Real, unsimulated SEX on screen. On the verge of pornography
The mundane elements of everyday life appear in virtually every film. Even so prosaic, usually irrelevant to the plot, an activity like eating can make the presented reality a little more credible, even if the viewer is not fully aware of it. The art of acting, in the simplest, most shallow sense, is pretending, but drinking or writing isn’t always simulated. After all, why pretend to eat when you can actually eat something? It doesn’t make much difference. The problem arises when the topic of physical intimacy comes up. Many actors and actresses admit that shooting scenes in bed can be tiring and sometimes even embarrassing.
This is an extremely controversial approach. Some believe that sexual intercourse is such a natural part of human life that it is no different from the already mentioned food. Others argue that sex is a sphere so intimate that it should not be dragged out into the public eye and turned into cinematic pornography. This remains a debatable issue, depending on the sensitivity and sense of morality of individual viewers. The fact is, however, that the authentic sex depicted on the screen has found its way into several more or less commercial cinema works and has always provoked extremely different reactions. Therefore, we present eight more famous productions operating in the standard cinema circuit, in which the actors really indulged in carnal games.
In the Realm of the Senses (1976) reż. N. Ôshima
One of the most controversial films in history, based on facts, telling the story of a strictly erotic relationship between a cleaning lady Sada Abe and her boss. In the Realm of the Senses was banned in the US immediately after its premiere at the New York Film Festival in 1976, and was not released in the UK until 24 years later, exclusively on DVD. The film suffered a similar fate in many other countries. Nagisa Ôshima is not just looking for a simple scandal, because his work reveals a clear aesthetic bent. In the Realm of the Senses also explores the subject of anti-militarism, but above all it is about sensuality and carnality, in this case shown in a literal way. All the sex scenes here are authentic, and since the theme is a sexual relationship, the characters do not limit themselves to, so to speak, the simplest ideas.
Caligula (1979) reż. T. Brass, B. Guccione, G. Lui
A classic of controversial cinema bordering on pornography. Caligula wasn’t originally intended to be a movie with real sex scenes. Director Tinto Brass did shoot a lot of orgies, but they were all acted out. Then the producers came to the fore, who demanded that real sexual relations recorded on the tape be placed. Brass refused and was barred from editing the film, which allowed producer/writer Bob Guccione to do more porn. As a result, Caligula gained a reputation as a pornographic drama, and Tinto Brass disowned it. To this day, this film is probably one of the most famous examples of breaking this taboo in cinema, and it remains in the minds of viewers also because of its excellent cast, which includes such names as Malcolm McDowell, Helen Mirren, Peter O’Toole and John Gielgud.
The Brown Bunny (2003) reż. V. Gallo
A film that evokes different reactions not only because of the oral sex scene shot in close-up. The Brown Bunny , a directorial project by Vincent Gallo, for some is a melancholy, hypnotic representative of a road movie with a strong psychological twist, for others it is pretentious boredom devoid of any artistic value. It all depends on the recipient. Roger Ebert called The Brown Bunny the worst film in the history of the Cannes Film Festival, to which Gallo replied in not very elegant way. The fact is, however, that most viewers, if they remember the image of the actor-director from 2003, associate it mainly with the aforementioned scene. Chloë Sevigny (American Psycho), explained that The Brown Bunny is an art film and reproached the audience for concentrating on this one scene. The actress, although met with great criticism, is still active in the industry and is doing no worse than before her appearance in Gallo’ film. The issue for individual consideration is the sense of placing and filming real oral sex in the movie.
9 Songs (2004) reż. M. Winterbottom
Michael Winterbottom’s picture is probably the first film that has sparked such a huge discussion (especially in Great Britain) about the presence of unsimulated sex in mainstream cinema. 9 Songs is rich in authentic erotic scenes, in many variations – after all, the plot tells about the romance of two characters who, to put it simply, “have sex during the day, go to concerts at night”. Music is a very important part of Winterbottom’s film, because eponymous nine songs are the live performances attended by the characters. Many believe that this musical journey is the greatest advantage of 9 Songs. Some even think that it is the only one, claiming that the film by the British director, apart from concerts and numerous sex scenes, does not have much to offer the viewer and focuses too much on style.
Dogtooth (2009) reż. Y. Lanthimos
The cinema of Yorgos Lanthimos is undoubtedly specific and when watching his films, it is not uncommon for something to tug in the stomach. This does not mean, however, that the Greek uses abomination or exaggerated naturalism. It’s more about the world he creates – gray, devoid of emotions, especially compassion and openness. Dogtooth fits into the characteristic poetics of Lanthimos’s works. The film tells the story of a dysfunctional family that has separated its adult children from the outside world and brings them up in its own specific, degenerate way. In one of the scenes, the parents watch a pornographic film, and the Greek director, wanting to further emphasize the atmosphere of degeneration, films the recording in close-up for a few seconds. So it’s not real sex in Dogtooth, but sex in the porn shown in Dogtooth. In the film itself, however, there is a brief moment in which a sexual close-up actually occurs. This takes place in a scene of incestuous sex between brother and sister, during which the man’s genitals are genuinely stimulated. Lanthimos, as always, shows the complete degeneration of man and Dogtooth is the best example of this.
Nymphomaniac (2013) reż. L. von Trier
The film, which among those listed, probably reached the widest audience, probably mainly thanks to its creator. Lars von Trier is undoubtedly a controversial director who deals with difficult topics, and in this case he tackled the problem of nymphomania. Fortunately, the Dane’s film does not end there, because it cannot be said that Nymphomaniac is not a fictional and psychologically complex work. And it would be a bit silly to talk about such a topic and avoid sexual perversions. However, there is a catch in von Trier’s film. It is not the actors who have sex on the screen, but their stunt doubles who come strictly from the porn industry. As explained by Louise Vesth, the producer of the film, during post-production, the genitals of porn actors having sex were computer-drawn on the bodies of, among others Charlotte Gainsbourg (so was the Antichrist). In addition, sometimes artificial vaginas were used during the filming of individual scenes. Thus, although in Nymphomaniac we do see unsimulated intercourse on the screen, it is not performed by a professional film actress.
Stranger by the Lake (2013) reż. A. Guiraudie
Stranger by the Lake, awarded at the Cannes Film Festival, is a relatively rare example of a film containing real scenes of sexual intercourse that received such unanimous critical acclaim. Many of them even included the movie of Alain Guiraudi in the list of the best works of 2013. Stranger… tells the story of a love affair between two men lined with a criminal story. The action takes place on a beach for gays and nudists, many of whom count only on casual sex – hence the presence of numerous naked male bodies and several intercourse scenes in the film. Stranger by the Lake, however, uses a similar trick as Nymphomaniac, and in the naturalistically depicting close-ups of the characters, the actors have been replaced with doubles. Were these scenes necessary here? As usual, this remains to be assessed by individual viewers.
Love (2015) reż. G. Noé
The latest film in this list and one of the most famous, precisely because of the sex present in it and the unique creator. Gaspar Noé has always shocked, mainly with extremely naturalistic scenes of violence, but this time he bet on authentic sex scenes. Of course, their presence is related to the theme of the film itself, i.e. memories of an old romance of the main character. Noé included scenes of sexual intercourse between the three main characters lasting several minutes (in different, let’s call it, configurations) in his work, and the director usually did not coordinate the close-ups of his actors in bed. Love met with mixed feelings among the audience: some praised the courage in showing something as mundane in human life as sex, others accused Gaspar Noé of making an aesthetic porno (it is worth noting that the film was also shown in 3D).
Dawid Konieczka