Mainstream and Arthouse Erotic Movies
Editor's note
Editor's note: this page is under heavy construction, we have currently these following pages that deal with eroticism, sex and nudity in film:
- sex in film the history of sex, nudity and eroticism in film, general approach, includes timeline of sex in films
- nudity in film the portrayal of nudity before the seventies, first time pubic hair in the cinema
- nudie films genre of films featuring nudism/naturism, the fifties and early sixties
- NC 17 films (violence in films may also be rated NC17 (US rating) too, though this happen less frequently)
- pornographic film from the days of clandestine private shows at the beginning of the twentieth century, up to the age the VCR
- Banned films films may be banned for reasons of violence, eroticism and politics
- R18 films (UK)
Over the next few days, we will reassemble the pages to fit the schema above.
Intro
What we understand under erotic movies depends largely on what we define as erotic.For the purpose of this site, mainstream erotic movies are those movies that were/are allowed to play in mainstream, first run theatres in Europe, the US and the UK. By the same token, arthouse erotic movies are those movies that were/are allowed to play in arthouse or reperteroy theatres in Europe, the US and the UK.
Since the advent of the VCR and later the DVD, theatres are not the only place where films can be watched so our criterium here is, movies that are available through Amazon.
There was a time - around the mid seventies - when pornography was played in mainstream theatres. This era has been dubbed the porno chic era. It came just after the sexual revolution and before the popularization of VCR. Many mainstream directors started to include sex and nudity in their movies; at the time it was hip to do so. And people of all walks of life went to mainstream cinemas to see movies like Deep Throat (1972) and In the Realm of the Senses (1976).
Recent movies that are doing well at Amazon are the Swimming Pool (2003), Sex and Lucia (2001), Y tu Mama Tambien (2001), The Dreamers (2003), Secretary (2002) and Irréversible (2002).
This page can be divided in the work of directors who have consistently played a role in the representation of eroticism in arthouse and mainstream cinema:
- Pedro Almodovar,
- Mario Bava,
- Ingmar Bergman,
- Bernardo Bertolucci,
- Bertrand Blier,
- Walerian Borowczyk,
- Tinto Brass,
- Luis Buñuel,
- Catherine Breillat,
- Larry Clark,
- Roger Corman,
- Gerard Damiano,
- Jonathan Demme,
- Brian De Palma,
- Rainer Werner Fassbinder,
- Peter Greenaway,
- Alfred Hitchcock,
- Just Jaeckin,
- Juzo Itami,
- Stanley Kubrick,
- Bigas Luna,
- David Lynch,
- Dusan Makavejev,
- Radley Metzger,
- Russ Meyer,
- Gaspar Noé,
- Nagisa Oshima,
- François Ozon,
- Pasolini,
- Roman Polanski,
- Nicolas Roeg,
- Jean Rollin,
- Ken Russell,
- Roger Vadim,
- Alex Van Warmerdam,
- Lars Von Trier,
...there are also those directors that were always active in the erotic movie business, not catering for first run theatres, but more for grindhouse theatres
... and one hit wonders: individual movies, not made by a famous director, but movies that influenced eroticism in cinema by being the right movie at the right time.
- L' Ennui (1998) - Cédric Kahn [Amazon.com] [...]
- Y Tu Mama Tambien (And Your Mother Too) (2001) [Amazon.com] [...]
- Sex and Lucia (2001) - Julio Medem [Amazon.com] [...]
- Henry & June (1990) - Philip Kaufman [Amazon US] [...]
- The Center of the World (2001) Wayne Wang [Amazon.com] [...]
- Stille dage i Clichy/Quiet Days in Clichy (1970) - Jens Jørgen Thorsen [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK] [...]
- Irréversible (2002) - Gaspar Noé [Amazon.com] [...]
- Intimacy (2000) - Patrice Chéreau [Amazon US] [...]
- Sweet Movie (1974) - Dusan Makavejev [Amazon US] [...]
- Jag är nyfiken - en film i gult / I Am Curious ... (I Am Curious Yellow/I Am Curious Blue Set) (1967) - Vilgot Sjöman [Amazon.com] [...]
