1. Love (2015)
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Argentine filmmaker Gaspar Noé shocked audiences and critics with two hours of intense sex. All real, and in 3D. The scenes portray the naughty memories of the protagonist. Part of the audience at the Cannes Film Festival left their seats before the first ten minutes of the film. Controversial, Noé also directed Irreversible (2002), which was heavily criticized for emphasizing sexual violence.
2. 9 Songs (2004)
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The story takes place in London and explores in spicy detail the love affair of musician couple Matt and Lisa. It’s basically a movie with varied scenes of sex and masturbation interspersed with nine performances by alternative bands, such as Primal Scream and Dandy Warhols – in an attempt to portray the “existential emptiness of a generation” (or something like that). In any case, it managed reasonable box office worldwide. According to guardianBritain’s largest newspaper, «was the most sexually explicit popular film» ever made.
3. The Brown Bunny (2003)
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In this low-budget film, director Vincent Gallo serves as screenwriter, camera, producer and lead actor. He did all of this in the film, which tells the story of a lonely man in search of lost love. To play his dream muse, he invited actress Chlöe Sevigny, who paid a high price for her performance. The two had an oral sex scene that led to the breakup of several of the star’s contracts for roles in more traditional films.
4. Caligula (1979)
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This portrayal of Rome’s moral decay is meant to shock (like all productions here), but with one twist: the star-studded cast. Emperor Caligula is Malcom McDowell, star of A Clockwork Orange (1972), by Stanley Kubric. Also there are Peter O’Toole and Helen Mirren, who in 2007 won an Oscar for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II. On the other hand, they are not the ones having sex, just the extras – which makes this film a slight exception to the rule here on the list.
5. Stranger by the Lake (2013)
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In this unashamedly French production, the highlight is a lake used by gay naturists in search of adventure. There is frontal nudity and oral sex. In an interview with the magazine Cahiers du Cinemadirector and screenwriter Alain Guiraudie says that the idea there is to show different profiles of men – from the inveterate catcher to the one who falls in love easily.
6. Shortbus (2006)
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The “ShortBus” in the title is a nightclub where regulars go to solve their sexual problems. In order not to embarrass the actors in the sex scenes, the film’s technical team worked naked. Another: the participants in the orgies that take place there are credited at the end as “sextras”.
7. Hotel Desire (2011)
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The short film, despite being directed by a 28-year-old German, portrays, with maturity, the effects of sexual abstinence. Of the 38 minutes of duration, ten are dedicated to just one erotic shot, with the right to penetration, oral sex and close-ups of genitals. The main character there is a single mother who ends up giving in to her secret passions and gets involved with a guest at the hotel where she works as a chambermaid.
8. Romance (1999)
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The title is even sweet. But don’t be fooled into thinking this is a love story. It is not. A teacher, tired of her lukewarm relationship with her boyfriend, embarks on a sexual adventure with the school principal. The proposal of the film, directed by French Catherine Breillat, is to question: is it really worth resorting to betrayal to survive a love scratched by routine?
9. Intimacy (2001)
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Put yourself in the protagonist’s shoes: a guy who leads a lonely life, doesn’t earn well and even took a dump on his wife’s ass who, to boot, took their two children away. Sad is not it? But what was supposed to be a drama, until it heated up a little. Without falling into the cliché of romantic films, director Patrice Chéreau created an “almost kindred spirit” for the character. The result? Wild sex scenes, rolling around on the floor of the house, a lot of passion, discussions, but no formal commitment.
10. Antichrist (2009)
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No Lars Von Trier film is easy to digest. Antichrist, even less. Here, a couple deals with the most irreparable of losses – their baby dies in an avoidable accident (in one of the most beautiful scenes in recent cinema history). Dismayed, they head to a country house to see if they can get their heads together, and their relationship right. The isolation, however, makes the guilt grow – guilt that Lars Von Trier portrays in a surrealist way, with nature turning against the couple. About the actual sex scenes? Screw it. This movie is way bigger than them. Furthermore, the sexual part there is not to turn anyone on – the director’s idea is to do the opposite.