, sexy and brutal world, themes of sexual conformity, liberation, id, ego and superego combine to create a movie that demands multiple viewings. As it nears its gut-wrenching, violent and sad conclusion, its message is clear: the darkest corners of society will always seek to destroy anything beautiful that deviates from their binary view of gender and sex.
18.
RISKY BUSINESS (1983)
Released in 1983, Risky Business would break new ground in the teen sex-comedy genre while introducing the world to Tom Cruise. Directed by Paul Brickman, many assumed Risky Business would play with the classic comedic riffs of Porky’s (1981) or Private Lessons (1981); however, like Fast Times at Ridgemont High the year before Brickman’s movie would offer a far more thought-provoking exploration of teenage dreams, reward, risk and consequence. Set in the suburbs of Chicago, Risky Business introduced us to the Grade A student, Joel Goodsen and a capitalist world of risky ventures when his middle-class parents are away. However, while these ventures are transformative both personally, financially and sexually, they also come with significant risks. It’s a film that reminds us of the drive many young people carry and their naivety of the forks that may lie in the road, but more than that, it reflects a newly emerging culture of money, sex and power as the smoke and mirrors of the 80s American dream took hold.
19.
PASSAGES (2023)
Some people are never content in any relationship they enter but are equally unable to live outside of one. These people often explore their sexual desires away from their partner’s knowledge while retaining the comfort and security that their partner offers. Equally, some people know their partners aren’t capable of being faithful but go along with it in the knowledge that they, too, cannot be alone. Ira Sachs’ Passages understands that relationships come in many forms, with many conditions and agreements formed along the way to maintain security and comfort.
At first glance, Sachs’ fascinating, sensual and bold drama would appear to be a classic love triangle in which two gay men and a straight woman find themselves caught in a game that can only lead to heartbreak. But Passages is so much more than a classic love triangle. Sachs’ movie reflects just how messy relationships can be, how communication can falter, how sex can light a spark that quickly dies and the complexity of forgiveness.
20.
HIGH LIFE (2018)
In an unspecified future, young criminals on death row are sent on a journey of no return: their mission is to gather scientific data on the energy of a black hole. The isolation of their trip provides an opportunity for each man and woman to contemplate their crime and repent of their sins; however, as they speed through the universe, their bodies succumb to the effects of deep space travel, their lives controlled by drugs and forced medical experimentation. Monte (Robert Pattinson) and a baby girl are alone and isolated on a drifting ship as Claire Denis’ science fiction story opens, but it’s not long before we are taken back to a time when the ship was full of convicts each a guinea pig for Dr Dib’s (Juliette Binoche). Claire Denis’ masterful movie strips back the human experience to its base components of sex, reproduction, protection and survival, exploring the animalistic triggers that all humans are subject to within the confines of a biblical floating ark of sexuality, desire and punishment.