Another subdivision are those films that deal with sexuality and gender but that portray hardly any nudity nor sex. Examples of those are for example The Servant (1963)
One last subdivision are movies which portray a great deal of nudity/eroticism/sex but can hardly be called erotic. Examples that come to mind are Intimacy (2000), Sweet Movie (1974), I Am Curious Yellow/I Am Curious Blue (1967), Irréversible (2002), Quiet Days in Clichy (1970)
Definition
Erotic movies appeared shortly after the creation of the movie technology that made them possible. Erotic films have much in common with other forms of erotica. --adapted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pornographic_movie [sept 2004]History of Erotic Films [...]
The history of erotic films began five minutes after the film medium was invented with The Kiss (1896) and Douche après le bain (1897).Nudity in film [...]
Art or Porn?
"Art" has long functioned as a code word for erotica in certain contexts. Phrases like "art photos," "art films," "art house" have all been coopted by clever entrepreneurs to market porn — soft and hard — to audiences who could more easily accept the idea under this respectable rubric. [...]Despite the convenience of the label, truly artistic erotica has always been a rarity in any genre. For every successful novel like Lolita or Terry Southern's Blue Movie, there are a zillion trash-pulp derivatives from Beacon, Beeline, Pad, Saber, and other legendary sleaze publishers. For every Mapplethorpe there are reams of tired commercial porn mags bulging on pornshop shelves. Cinema's no different. --Gary Morris for brightlightsfilm
The history of sex in film [...]
The story of sex in the movies is really two stories. For all practical purposes, they begin at the same moment - the invention of motion pictures - but take off running in parallel universes. One is the story of a very public debate over how much of the reality of human sexuality can be shown, discussed or even implied in movies meant for general audiences; the second is the story of an entire industry thriving along underground yet rarely even mentioned in polite company until the 1970s. --http://www.greencine.com/static/primers/adult1.jsp [Sept 2004]
Gay cinema [...]
Erotic and non-erotic.Porno Chic [...]
- Deep Throat (1972) - Gerard Damiano [Amazon UK]
Linda, frustrated that her hugely energetic sex life leaves her unsatisfied, seeks medical help. The doctor informs her that the reason for her problem is that her clitoris is mistakenly located at the back of her throat - but there is a very simple remedy, which the doctor, and various other men, proceed to demonstrate...
Damiano's Deep Throat (1972) became porn's cross-over hit, as Damiano recognised that, with changes in structure and publicity, its explicit content could be rendered acceptable to a wider audience. Unlike most previous porn films, Deep Throat was feature-length, with a script and a plot, its sex scenes thus being justified by their narrative context. The film played in mainstream cinemas, its success being dubbed 'porno chic'. --Matthew Hunt
- Emmanuelle (1974) - Just Jaeckin [Amazon US]
Sylvia Kristel became an international star as a result of this French screen adaptation of Emmanuelle Argan's controversial book about the initiation of a diplomat's young wife into the world of sensuality. As the pretty wife of a French ambassador in Bangkok, Emmanuelle discovers a burning sexual passion she has previously repressed. Under the tutelage of the wise old Mario, and with her husband's complicity, Emmanuelle discovers the joys of eroticism and lets herself slide into pleasure. --From the Back Cover
Erotic Horror [...]
