Category Archives: Erotic

1972 Films, Art, Drama, Erotic, Top 10 Most Disturbing Films, Top 250 Films

Last Tango in Paris-1972

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Last Tango in Paris-1972

Director Bernardo Bertolucci

Starring Marlon Brando, Maria Schneider

Top 250 Films #178

Top 10 Most Disturbing Films #8

Scott’s Review #202

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Reviewed December 5, 2014

Grade: A-

Last Tango in Paris is a very dark 1972 erotic art film directed by Bernardo Bertolucci (The Conformist, 1970), starring Marlon Brando as a disturbed, angry American man named Paul, whose wife has committed suicide.

He is left to survive on his own in Paris, lost and without her, where he runs a decrepit apartment complex.

Lonely and bitter, he meets a much younger Parisian woman (Maria Schneider), equally disturbed for different reasons, and they forge a relationship that is sometimes brutal and degrading but also contains mutual affection and need.

They are addicted to each other.

This film may very well be my favorite performance by Marlon Brando. He plays a hateful, unpleasant character, yet something about him is appealing, and the viewer sympathizes with his grief.

That is to Brando’s credit, of course. A lesser actor would not be as effective.

He is damaged, treats everyone like shit, but there is also a vulnerability to him that is mesmerizing to watch. Brando was such a great method actor that he morphed into the characters he played. Paul is certainly having the most raw and emotional performance of his career.

Actress Maria Schneider is also tremendous in the film. Equally disturbed, her character Jeanne experienced a vastly different upbringing- that of wealth and pampering.

She has a fiancé who loves her dearly, yet she is drawn to the power and abuse of Paul- the fact that he is an older man is sexy to her.

I kept thinking, “What is wrong with this woman?” She seemingly has everything, yet she yearns for excitement. Is Paul a fling for her? Does she care about him, or is she using him? Is he using her? Could they be using each other?

The film raises many psychological questions. Jeanne is clearly in emotional turmoil. Both Jeanne and Paul are.

Last Tango in Paris is a difficult film to watch- several scenes are unpleasant, even brutal, but it is a character study of two damaged individuals.

When Paul anally penetrates Jeanne on the floor of his apartment, forcing her to recite gibberish, it is almost too much to bear. Paul wants to know nothing about Jeanne. He does not want to know her name, her past, nothing- complete anonymity. He lives for the present, and their sex is animalistic, filled with lust and need.

But these examples are a testament to the power of Last Tango in Paris. It is not boring.

The finale leaves you wondering what will happen to Jeanne. Will she commit suicide? Will she return to her fiancé and life of luxury, her affair with Paul over? Was the affair only a fling for her, or does she love Paul?

The film is a dark, tragic, romantic story. It is brutal, raw, and honest, and is not to be missed.

Oscar Nominations: Best Director-Bernardo Bertolucci, Best Actor- Marlon Brando

2002 Films, Erotic, Thriller

Unfaithful-2002

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Unfaithful-2002

Director Adrian Lyne

Starring Diane Lane, Richard Gere

Scott’s Review #1,278

Reviewed July 21, 2022

Grade: A-

Unfaithful (2002) is an American version of the brilliant 1969 French film The Unfaithful Wife, directed by Claude Chabrol.

Directed by Adrian Lyne, best known for the smoldering, creepy Fatal Attraction (1987), which earned him an Academy Award nomination for directing, Unfaithful is unsurprisingly brimming with the same eroticism and sexual ferocity.

What’s exceptional about it is the character development and the empathy felt for the characters and their convictions.

This makes Unfaithful work.

To say it’s watered down from the Chabrol version is a bit unfair, because it has an identity all its own. However, his version is superior in terms of suspense and, naturally, more French from a cinematic perspective.

Lyne’s film is slicker and wrapped up tighter, and much more mainstream-it does the job well and provides compelling entertainment.

In both films, the subject matter of guilt runs rampant.

Edward (Richard Gere) and Connie (Diane Lane) live seemingly happily in their upper-middle-class Westchester County, New York neighborhood.

