Boundary-pushing
sex scenes in film

It seems the interest in BDSM sex has never been higher. We’ve taken a look at the kinkiest scenes and characters that pushed boundaries in films.

Gone are the days erotica was stuffed under your pillow and read in the dead of night, and we’re expecting the films that follow will be kinkier still. We’ve had a look at the sex scenes and kinky characters that pushed boundaries in film...

SECRETARY

Long before Ana met Christian, there was another Mr Grey calling the shots. The BDSM relationship that blossomed between lawyer E. Edward Grey and his secretary, Lee Holloway, thrust S&M into the spotlight when Secretary was released in 2002. Who could forget dog collar, or Edward spanking Lee over his desk? The BDSM in Secretary is experimental, exciting and willing, skirting stereotypes of submissive women and head towards another aspect of relationships - intimacy. For all its potentially scandalous material, director Steven Shainberg creates moments of tenderness as the relationship between the two develops, and their fringe sexual desires lead them to fall in love. It's one to way to keep the marriage exciting.


© Secretary Twopoundbag Productions, Double A Films, SloughPond Co. 2002

DON'T LOOK NOW

One of the key films in the horror genre doesn't seem like a likely candidate for boundary-pushing sex, but Don't Look Now's sex scene still causes a stir over 40 years later. Released in 1973, the film is a tragic and haunting look at a couple dealing with the death of their child. In one scene, with an intense, powerful release of emotion, the protagonists (Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie) engage in such passionate, trembling, realistic sex the actors are still fighting off rumours that it was - er - unsimulated. Even more pioneering, the scene included an ultra-rare depiction of cunnilingus. That's our kind of sex scene.


© Don't Look Now Casey Productions, Eldorado Films. 1973

Brokeback Mountain

It was as recent as 2005 that cinema saw its first explicit gay sex scene. Brokeback Mountain followed the difficult, vulnerable and complicated relationship between Wyoming cowboys Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist, portrayed by Hollywood heartthrobs Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal. The film attracted some negative response for its love scenes, which was largely drowned out by international acclaim and multiple Academy Award nominations. Today, Brokeback Mountain is considered pioneering for its depiction of a same-sex relationship in a classic romance; the film sidestepped the gay interest niche to be remembered as a modern, mainstream tale of star-crossed lovers.


© Brokeback Mountain River Road Entertainment, Good Machine. 2005

Last Tango in Paris

Bernardo Bertolucci's notorious Last Tango in Paris was unleashed upon a scandalised world in 1972. Widely censured and frequently banned, the film follows the middle-aged, widowed Paul, played by Marlon Brando, who begins an anonymous sexual relationship with the much younger Jeanne (Maria Schneider). The film has sparked years of scrutiny, criticism and conversation on its use of sex and violence, which rather than the naughty good-time viewing audiences were after, featured frequently degrading and explicit sex scenes between two hurt, damaged individuals. Not least is the film's most notorious scene, in which the protagonists have anal sex with the aid of butter. We recommend a good, silicone-based lube.


© Last Tango in Paris PEA Predozioni Europee Associate S.A.S. Les Productions Artistes Associes S.A.

A Dangerous Method

Period costumes, spanking and Michael Fassbender? We're sold already. David Cronenburg's A Dangerous Method depicts real-life psychologist Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightley), who was admitted to a Swiss mental hospital as a student and was treated by Carl Jung, played here by Michael Fassbender. Using Freud's then-experimental talking cure, Jung works through Sabina's fierce sexual repression from her entwined feelings toward humiliation and sexual arousal. The two begin an affair, toying with bondage and a good helping of spanking, with Jung addressing his own suspicions that submitting to healthy sexual impulses may turn out to be good for you, after all. We can't argue with that.


© A Dangerous Method Recorded Picture Company, Telefilm Canada. 2011