- Peeping Tom (1962) [1DVD, Amazon US]
Michael Powell lays bare the cinema's dark voyeuristic underside in this disturbing 1960 psychodrama thriller. Handsome young Carl Boehm is Mark Lewis, a shy, socially clumsy young man shaped by the psychic scars of an emotionally abusive parent, in this case a psychologist father (Michael Powell in a perverse cameo) who subjected his son to nightmarish experiments in fear and recorded every interaction with a movie camera. Now Mark continues his father's work, sadistically killing young women with a phallic-like blade attached to his movie camera and filming their final, terrified moments for his definitive documentary on fear. Set in contemporary London, which Powell evokes in a lush, colorful seediness, this film presents Mark as much victim as villain and implicates the audience in his scopophilic activities as we become the spectators to his snuff film screenings. Comparisons to Hitchcock's Psycho, released the same year, are inevitable. Powell's film was reviled upon release, and it practically destroyed his career, ironic in light of the acclaim and success that greeted Psycho, but Powell's picture hit a little too close to home with its urban setting, full color photography, documentary techniques, and especially its uneasy connections between sex, violence, and the cinema. We can thank Martin Scorsese for sponsoring its 1979 rerelease, which presented the complete, uncut version to appreciative American audiences for the first time. This powerfully perverse film was years ahead of its time and remains one of the most disturbing and psychologically complex horror films ever made. --Sean Axmaker - Maschera del demonio, La (aka Black Sundayà (aka The Mask of Satan) (1960) - Mario Bava [1 DVD, Amazon US]
The reigning masterpiece of Italian horror cinema, Mario Bava's Black Sunday remains one of the most stylishly photographed of all horror films, ranking with any other black-and-white film of lasting repute. This was the master cameraman's official directorial debut, and his striking compositions are the work of a genuine artist in peak form. Loosely adapted from a story by Nikolai Gogol, this chilling vampire tale begins in 17th-century Moldavia, where the evil Princess Asa (Barbara Steele) is executed for witchcraft and vampirism, along with her brother Javutich (Arturo Dominici). Two centuries later, a pair of traveling doctors discover Asa's crypt and inadvertently revive the evil princess, whose scheme of vampiric revenge is aimed at her own identical descendant Princess Katia, an innocent beauty (also played by Steele) whose lifeblood will ensure Asa's immortality.
Influenced by Universal's classic horror films of the '30s and British Hammer films of the late '50s, Black Sunday (released in Italy as The Mask of Satan) is a dark fairy tale, with horror queen Steele as the definitive embodiment of erotic horror. With shocking violence (tame by today's standards) and visual emphasis on tombs, secret passages, ominous castles, and unseen forces, the film offers a wealth of memorable imagery and inventive technique. Redubbed, rescored, and harshly edited for its American release in 1961, Black Sunday is presented on DVD in the original English-language director's cut of The Mask of Satan, never before available in the U.S. The perfect movie to watch on a dark and stormy night, this timeless classic is the Citizen Kane of horror films, entirely worthy of its lofty reputation. --Jeff Shannon for amazon.com
SM in Mainstream Movies [...]
With rare exceptions like "The Night Porter," cinematic sadomasochism (usually in the form of a cartoonish leather-clad dominatrix wielding a riding crop) has tended to be a visual joke shoehorned into a movie to certify its sexual hipness. But when it becomes the subject of a film, the humor vanishes, and the mood turns grim and clinical. [This is a long list]Hollywood is a purveyor of the sensational, the glossy, the pseudo-hip. So it was just a matter of time before themes of sadomasochism and fetish sex made their way into the movies. Beginning in the Eighties, movies gave mainstream audiences their first sustained look at the forbidden world of dominance, submission, and BD/SM. True, in most cases these movies offered sinister, heavy-handed portrayals, but the door to the masked chamber creaked open, and more than just a crack. --William, http://www.uncommon-ground.org/movies.htm [Dec 2004]
The Servant (1963) - Joseph Losey [Amazon.com], Femina Ridens - The Frightened Woman (1969) - Piero Schivazappa [Amazon.com], Night Porter (1974) - Liliana Cavani, The Story of O (1975) - Just Jaeckin [Amazon US] , The Image aka The Punishment of Anne (1975) - Radley Metzger [Amazon US] , Maitresse (1976) [Amazon.com] Tokyo Decadence (1992) - Ryu Murakami [Amazon.com], Secretary (2002) - Steven Shainberg [Amazon.com]
By Year (1900-1999)
Sex in film, theatrically released or with a clear connection to the mainstream. Sex in this list does not necessarily mean nudity nor eroticism. In short, films that tell something about our cultural morals via our sexual morals.