When Edward learns that Connie has lied to him about an affair, suspicion leads him to uncover the devastating truth about her infidelity with Paul (Olivier Martinez), the hunky man who has captured her heart.

He confronts Connie’s ‘boy toy,’ which results in a deadly accident caused by Edward’s surprising rage. Edward must cover up the truth as detectives question both him and Connie about their involvement with Paul.

Can their marriage survive the damage?

The Hallmark television movie’s premise gains tremendous credibility thanks to the fantastic performances by Lane, Gere, and Martinez.

The standout is Lane, whom the audience may relate to a bit more than the other two. She gives Connie a tired, weary tone. She appreciates her good life but is nonetheless bored with it.

Some may relate to her, but others will shame her for her infidelity.

Each character provides their motivation for their character’s actions. The stoic chemistry between Lane and Gere’s characters perfectly balances the lusty dynamic between Lane and Martinez.

Wisely, the story is one that most married couples can deem true. When the romance wanes, sometimes the doldrums result.

Connie doesn’t set out to cheat on Edward, but the repetition of raising their eight-year-old son and of casserole Wednesdays leads her to seize an unexpected opportunity.

The rainy, windy setup with a sexy young French artist at her fingertips is smoldering with intrigue. The lusty scenes between Connie and Paul are rich with sex, like when they bathe together and make love in Paul’s hallway.

The titillating chemistry works well.

A clever scene in a coffee shop is daringly good. Connie’s girlfriends drool with delight as Paul walks by them, completely unaware that he is Connie’s new beau. How jealous they’d be if they knew the truth.

The face-off scene between Edward and Paul is shrouded with machismo as both struggle for the upper hand, toying with each other for power.

The tone shifts to one of Hitchcockian intrigue as Edward and Connie must forge an alliance and cover up their actions.

Not trusting each other, they have an interesting dynamic among themselves about what they tell and what they keep hidden from the flocking detectives.

After all, an upstanding white couple couldn’t possibly be involved in murder, could they, the detectives ponder?

Easily serving as the opening act to the more famous Lyne offering, Fatal Attraction, Unfaithful (2002) draws parallels with it.

They successfully manipulate the audience in a good way, using intrigue, thrills, and flesh to elicit a ‘glued to their seats’ result.

Sometimes, a good, old-fashioned thrill ride is just what the doctor ordered.

Oscar Nominations: Best Actress-Diane Lane

2002 Films, Erotic, Thriller

Femme Fatale-2002

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Femme Fatale-2002

Director Brian De Palma

Starring Antonio Banderas, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos

Scott’s Review #1,137

Reviewed April 28, 2021

Grade: B+

The plot of Femme Fatale (2002) is muddy, to say the least, and I was left perplexed by the details by the time the film concluded.

I had to review a synopsis to figure out what happened, but I was willing to do so.

But let’s remember that Brian De Palma directs it, so the beauty lies in the visual style and stimulation, which make the film pay off in spades.

Probably more similar to a modern De Palma film like 2012’s underrated and underappreciated Passion than more familiar turf like Carrie (1976) or Dressed to Kill (1980), Femme Fatale has juicy trademarks that only fans of the director will immediately notice and revel in.

The entire experience that De Palma creates is titillating, erotic, fetishistic, and thrilling. It’s an enrapturing piece.

Unfortunately, Femme Fatale was a box-office dud but has since amassed a cult following, likely due to legions of De Palma fans who appreciate the film’s strong style.

Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, with legs for miles and an abdomen to fry eggs off of, stars as Laure Ash, a master manipulator, who takes part in one last jewel theft, intending to leave behind her life of crime.

Her intention predictably doesn’t turn out so well, but Laura sure does look great in her leather-clad outfits and affair with a female supermodel.

Later, Romijn-Stamos also plays an odd character named Lily, who is suicidal.

Reinvented under the presumption of a respectable married woman, Laura captures the attention of eager photographer Nicolas (Antonio Banderas).

He becomes mesmerized by the elusive woman amid the gorgeous locales of Paris and accidentally shatters her carefully crafted world through his photography.

The steamy women’s bathroom love scene between Laura, who is bisexual, and Veronica, a model with a diamond gold ensemble top, is not just a male chauvinistic turn-on, but hugely important to the storyline.

