Defend the Indefensible: psychologically raw films about sexual obsession

The film spawned two direct-to-video sequels, Another 9½ Weeks in 1997 and The First 9½ Weeks in 1998.

I hate movies where people have sex, and then SUFFER for it. It's just puritanism in disguise.

i liked in the cut

but it was more like In the Cunt, amirite?

akm I did see that one and it was pretty light on the psychology, I have to sa

y

imagine a breezy, sun-dappled comedy where naomi watts takes her shirt off. you can't really, it could never exist.

french movies to thread?

What, like Belle du Jour?

the sequel to 9 1/2 weeks is beyond retarded

if Adrian Lyne had actually directed a sequel to 9 1/2 weeks and called it Beyond Retarded he would be officially the greatest man of all times

tbh the conjection of the name "naomi watts" with "breezy" and "sun-dappled" and "shirt off" is causing my entire brain to seize up completely

i cunt even spell right

Most of these films are a step away from Skinamax, admittedly. I don't watch most of them because they embarrass me, even if I'm watching them with my wife. Even Swimming Pool made me uncomfortable (also, it sucked).

yes this is kind of an american pathology, but those people eat snails dude

i will grant you that the french definition of "comedy" often looks suspiciously like "cruel weirdness"

nothing wrong with films of this type, a lot of them are great.

I really rate Tinto Brass, who usually gets lumped in with this stuff, but his work contains no inexplicable misery - or puritanism - whatsoever.

http://www.reelingreviews.com/eaglevssharkpic.jpg

worst movie i have ever seen ^

imagine a breezy, sun-dappled comedy where naomi watts takes her shirt off. you can't really, it could never exist.

im just glad we can all agree on this breezy, sun-dappled comedy where naomi watts takes her shirt off and that vera farmiga looks exactly like marilyn manson

what is that still from?

oh I found it never mind

"the piano teacher" is good but it is strange even for haneke and strange even in the context of most of the films here (besides "ai no corrida"). i liked "in the cut" but i wouldn't try to defend it.

films about sexual obsessions can be good if the sex is only an excuse for a more profound idea.
such is the case of Last Tango, that though it aged, still has it's powers and Kubrick's Lolita,(or Nabokov's one) for example.

someone just tell me what movies with sex are legitimately good so i can have an excuse to watch them

The Idiots by Von Trier imo

john d madly otm.

a dangerous, unstable love affair that challenges identities and cauterizes the senses

News item: Relationships make you crazy. Sex makes you crazy. Shit gets intense. Regrets, had a few.

Have I ever engaged in ugly, repeated consensual rape with an anonymous French girl in an empty apartment because I'm trying to hurt myself because I am wracked with guilt and in the middle of a complete emotional meltdown because my mentally ill wife just committed messy suicide? No. No I have not. I cannot tell a lie. But I don't see how a movie about same is indefensible.

The Idiots was pretty awesome.

the thing is, Tango has more to what youve just said.otherwise it would be as bad as 9 and a half weeks\

xpost

someone just tell me what movies with sex are legitimately good so i can have an excuse to watch them

Eyes Wide Shut - but the actual sexing is separated from the character whose obsession we're following (or simply covered up in the American version)

I don't have the faintest what "cauterizing the senses" might involve but relationships that 1) were genuinely dangerous to my physical health and 2) did a fucking number on my identity 3) involved ugly, repeated consensual rape with an anonymous French girl in an empty apartment because I'm trying to hurt myself because I am wracked with guilt and in the middle of a complete emotional meltdown because my mentally ill wife just committed messy suicide, umm, yeah, anybody who hasn't had one or two of those hasn't really lived IMO

-- J0hn D., Tuesday, May 27, 2008 6:32 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Link

OTM

Are we talking about Crash here? I thought that was legit...well almost. The Idiots was great, it was fantastic. I can't explain why though.
Zeno sums it up.

plus The Dreamers, which is THE WORST MOVIE EVER

I think I liked this.