The Kiss (1896) - William Heise
Douche après le bain (1897) - Louis Lumière
Traffic in Souls (1913) - George Loane Tucker
Damaged Goods (1914)
A Fool There Was (1915) - Frank Powell
A Free Ride (1915)
The Sex Lure (1916)
The Tiger Woman (1917), Cleopatra (1917) both starring Theda Bara
Male and Female (1919) - Cecil B. DeMille
Opium (1919) - Robert Dinesen
The Tree of Knowledge (1920)
The Sheik (1921) -starring Valentino
Blood and Sand (1922) -starring Valentino
The Merry Widow (1925) - Erich von Stroheim
Son of the Sheik (1926) -starring Valentino
It (1927) - Josef von Sternberg, Clarence G. Badger, Hula (1927) (both It and Hula starred Clara Bow
Un Chien Andalou - Dali/Buñuel
Pandora's Box (1928), starring Louise Brooks
Haxan (Witchcraft Through the Ages) (1929) Benjamin Christensen
Queen Kelly (1929) - Erich von Stroheim
L'Age d'Or (1930) - Luis Bunuel
The Blue Angel (1930) - Josef von Sternberg
Madam Satan (1930) - Cecil B. De Mille
Tabu: A Story of the South Seas (1931) - F.W. Murnau
Extase (1932) - Gustav Machatý
Queen Christina (1933) - starring Greta Garbo
42nd Street (1933)
The Devil is a Woman (1935) - Josef von Sternberg
Damaged Goods (1937) - Phil Goldstone
Mom and Dad (1945) - William Beaudine
Anger 1 (1947) - Kenneth Anger
Un Chant d'Amour (1950) - Jean Genet
Summer With Monika (1953) - Ingmar Bergman
Garden of Eden (1955) - Max Nosseck
...And God Created Woman - (1956) Roger Vadim
I Vampiri (1957) - Mario Bava, Riccardo Freda
The Immoral Mr. Teas (1959) - Russ Meyer
Peeping Tom (1960) - Michael Powell
The Virgin Spring (1960) - Ingmar Bergman
Victim (1961) - Basil Dearden
Jules and Jim (1962) - François Truffaut
Knife in the Water (1962) - Roman Polanski
Lolita (1955) - Stanley Kubrick
Flaming Creatures (1963) - Jack Smith
Tystnaden/The Silence (1963) - Ingmar Bergman
Contempt (1963) - Jean-Luc Godard
The Servant (1963) - Joseph Losey
Sexus (1964) - José Bénazéraf
The Dirty Girls (1964) - Radley Metzger
I, A Woman (1965) - Mac Ahlberg
Repulsion (1965) - Roman Polanski
Faster Pussycat Kill Kill (1965) - Russ Meyer
The Alley Cats (1965) - Radley Metzger
Persona (1966) - Ingmar Bergman
Hugs and Kisses (1967) - Jonas Cornell
Belle de Jour (1967) - Luis Buñuel
Jag är nyfiken - en film i gult / I Am Curious ... Yellow/Blue (1967) - Vilgot Sjöman
Blow-Up (1966) - Michelangelo Antonioni
Teorema (1968) - Pier Paolo Pasolini
Barbarella (1968) - Roger Vadim
Histoires Extraordinaires aka Spirits of The Dead (1968) - Louis Malle, Roger Vadim, Federico Fellini
If.... (1968) - Lindsay Anderson
Therese und Isabell (1968) - Radley Metzger
Easy Rider (1969) - Dennis Hopper
Femina Ridens - The Frightened Woman (1969) - Piero Schivazappa
The Libertine (1969) - Pasquale Festa Campanile
Camille 2000 (1969) - Radley Metzger
Kärlekens språk/Language of Love (1969) - Torgny Wickman
Performance (1970) - Nicolas Roeg
Donald Cammell The Lickerish Quartet (1970) - Radley Metzger
Trash (1970) - Paul Morrissey
Women In Love (1970) - Ken Russell
Pornography in Denmark (1970) - Alex de Renzy
Why? (1970) Eberhardt and Phyllis Kronhausen
A Clockwork Orange (1971) - Stanley Kubrick
Klute (1971) - Alan J. Pakula
The Devils (1971) - Ken Russell History of the Blue Movie (1971) - Alex de Renzy
Deep Throat (1972) - Gerard Damiano
The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972) - Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Deliverance (1972) - John Boorman
