have to agree with “KingofPain” here..
Once Little Head is aroused, Big Head stops thinking.
Big Head has to react favorably to the eroticism I’m seeing before Little Head is called in. There’s a hierarchy.
@ KINGOFPAIN
That is precisely what I do not believe; I think that sexual arousal, an atavistic instinct triggered by certain visual patterns, completely circumvents intellect…. and takes on a life of its own. And that is exactly what the truly noble filmmaker must guard against with the inclusion of longlasting, frankly sexual scenes.
I emphasize “longlasting”. To me the most disagreeable scenes in legitimate filmmaking are where sex scenes are a whole montage that goes on for many minutes.
I prefer the sex be indicated, yes! even indicated frankly and unequivocally indicated, but then—- again, within the legitimate film—- moved away from and not given undue screentime. In other words “We get it!”.
Sequences like the famous one in DON’T LOOK NOW which go on far too long, make me squirm.
It’s not about prudishness on my part (if you knew my history, you’d blanche)… No, it’s about artistic appropriateness….. and yes, even about that old-fashioned thing called “taste”.
Well, I obviously have to process what I’m seeing and confirm that it’s arousing before I’m aroused by it. Some people might have uncontrollable arousal issues, but I actually have standards. Generally, I like there to be something of a story before people get into it.
I guess I should ask what a “noble” filmmaker can show. Should they use music? That might cause the viewer’s emotions to take over and cause them to feel more strongly about a scene than they should. That is manipulative, right? The viewer might not be thinking about what they are seeing at all, but just feeling the music. I’m just trying to pinpoint exactly where you draw the line.
Whoa, you changed alot of your post before I finished my response.
David, I think you’re quite wrong. There is nothing that should be off limits in cinema. If it makes you uncomfortable, that is probably because we grow up in societies that still, for all the Cosmo Magazine and Sex and the City and sexual liberation, consider sex a dirty, taboo subject. You’re ashamed to watch it, perhaps, unless it’s explicitly signposted. It’s just a throwback to Victorian-era attitudes, which the USA unfortunately never really escaped from (not that Australia is much better at the moment).
You can have your Los Angeles XXX. Doesn’t interest me one bit; in fact, it bores the crap out of me. The actors don’t look like real people, don’t sound like real people, and don’t really seem to be enjoying what they’re doing.
Contrast the awful ‘lesbian’ pornography produced by these companies, for example, with the amazing 20-minute sex scene in Chantal Akerman’s Je Tu Il Elle. Anyone who has seen mainstream porn is going to feel seriously short-changed after watching that.
(By the way, that Akerman film would just about have to be top of my list now).
North by Northwest (1959), by Hitchcock
My Dinner with Andre
Just kidding.
The River by Frank Borzage. Not kidding.
big head little head dialogues, aww. makes me think of moravia’s phallic novel, cute.
the lights went down in the bitter tears of petra von kant for me when forgetting the plot, the idea popped into my head that irm hermann’s character (marlene! ends up at ingeborg bachmann’s malina and a crack in the wall) might as well be her ex-husband, that had ‘left’ her, and i re-imagined it with grayson perry…..fun……
If by “erotic” you mean titillating, then Persona (Ingmar Bergman): the scene where Bibi Anderson tells Liv Ullman about an event that happened to her while on the beach. The writing of the scene, the camera and the acting is phenomenal and the substance of her tale is the most erotic interaction I have seen on film. Erotic by words alone. That scene is a masterpiece all by itself. I was in awe. Whether or not you morally agree with what takes place on that beach (I didn’t), you have to admit it is a milestone scene. At least for me.
