Defend the Indefensible: psychologically raw films about sexual obsession

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

the only other film mentioned here i can recall seeing is closer (barf)

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??

-- Hubie Brown, Wednesday, May 28, 2008 4:04 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Link

late marriage is amazing, cool tosee someone cite it here

are we talking about films like Porky's

OTM on Late Marriage's sex scenes, I still remember them pretty vividly despite only having seen it once in the theater. Wow, that's a pretty forgotten little movie... from SEVEN years ago, holy crap.

Don't Look Now... I'm not really down with that one, but I remember being really annoyed at the staging of the clumsy sex scenes when I was watching it.

Yeah, it was all "WOW REALISTIC SEX" at the time, hmm, realistic bouncy castle more like!

maybe Sex & Lucia??

I always liked its foreign title more, which was "Lucia y El Sexo". I keep imagining there being some guy, possibly a superhero, who is known as El Sexo.

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!