Behind the Green Door (1972) - Mitchell Brothers
Last Tango in Paris (1972) - Bernardo Bertolucci
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex But Were Afraid to Ask (1972) - Woody Allen
La Grande Bouffe (1973) - Marco Ferreri
Score (1973) - Radley Metzger
The Mother and the Whore (1973) - Jean Eustache
Le Fantôme de la liberté - (1974) Luis Buñuel
Going Places (1974) - Bertrand Blier
The Night Porter (1974) - Liliana Cavani
Wife To Be Sacrificed (1974) - Masaru Konuma
Ilsa - She Wolf of the SS (1974) - Don Edmonds
Caged Heat (1974) - Jonathan Demme
Sweet Movie (1974) - Dusan Makavejev
The Story of O (1975) - Just Jaeckin
The Image/The Punishment of Anne (1975) - Radley Metzger
The First Nudie Musical (1975) - Mark Haggard
Bruce Kimmel
Salo (1975) - Pier Paolo Pasolini
The Beast (1975) - Walerian Borowczyk
Ai No Corrida/In the Realm of the Senses (1976) - Nagisa Oshima
Maitresse (1976) - Barbet Schroeder
Je t'aime
moi non plus (1976) - Serge Gainsbourg
Ugly
Dirty and Bad (1976) - Ettore Scola
Bilitis (1977) - David Hamilton
Una Giornata Particolare (1977) - Ettore Scola
Outrageous (1977) - Richard Benner
La Cage Aux Folles (1978) - Edouard Molinaro
Pretty Baby (1978) - Louis Malle
The Brood (1979)- David Cronenberg
Caligula (1979) - Tinto Brass, Bob Guccione
Dressed to Kill (1980) - Brian De Palma
Spetters (1980) - Paul Verhoeven
Beau Pere (1981) - Bertrand Blier
Taxi Zum Klo (1981) - Frank Ripploh
Pixote (1981) - Hector Babenco
Tales of Ordinary Madness (1981) - Marco Ferreri
Cafe Flesh (1982) - Stephen Sayadian
Querelle (1982) - Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Videodrome (1983) - David Cronenberg
Woman in Flames (1983)
Special Effects (1984) - Larry Cohen
Tightrope (1984) - Richard Tuggle
Crimes of Passion (1984) - Ken Russell
The Company of Wolves (1984) - Neil Jordan
Body Double (1984) - Brian De Palma
Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985) - Hector Babenco
Tampopo (1985) - Juzo Itami
Blue Velvet (1986) - David Lynch
Betty Blue (1986) - Jean-Jacques Beineix
Something Wild (1986) Jonathan Demme
She's Gotta Have It (1986) - Spike Lee
9 1/2 Weeks (1986) - Adrian Lyne
Angel Heart (1987) - Alan Parker
Story of Women (1988) - Claude Chabrol
Tetsuo: The Ironman (1988) -- Shinya Tsukamoto
Dangerous Liaisons (1988) - Stephen Frears
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988) - Pedro Almodóvar
The Cook
the Thief
His Wife and Her Lover (1989) - Peter Greenaway
Mr. Hire (1989) - Patrice Leconte
sex, lies, and videotape (1989) - Steven Soderbergh
Henry & June (1990) - Philip Kaufman
My Own Private Idaho (1991) - Gus Van Sant
Bitter Moon (1992) - Roman Polanski
Tokyo Decadence (1992) - Ryu Murakami
Damage (1992) - Louis Malle
Boxing Helena (1993) - Jennifer Chambers Lynch
The Adventures of Priscilla
Queen of the Desert (1994) - Stephan Elliott
Wild Side (1995-98) - Donald Cammell
Bound (1996) - Larry Wachowski
Conspirators of Pleasure (1997) - Jan Svankmajer
Fucking Åmål
Show Me Love (1998) - Lukas Moodysson
Romance (1999) - Catherine Breillat
Baise-Moi (2000) - Coralie, Virginie Despentes
Intimacy (2001) - Patrice Chéreau
Irréversible (2002) - Gaspar Noé
In the Cut (2003) - Jane Campion
Ma Mère (2004) - Christophe Honoré
Bibliography
- Hollis Alpert-Arthur Knight Playboy series (series, 20 issues), “Sex in the Cinema.” (1965-1969)
- Eros in the Cinema (1966) - Raymond Durgnat [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK] [...]
