The debate around loving or hating the sex scene is forever ongoing, and Gregg Araki’s erotic comedy thriller is the latest addition to this cinematic canon. The film is a BDSM-loaded chronicling of the kinky relationship between a provocative artist (Olivia Wilde) and her young lover-turned-muse (Cooper Hoffman).
Some say audiences are turned off by raunchiness on the big screen, but the popularity of , and seems to argue the opposite. Regardless, the presence of eroticism is constantly evolving in cinema. Following the release of , here are 10 erotic dramas, from stylish neo-noirs to lesbian thrillers to sun-soaked spectacles, that will satiate your craving for the steamy, spicy and sensual.
Before , Lana and Lilly Wachowski directed , an erotic crime thriller that bristles with sex and violence. Made on a shoestring budget, follows the surreptitious affair of Violet (Jennifer Tilly), the girlfriend of a mob leader, and lesbian ex-convict Corky (Gina Gershon). The neo-noir is seductively stylish and unapologetically sexy – even the act of fixing a kitchen sink is somehow incredibly hot – with leather, lace and a whole lot of sex.
Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman are the stars of Stanley Kubrick’s final film, an erotic psychological thriller where a married couple’s individual sexual fantasies threaten to tear them apart. When Kidman’s Alice admits to having sexual fantasies about another man, Cruise’s Bill embarks on an erotic odyssey with an underground secret society, where “meetings” turn out to be masked orgies. orbits the power of seduction intertwined with the couple’s clashing journeys of jealousy and obsession.
The most memorable image of is three bodies pressed together on the dance floor, moving in sync like one symbiotic, alluring creature. This captivating trio, two Mexican teens (Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna) and a Spanish woman in her late twenties (Maribel Verdú), are the heart of Alfonso Cuarón’s titillating road trip film. Yearning meets eroticism in an intoxicating fusion as the group drives towards the ocean, learning about themselves and each other along the way.
Naked skin bared to the sun is a repeating motif in legendary French filmmaker François Ozon’s . This free-wheeling portrait of sexuality centres on a crime novelist (Charlotte Rampling) staying at her publisher’s Southern France summerhouse when Julie (Ludivine Sagnier), claiming to be the publisher’s daughter, arrives in a whirlwind of chaos, crime and flirtation. Sensual days lounging by the pool descend into an intriguing genre blend of eroticism and thriller.
Stranger by the Lake (2013)
This intoxicating, sexually explicit thriller unfolds in rural France, on the shores of a lake that is a popular cruising spot for gay men. It’s here that Franck (Pierre Deladonchamps) develops a potent infatuation for the mysterious Michel (Christophe Paou), an attractive but dangerous man. Stowed-away desire surfaces with perverse pleasure in this thought-provoking drama, as eroticism meets murderous intent.
The Duke of Burgundy (2014)
There’s a smouldering sensuality about The Duke of Burgundy, a film that holds its cards close to its chest, making its reveal all the more compelling. Peter Strickland’s erotic romance charts the relationship dynamics of lepidopterology lecturer Cynthia (Sidse Babett Knudsen) and her maid Evelyn (Chiara D’Anna), two women who are involved in a sapphic sadomasochistic fantasy with rituals of domination and submission. Particularly compelling is the film’s examination of erotic desires and taboos when the women arrive at a crossroads in their cravings.
A Bigger Splash (2015)
Luca Guadagnino is the maestro of seductive cinema, but before Call Me By Your Name, and , there was A Bigger Splash. Set on an isolated island off the Sicilian coast, the poolside drama simmers with scintillating heat as Guadagnino mines into the depth of desire. Tilda Swinton, Matthias Schoenaerts, Ralph Fiennes and Dakota Johnson star as vacationers whose uninhibited sexuality threatens the dynamics of this quartet. From skinny dipping to shirtless dancing, the romp sees bodies as vessels for eroticism under the Mediterranean sun.
(2016)
Erotic obsession is the intense throughline of Park Chan-wook’s psychological thriller set in 1930s South Korea. chronicles an illicit romance between a Japanese heiress and her handmaiden, where every lingering look and light touch is sexually charged. Waves of horny tension ripple through the film as titillating scenes of mounting intimacy are unashamedly erotic and fiercely stylish.
Good Luck to You, Leo Grande (2022)
In Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, sex is front and centre, striking an impactful balance between steamy and moving. Crucially, Sophie Hyde’s film locates a character often exempt from the mainstream erotic genre canon: the middle-aged woman. With a focus on her sexual pleasure – a retired school teacher (Emma Thompson) who hires a male sex worker (Daryl McCormack) – it’s a more grounded portrait of eroticism.
Twenty-five years after , Kidman returns to the erotic cinematic canon in with a magnetic performance. Written, directed and produced by Halina Reijn, the kinky thriller centres on the torrid affair between a domineering CEO (Kidman) and her younger intern (Harris Dickinson). However, in the bedroom, their office power dynamic is reversed, and refuses to shy away from a woman’s pleasure. Also, the carnal film gives new meaning to a glass of milk and George Michael’s “Father Figure”.