“Disturbing Erotic” or perhaps not “erotic” per se, as erotic involves the build-up to actual intercourse… So “Sexually disturbing” is a better term. I’m referring to Las Edades de Lulú. – Spoiler – Lulu is tricked into an incestuous “one night stand”. If Bigas Luna was aiming to shock, he sure pulled it off. Distasteful scene. I actually stopped watching the film at that point (and I always sit through an entire film). A friend mentioned it only got worse, he referred to a specific humiliating scene involving gay sex. I wouldn’t know. However, the film is in no way a bad film, the script, dialogue, camerawork, acting – all to my liking; and the tenderness with which Pablo created a world for Lulú where time stands still, reminiscent of childhood (although pertaining to sexual exploration) but decides to shatter it, is very well-crafted; but I just had to draw the line.
Woman in the Dunes by Hiroshi Teshigahara.
I know “lady covered in sand” doesn’t sound very sexy a concept but there is a scene in this film that is unbearably erotic and sexually charged. The way it’s closely photographed as to not show everything off all at once, the lingering gazes – it’s truly hypnotic.
Slut Wars 2: The Pimp Strikes Back
directed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1947, won the academy award for best cinematography for it’s innovative use of first-person camera work; lost in the best costume design category when at the last second it was discovered no one was wearing any
dp
ummm…… ‘most’ and ‘revealing fantasy’…
Sweet Movie – Dušan Makavejev
The Insect Woman – Kim Ki-Yeong
Vertigo – Alfred Hitchcock
Lolita – Stanley Kubrick
Satyricon – Federico Fellini
itallian ‘Giallo’ horror
some ‘bodysnatcher’ SF
I just can’t sleep so…..you get a list.
Honestly, I expected better from film nerds. Sorry guys, but the films listed above are obvious choices and, i think, not very diverse (I don’t want my intellect “circumvented” either)…
http://mubi.com/lists/13211
Body and Earth aka Eve is probably my most favorite erotic film: film http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0312493/
There’s no dialogue, A LOT of nudity, no sex but it’s extremely sensual, it’s an Adam and Eve type story filmed in several locations, it’s tastefully done.
I also can name a lot of classics that are too sexy for their own good but that would take forever. ;)
Gilda – Charles Vidor
Lost Highway – David Lynch
Les Innocents – André Téchiné
The Age of Innocence – Martin Scorsese
Crash – David Cronenberg
Wow, ya perv.
I haven’t starred in it yet.
“Room in Rome”
Directed by Julio Medem.
I think Ken Park takes the cake. That films sex scenes still make me feel uncomfortable and are extremely erotic.
Pola X. Most realistic, in some weird kind of way.
I do not know which to prefer,
The beauty of inflections
Or the beauty of innuendoes,
The blackbird whistling
Or just after.
Persona’s getting top billing here I see!
Lolita – Stanley Kubrick
Persona – Ingmar Bergman
The Silence – Ingmar Bergman
Vertigo – Alfred Hitchcock
Mulholland Drive – David Lynch
Belle de Jour – Luis Buñuel
In the Realm of the Senses – Nagisa Oshima
Woman of the Dunes – Hiroshi Teshigahara
I Am Curious Yellow – Vilgot Sjöman
Tristana – Luis Buñuel
The Gold of Naples – Vittorio De Sica (with a young Sophia Loren)
1 Million Years BC – Don Chaffey (with Racquel Welch)
Barbarella – Roger Vadim (just the beginning with Jane, really dislike the last half of this film)
Almost anything with Brigitte Bardot.
Obviously the eroticism inherent in Bergman’s films (for instance) is markedly different to the latter, so is appreciated on another level.
Titillation & art definitley can co-exist. In fact, a great deal of art explores all these realms – down through the centuries. Cinema is just another form/medium.
DOWNFALL (Oliver Hirschbiegel) – oops wrong list!
The dreamers and any sexploitation by Russ meyer
And god created woman !
And yeah… Russ meyer of course ,)
KingofPain
Legitimate film is not the place to explore explicit eroticism.
Explicit eroticism happens in real life, right? The XXX category exists for people who are more interested in the screwing than the build up to the screwing. I think eroticism can be legitimately explored in a legitimate film. Depends on how it’s done.