Nudity in film
The use of sex in film has been controversial since the earliest use of cinematography and the first portrayals of love scenes and nude scenes. Ever since the silent era of film there have been actors and actresses who have shown parts of their bodies or undergarments, or dressed and behaved in ways considered sexually provocative by contemporary standards. Some films have been criticized and/or banned by various religious groups and governments because of this. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_in_film
Related: full frontal nudity - nude, love and sex scene - nudie film genre - mainstream films with unsimulated sex - mainstream erotic movies - sex in film
The portrayal of nudity in American cinema has long been controversial. Because several early films of the silent era featured rampant full nudity and acts bordering on pornography, scenes of nudity were forbidden in mainstream American films by the Hays Code from the 1930s until the 1960s when the MPAA film rating system was instituted. Since then, many films have featured various levels of nudity, however full frontal nudity (especially featuring male anatomy) is still rare in American cinema. Full nudity has gained much wider acceptance in European cinema, where the audience perceive non-pornographic nudity as comparably less controversial than excessively depictured violence. Nudity in a sexual, but non-pornographic, context has however in many European countries remained on the fringe of what is socially aceptable for public shows, although the limits have been pushed during the 20th century. [Sept 2006]
Scene from The Immoral Mr. Teas (1959) - Russ Meyer
image sourced here.
Nudity film list
Noteworthy films which garnered controversy at the time of their release due to nudity include:
- Ecstasy (dir. Gustav Machaty 1933)
- Blow-Up (dir. Michelangelo Antonioni 1966)
- I Am Curious (Yellow) (dir. Vilgot Sjoman 1967)
- Romeo and Juliet (dir. Franco Zeffirelli 1968)
- Women in Love (dir. Ken Russell 1969)
- Last Tango in Paris (dir. Bernardo Bertolucci 1972)
- Pretty Baby (dir. Louis Malle 1978) - Conroversial due to nudity of a young Brooke Shields as a prostitute
- Flesh & Blood (dir. Paul Verhoeven 1985) - rape
- Blue Velvet (dir. David Lynch 1986)
- The Hot Spot (dir. Dennis Hopper 1990)
- Henry and June (dir. Philip Kaufman 1990) - First American movie to receive the NC-17 movie rating
- Romance (dir. Catherine Breillat 1999)
- Basic Instinct (dir. Paul Verhoeven 1992)
- The Piano (dir. Jane Campion 1993)
- Indecent Proposal (dir. Adrian Lyne 1993) - Controversial film dealing with adultery
- The Thief (1997) Full frontal and rear male nudity seen in a scene in a bath house.
- Boogie Nights (1997) (dir. Paul Thomas Anderson)
- American Beauty (dir. Sam Mendes 1999) Thora Birch's bare breasts are briefly seen.
- Malèna (dir. Giuseppe Tornatore 2000)
- Monster's Ball (dir. Marc Forster 2001) - Halle Berry won an Academy Award for her role, despite the graphic sexual content
- Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001) Gael Garcia Bernal, Diego Luna and Maribel Verdu all show extensive full frontal and rear nudity.
- Intimacy (dir. Patrice Chéreau 2001) - Notable for its unsimulated sex scene
- Frida (dir. Julie Taymor 2002)
- Twilight Reese Witherspoon's first nude movie
- The Gift Katie Holmes's first nude movie
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