- Ado Kyrou, Amour - érotisme et cinéma, Le Terrain Vague, 1957 [...]
- Immoral Tales: European Sex & Horror Movies 1956-1984 - Cathal Tohill, Pete Tombs [Amazon US]
"I urge you: learn how to look at 'bad' films, they are so often sublime." This remark by Ado Kyrou heads up the introduction to Immoral Tales, from which horror and exploitation film fans, especially Americans, can learn much indeed. Not so much a movie guide as an insightful critical overview of European sex/horror films (there is much overlap between the two genres), this book is elegantly organized into a sequence of essays proceeding from general themes (the history of horrific art, the surgical metaphor), to regional styles (Italian, German, French, Spanish), to individual directors (Jesus Franco, Jean Rollin, José Larraz, José Bénazéraf, Walerian Borowczyk, Alain Robbe-Grillet). The writing is intelligent, engaging, and packed with fascinating historical and technical details. The book includes plenty of photos and poster art (including many in color), a useful appendix covering miscellaneous actors and directors, an index, and a bibliography. Immoral Tales was a finalist for the 1995 Bram Stoker Award in Nonfiction. - Necronomicon: The Journal of Horror & Erotic Cinema (1996) Andy Black [Amazon.com]
Necronomicon: Book one continues the singular, thought-provoking exploration of transgressive cinema begun by the much-respected and acclaimed magazine of the same name. The transition to annual book format has allowed for even greater depth and diversity within the journal's trademarks of progressive critique and striking photographic content. Includes:
* Jean Rollin: The surreal and the sapphic
* Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Exploitation or modern fairytale?
* Barbara Steele: Icon of S/M horror
* Frightmare: Peter Walker's psycho-delirium classic
* Marco Ferreri: Sadean cinema of excess
* Deep Throat: Pornography as primitive spectacle
* Dario Argento: Tortured looks and visual displeasure
* Last Tango in Paris: Circles of sex and death
* H P Lovecraft: Visions of crawling chaos
* Witchfinder General: Michael Reeves' classic of visceral violence
* Herschell G. Lewis: Compulsive tales and cannibal feasts
* Evil Dead: From slapstick to splatshtick [...] - Sin in Soft Focus: Pre-Code Hollywood - Mark A. Vieira [Amazon US] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Prudes and the faint-of-heart shield your eyes! The stunning Sin in Soft Focus contains some of the most breathtaking black-and-white stills ever taken, all from the debaucherous decade before the Hollywood production code was established. With chapters devoted to "The Warners Grit," "The MGM Gloss," and "The Paramount Glow," and to horror films, gangster movies, and the sexy scandal of Mae West, Mark A. Vieira illustrates the story of classic Hollywood's most delightfully lascivious period--brought to a stop when Joseph Breen began enforcing the puritanical production code of 1934.The text of this book is fascinating even for those familiar with the films of the era, but the mesmerizing photographs are what will keep readers glued to the pages. Oversized and abundant stills capture stars like Clara Bow, Marlene Dietrich, Joan Crawford, William Powell, Mae West, Joan Blondell, James Cagney, and Greta Garbo in striking clarity, dashing poses, and of course, shockingly revealing outfits. Voyeurs seeking more on this naughty era will also want to read Thomas Doherty's Pre-Code Hollywood. --Raphael Shargel --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
- Sex in Films (1974) Parker Tyler [Amazon.com]
It's good to see this fascinating book still in print after all these years. I believe the original 1974 edition went up to 8 or 9 printings. Where Parker Tyler found his material is anyone's guess. Jammed-full of photographs from obscure and well-known films, both Hollywood produced and from foreign countries, this book is casually laid-out which makes it great for thumbing through. Everytime I open the pages I find new and interesting facts I didn't know. Each picture carries a short caption identifying the film and the book is divided into chapters of sexual preference or deviation, like "Bedroom and Bath", "The Bosom and the Bottom" and "The Gay Sexes." (Hollywood didn't miss a thing!) The chapters describe every era of filmmaking and the fight with censors, eventually bringing us to 70's and Black Exploitation Films. Highly Recommended! --Tom Hopkinson , amazon.com