Sex in Cinema Week continues at Consequence with our list of the best movie sex scenes. For more analysis of the Hays Code and what society labels taboo, check out our essays, interviews, and lists examining censorship of movie sex scenes and the creativity it inspired in filmmakers.
In exploring the concept of Sex in Cinema, we here at Consequence felt that it made sense to include a celebration of film’s greatest achievements when it comes to capturing the complicated concept of human sexuality. There’s one catch, of course: You, gentle reader, are not going to agree 100 percent with this list.
And that’s okay! No one will ever agree 100 percent all the time on what makes a particular scene sexy, as sexiness is ultimately a subjective quality. What we are attempting here, though, is to celebrate not just the most obvious moments of eroticism that have been featured on the big screen since the dawn of cinema, but to consider all possible definitions of titillating.
That means that in compiling options, we did not require that the scene in question include explicit nudity or sexual content; in certain contexts, after all, an illicit touching of hands or a stolen dance can be just as charged and intense as two (or more) people going at it hard. Though don’t worry — there are plenty of examples of the latter here as well.
Drawing from a century’s worth of film means accepting that some of these sequences might not have been filmed using the kinds of standards that modern-day intimacy coordinators oversee on today’s sets. However, films like Last Tango in Paris, where at least one participant has since called out a lack of consent on set, were removed from consideration. Because knowing that a scene was a violation is just not sexy.
Again, what is sexy is up to the individual. However, what we can embrace on a universal level is that the best films, across the board, do what they can to say something about human nature, and sex is an intrinsic part of that nature. It’s how the vast majority of us arrived on this planet, after all. And it’s a fun way to pass the time, while we’re lucky enough to be here.
— Liz Shannon Miller
Senior Entertainment Editor