Idiots is the ultimate rebel against bourgeoisie and praising the individualism movie, thats why

xpost

say it ain't so, Hoos, say it ain't so

have never seen the Idiots but Zeno's description makes it sound like it was designed by robots specifically so that i would hate it

it's a one trick pony of a movie, but it's the best Dogma example probably

(though it has only one explicit sex scene, a porno like orgy)

Prove me wrong, but from what I've seen, any movie that thinks it's high art and also wants to titillate you is going to be faintly ridiculous (at best). cf. "Henry and June"

I can't remember the exact quote or who said it, but it's something like, "There's nothing as fascinating as your own sexual fantasies, and nothing as absurd as someone else's."

how is that Lukas Moodysson movie - a hole in my heart?
havent seen it, though i very much like the other that i saw

'consensual rape', that's a good one

(credit where due -- stole that from Nick Cave. "All we wanted was a little consensual rape in the morning and maybe a bit more in the evening.")

somewhat relevant observations:

Diane Lane is really good in Unfaithful. The movie itself, meh.

Exotica by Atom Egoyan is always stocked in those sections in video stores though it isn't quite a "sexual thriller" or whatever. It's good.

Good "sex movies": Don't Look Now and Late Marriage (recent semi-obscure foreign flick with one of the best, most natural sex scenes ever.)

maybe Sex & Lucia??

Mr. & Mrs. Smith

I probably give some of these types of films too much the benefit of the doubt.

yeah exotica isn't anything like any of these, despite the american cover art

There were a lot of this kind of films people would rent at a video store where I worked, I think just bcz they were too embarrassed to go into a porn store? Bcz they were obv just looking for boobies. Popular ones:

• Sex & Lucia (has 'sex' in the title)
• Caligula (I kind of felt for these soon-to-be-disappointed thwarted masturbators)
• Wild Things
• Naked Tai-Chi

Okay maybe only one of these counts as title question?

exotica is bullshit!! canadians into strippers? and a rare animal smuggling ring? is that what happens, i don't remember. and the dialogue is like an episode of dr. katz.

does à nos amours belong on this thread? it's really good

http://bestmessageboardever.com/style_images/1/folder_post_icons/icon74.gifhttp://bestmessageboardever.com/style_images/1/folder_post_icons/icon74.gifhttp://bestmessageboardever.com/style_images/1/folder_post_icons/icon74.gif
Writer-director Meg Richman transplants Henry James' classic novel The Wings of the Dove to Seattle's 1990s grunge scene.

Writer-director Meg Richman transplants Henry James' classic novel The Wings of the Dove to Seattle's 1990s grunge scene.

Writer-director Meg Richman transplants Henry James' classic novel The Wings of the Dove to Seattle's 1990s grunge scene.

totally. molly parker is terrible.

that list is like everything wrong with english-canadian cinema

still, would smash

BLISS is a movie every couple, married or not, should see to better improve their relationship with their partner on not only a sexual level, but an emotional and spiritual level as well. Many viewers will not go beyond the initial subject of sexual abuse plot setup and thus will miss the pure meat of this film. After the introduction of the sex therapist, dramatic and subtle secrets are revealed on how to woo and keep a partner intimately aroused. Anyone who has engaged in tantric sex knows that there is more to "the act" than just a localized feeling...that it can be experienced with the total body and for absolute endless hours! This is not orgy, but is rather arrived at with a slow hand and a controlled spirit. This is the first movie to delve into the God Power of the sexual act. Brilliantly written, exquisitely filmed, and supurbly acted, I would say this is one of my most treasured & recommended films.

107 out of 123 people found this review helpful.

shes good in deadwood

The mixed reviews say more about the viewers than the film. First, this is a film with sex in it, not a sex flick. It has excellent cinematography, score, acting, production values. And yes, a handful of sex scenes. The sex is grown-up, hot, emotional, and intense, but not explicit (no genitals). In short, it is serious. Can you handle it? Get past the sex to really appreciate it. I say rare because few films can handle sex directly without being voyeuristic or falling back to violence or juvenile humor to defuse the tension. Four stars for this film, and an extra one for breaking the tired old mold.

51 out of 55 people found this review helpful.

I think that if men could understand the deeper levels of sexuality that this movie demonstrates, there would be fewer divorces.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

I know some of you disagree, but Bitter Moon is a terrible entry in this genre.

OK there the NFT over here appear to be doing a whole season of this stuff.

I've seen Realm of the Senses and Onibaba, both are very good.

ey thanks 2 everyone who talked up 'late marriage', what a great movie

Aren't *all* films w/ Sex in, stylised?

how many actual 'couplings' in a film, can you say reflects anything you have actually done to a greater extent?

I'm not saying 'none', there's just so few of them.

28

yeah 'late marriage' is great.

xpost OK, names!