Laura is supposedly in cahoots with thugs “Black Tie” and Racine, who aggressively wait outside the restroom, but is Laura double-crossing them both? Is she partnered in crime with Veronica, or is she just a mark?

The riddles of the plot are both positive and negative, especially when one scene plays out twice, midstream and during the finale.

There is a mystique that forces the viewer to give up any attempt at comprehension or plausibility regarding Laura, her motivations, and modus operandi.

I chose to immerse myself in the bevy of trimmings that De Palma tosses our way like a hungry dog salivating over a bone.

He borrows a bit from the best of Alfred Hitchcock’s films (when doesn’t he?) and his own, neither a bad thing. The most obvious is from the 1954 masterpiece, Rear Window, an orgy of fetishism, which appears throughout, mostly concerning Nicolas as he spies on Laura again and again, almost obsessively.

Romijn-Stamos isn’t the best actress in the biz, and Banderas would grow as an actor after this film. Still, Femme Fatale is about style, not Academy Award acting, and the beauty is trying to figure out a puzzle and being startled by a twist ending and a replay of the events to provide some explanation.

The twist is quite a doozy and had me rethink the entire film. Plot holes be damned, it was a very good reveal, but it also made most of the rest of the film a bit worthless.

Femme Fatale (2002) will never reach the upper echelons of the best of Brian De Palma’s films, but it’s hardly a waste of time to give it a spin, either.

Forgetting the steaminess altogether, the film is for European appreciating viewers with the astounding and plentiful sequences in and around Paris.

2005 Films, Drama, Erotic, French, International, International Drama

Ma Mère-2005

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Ma Mère-2005

Director Christophe Honoré

Starring Isabelle Huppert, Louis Garrel

Scott’s Review #1,103

Reviewed January 21, 2021

Grade: A

Brilliant French film actress Isabelle Huppert turns in another outstanding performance in Ma Mère (2005).

The film is a daring and sometimes shocking experience, met with mostly derision by fans and critics alike. The subject matter is hard for the weak of heart to take, understand, or even endure.

The taboo nature of incest is what the film is about, but also the dark and far reaches of the human psyche and emotion—a heavy and ingenious film, in which the filmmakers dare to go.

I found it brilliant.

Fun fact– Ma Mère was rated NC-17 when it was released in the United States. The reason was “strong and aberrant sexual content”.

Despite the sexual fetishism, there is NO drug use.

Huppert plays a recently widowed and sexually adventurous woman named Hélène. She is visited by her young and restless son, Pierre (Garrel), just before his father’s death, when he plans to reside with his parents on their lavish island villa.

Instead of mourning the loss of her husband, Hélène boasts about her infidelities to Pierre as he copes by masturbating to and then urinating on his father’s pornographic magazines.

Ma Mère is not a happy film, but quite intriguing. Of course, the film is French, which automatically gives it a sense of style and sophistication that writer/director Christophe Honoré uses to dazzle the audience.

If the film were American, it would not work at all. The characters need to be European.

An intense attraction develops between mother and son when Pierre struts around the villa naked and broods.

Instead of acting on her impulses, Hélène encourages her uninhibited sex partner Réa (Joana Preiss) to have sex with Pierre.

They do so at a popular shopping and nightlife complex. Hélène looks on longingly as the partially clothed couple makes love in public, with passersby raising no objections.

Hélène appears to be turned on.

Things get stranger when Hélène afterward includes her son in an orgy with her friends. After the orgy, Hélène decides that she must leave her son to travel.

While saying goodbye to Pierre, she implies that something taboo has happened between them and that she must leave to prevent it from happening again.

We are left unsure of what she means.

Hélène’s motivations are unclear, or is she simply a good poker player? Does she feel bad about her attraction to her son, or does she secretly revel in it?

There is a ton of masturbation and jealousy in this film. There is also a hefty dose of sadomasochism and such talk. It’s for the extremely adult viewer.

Ma Mère leaves the viewer pondering many questions throughout its runtime. Is Hélène a lesbian or just sexually promiscuous? What is the back story with her husband? Do they happily cheat on each other, or what is their arrangement?

I completely get why people wouldn’t be enamored with Ma Mère. It’s a tough watch, though I find myself laughing and wondering if those skeptics are mostly prudes.

I found myself absorbed by the machinations of the characters, especially Pierre and Hélène, and chomping at the bit to figure out what would eventually happen to them.

Spoiler alert- the film does not end happily.

A criticism hurled at Ma Mère is why we should care about the characters. There is nobody to root for. While mother and child partake in orgies and other sexual dalliances, it’s not as if Hélène exactly takes advantage of the boy, nor is he especially likable.

I deem the film fascinating.

For a weird trip inside the minds of sexual deviants and those who love the joy of sex and sexuality, Ma Mère (2005) is a delightful experience.

It’s also creepy shit.

The ending is dire and dreary, making the viewer think long after the film ends. And that is what provocative films do. And so do great films.

Anyone who thinks they have a mommy complex will soon be cured.

Isabelle Huppert does it again.

2005 Films, Black & White, Drama, Erotic, German, International, International Drama

Punish Me-2005

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Punish Me-2005

Director Angelina Maccarone

Starring Maron Kroymann, Kostja Ullman

Scott’s Review #670

Reviewed August 9, 2017

Grade: A-

Punish Me (sometimes titled Hounded) is a provocative 2005 German-language film that pushes boundaries and titillates the viewer with its racy themes of masochism and pedophilia that will be way too much for your average viewer to marinate and digest.

Some may be completely turned off (rather than on) by this film. However, for the edgy thinker, the film is quite the find.

Unique, extreme, and thoughtful, Punish Me is an experience to remember.

Shot entirely in black and white (rare for twenty-first-century cinema), the film appears bleak and harsh, cold almost- and that is no doubt an intentional measure.

The grizzled German landscape (the city is unidentified) gives the film interesting and effective cinematography, transforming the black-and-white imagery exceptionally well, whether the scene is set in daylight or at night.

Something about the black-and-white decision is genius.

Elsa Seifert (Maren Kroymann) is a fifty-year-old probation officer. Married and raising a teenage daughter, she appears to live a stable, middle-class existence.

When one of her charges, Jan (Kostja Ullman), a handsome sixteen-year-old, gives pursuit, their relationship becomes an obsessive, lustful situation for both.

Jan, you see, likes to be sexually beaten, and, at first, hesitant, Elsa slowly gets immersed in Jan’s world.   When other characters begin to catch wind of the situation between Jan and Elsa, the film becomes intense.

Astounding to me is the fact that Punish Me is directed by a woman, Angelina Maccarone. This both surprises and impresses me. Thought-provoking is the female perspective in the film.

Elsa is not an unhappy woman- though she nervously chain-smokes in almost every scene.

She initially has no intention of being sucked into Jan’s eccentricities. As she awkwardly spanks him in their first steamy, sexual encounter, she is gentle, yet she quickly intensifies.

Is she insecure with her middle-aged body? She gets carried away by Jan’s charms, putting both her career and her husband at risk.

Can she stop herself before it’s too late?

One wonders a few things- How would this film feel if a man directed it?

Maccarone centers the perspective on Elsa more than she does Jan- or are we to assume that Jan, at sixteen, is merely experimenting with his sexuality and therefore not the more interesting character?

This was my determination. Elsa has way more to lose than Jan does. We are not sure why Jan is so troubled, to begin with, or why he likes to be beaten- was he abused by his parents? sexually or otherwise? What deep-rooted issues does Elsa have?

I imagined the complexities that would have been offered had the film gone something like this- Elsa is a male character. Would the man-on-boy be too much? Is a female safer than a boy?

One wonders, but if Elsa were a male and Jan a female, I do not think the film would be half as controversial or daring. It would seem more exploitative or, dare I say, conventional.

Instead, Maccarone turns the film into a psychoanalytical feast as we wonder what makes both Elsa and Jan tick and why they enjoy the discipline scene.

Perhaps there is no clearly defined answer.

The supporting characters are not explored very well, other than a fellow troubled girl that Jan beds, commenting that she is too fat (she is not), or Elsa’s husband is revealed to have once had an affair with another woman, pronouncing “it was only sex, not love”.

From this, one concludes that Elsa and her husband will reunite and resume their middle-class life together, but what will become of Jan?

Thanks to effortless direction and good choices by Maccarone, she makes Punish Me (2005) an examine-worthy look at sexuality, desire, and emotions.

Many will loathe the film or not bother to give it the time of day because of the subject matter, but it is a treat for creative cinematic lovers and lovers of analysis.

1995 Films, Camp, Drama, Erotic, Satire, Thriller

Showgirls-1995

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Showgirls-1995

Director Paul Verhoeven

Starring Elizabeth Berkley

Scott’s Review #372

962109

Reviewed January 31, 2016

Grade: D

Having heard much about the infamously poorly reviewed Showgirls (1995) and its reputation as one of the worst films ever made, I finally got around to watching it (twenty years after its release).

Now considered something of a camp classic, I am glad I did.

While I recognize the dubious distinction it holds and do not disagree with it, I also found something slightly entertaining about the film, and my thought process throughout was “this film is so bad that it might be good”, but in the end, it is pretty much just a bad film.

Nomi Malone (Elizabeth Berkley) hitchhikes to Las Vegas, intending to find success as a showgirl.

After her belongings are stolen, she is befriended by a kind-hearted woman named Molly, who works as a seamstress at the topless dance revue Goddess.

Molly takes her in and introduces her to the star of the show, Cristal (Gina Gershon).

A rivalry immediately develops between the women as Cristal mocks Nomi’s job at another topless club.

The main story centers on this rivalry as Nomi attempts to climb the ranks and succeed in the shady world of adult entertainment.

Along the way, she becomes involved with various men, specifically the entertainment director (and Cristal’s boyfriend), Zack, played by Kyle MacLachlan, leading to further tensions.

Let me be honest here- Showgirls is a bad film in every way. I observed three major flaws in the film: poor acting, poor writing, and an over-the-top tone on every level.

Let’s break it down.

Within minutes, I knew the acting was subpar, and I wondered whether that was the fault of the director (Paul Verhoeven), the actors, or a combination.

Known for directing Basic Instinct (a sexy, smoldering film), he may have had the same success in mind for Showgirls.

Berkeley gets the brunt of the mention since she is the lead character, but, wow, what a bad performance.

From the overdramatic delivery to the phony earnestness, I did not buy the performance for a minute and, on more than one occasion, fantasized about how a different actress might have tackled the role (Nicole Kidman and Julia Roberts came to mind).

Gershon was almost worse, as an irritating, brooding pout marred her sexiness and vixen-like character.

The writing is one-dimensional- a poor girl tries to achieve success in a bad, bad world and meets challenge after challenge. Nothing new here.

The predictability was apparent almost immediately, and most of the characters were unlikable. When Nomi takes an interest in a man, he becomes a player, keeping another aspiring female star on the side and feeding her the same lines he gave Nomi.

Even the one sympathetic character (Molly) exists only to make Nomi more likable, as when Molly is attacked and Nomi races to her bedside.

Forced and formulaic, this scene is a prime example of poor and contrived writing.

Most scenes play over the top.

Brimming with nudity and sexual excitement, the film is bawdy and party-friendly. In one scene, dancers take a line of coke before hitting the stage, and a feud between two of them results in one sabotaging the production, causing the other to break her hip.

The larger-than-life (in more than one way) x-rated, well-endowed, mama dancer, while entertaining, is also silly and foolish.

Chaotic and pointless, each scene was hard to believe and take seriously.

You may be wondering what positives can be found in Showgirls- the answer is not many, but there is a charm I found in the film, but perhaps I am gluttonous for punishment.

I think the film “feels” like it wants to have fun, and a certain level of entertainment can be found in viewing it, but this is like trying to find a needle in a haystack to see any good in Showgirls.

I do not disagree that Showgirls (1995) is one of the worst films ever made, but I found a sliver of charm, interest, and fun mixed in with the more prevalent drivel, poor quality, and painfully bad acting.

But perhaps that is because it is so bad.