Nowadays, it feels like there's one thing that sells above all else - sex.
The entertainment industry has eaten it up for years, and now more so than ever, with almost every popular live-action film nowadays featuring a sex scene in some capacity.
It's simple - give the people what they want.
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But having a sex scene that's acted out as part of the plot is completely different to an unsimulated sex scene on screen. This is far more rare, excluding the likes of select romance or art films.
For those who don't know, the term 'unsimulated sex' exists in the film industry as a way to refer to scenes where the actors involved are actually doing the deed with each other.
While most movies may involve actors wearing padding to avoid contact, unsimulated sex can sometimes include penetration in a completely transparent depiction of intercourse.
An increasing number of mainstream films may be experimenting with this method, but the reality is that art films that include these scenes tend to be filmed away from the bright lights of Hollywood.
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But there are a few mainstream films that feature unsimulated sex scenes, pushing the conventions of censorship, sex and expression, so without further ado, here is our list of the 10 movies where actors actually carry out the act.
Pink Flamingos - John Waters (1972)
The pioneering writer John Waters is responsible for our first film on the list, which stars drag icon Divine, alongside the likes of Edith Massey, Danny Mills and others.
In the film, we follow a woman (Divine) as she competes with another couple to be the filthiest people in the world.
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Known for his transgressive cult films, this Waters black comedy includes close up shots of 'actual fellatio', with this extreme film showcasing the bizarre and explicitly crude approach taken by those behind it.
Antichrist - Lars von Trier (2009)
Lead up by Hollywood legend Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg, this film follows a couple that carry out acts of sexual behaviour and sadomasochism when they initially sought safety in a cabin.
Director Lars von Trier didn't hold back in this extreme cinema work, channeling feelings of tension, danger and violence into the film.
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With the main theme of religion as its backdrop, the couple are replaced with body doubles and have violent intercourse by a dead tree, where bodies are kept in the exposed roots - an uneasy and gross watch.
Love - Gaspar Noé (2015)
Noé’s junior feature film follows a passionate couple that introduce a third member to their relationship, which they later regret as she falls pregnant.
Starring Aomi Muyock, Karl Glusman and Klara Kristin as the throuple, it follows the characters as they break up and one is left with the third in a loveless relationship.
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Known for its unsimulated sex scenes, its intimate scenes hold the erotica together, using a slow soundtrack with lighting and the colour red being used to get the most of those X-rated scenes.
9 Songs - Michael Winterbottom (2004)
This art romance-drama stars Kieran O’Brien and Margo Stilley, a couple that meet at a concert, grow their relationship, and eventually begin an intense affair.
It is one of the most graphic and emotional representation of sexuality in film today, and has been described as stylistic and conceptual, as sex scenes are broken up with concert sequences.
Winterbottom's use of warm lighting and editing brings out the themes of romance and eroticism, elevating the sex scenes from a voyeuristic perspective.
Nymphomaniac - Lars Von Trier (2013)
Lars von Trier is back in the list once again, this time exploring the psychology, emotion and physicality behind sex in an erotica featuring the likes of Charlotte Gainsbourg, Stellan Skarsgård, Shia LaBeouf, Christian Slater, Uma Thurman and Willem Dafoe, to name a few.
It follows the life of a self-diagnosed 'nymphomaniac' as it recounts her erotic journeys to an asexual fisherman, with sex scenes (using porn doubles) lacking a sense of emotion or sensual undertones that is caused by the choice of lighting and colour.
The final scene of the film combines a piano being played and shots of wild animals, with sexual acts cut in between these shots, deviating from the genre's norms.
Enter the Void - Gaspar Noé (2009)
Another by Gaspar Noé, Enter The Void sees police shoot a drug dealer dead, causing him to go through an unbelievable out-of-body experience, with the world going on without him.
Noé has set this film in the ever-bright Tokyo, and it stars Nathaniel Brown, Paz de la Huerta, and Cyril Roy in a film that feels and looks like a psychedelic experience due to the colours used, camerawork and editing.
One scene shows a love hotel that contains various sexualities and those with different interests having intercourse, with its editing lacing each act into one huge erotic landscape.
A certain scene also features the protagonist travelling into female genitalia - unique.
They Call Us Misfits - Stefan Jarl and Jan Lindqvist (1968)
Directed by two Swedish filmmakers, its style and screenplay shows the presentation of two unaccompanied youths, named Kenneth 'Kenta' Gustafsson and Gustav 'Stoffe' Svensson.
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, this is the first ever film to 'depict unsimulated sexual intercourse that managed to avoid getting those scenes censored'.
Svensson is sexually active with several woman, but tells a girl named Eva that he wants just her - exploring the themes of gender dynamics during the sexual liberation in the 60s'.
Lie With Me - Clement Virgo (2005)
Directed by Clement Virgo and based on the 2001 novel of the same name, it stars Lauren Lee Smith across from Eric Balfour, as their relationship makes a turn for the worst as Smith's character begins an affair.
It turns her world upside down, and the film explores her power over men with sex and how it eventually fades, with the movie's sex scenes being shown in minimalistic montages.
It symbolises the creativity and expression of sex, but there are more intense and graphic scenes as the film goes on to symbolise the changes in the character's states.
Female Vampire - Jesús Franco (1973)
This horror film takes place in Europe and stars Lina Romay as the titular female vampire, though she is also bisexual and quenches her desire for blood by, uh, oral stimulation. Cool.
Described as intense without a clear or cohesive plot, the audience will experience transgressive eroticism and benefits from good editing and cinematography.
It is one of the first films of its type, known as revolutionary for its time, combining a number of genres while also featuring a number of authentic sex scenes.
Destricted - Various Directors (2006)
The final film on our list examines the boundaries between art and pornography.
As it is an anthology, there is a lack of a plot, though it is consistent in its presentation of eroticism, coming across as an experiment instead of an actual film, presenting as an art piece more than anything else.
It tries to show the beauty and authenticity in commercialised porn, and set out against locational landscapes to depict an unconventional vision of how sexuality can be placed in our society.The directors listed on this film are as follows; Marina Abramović, Matthew Barney, Marco, Brambilla, Larry Clark, Gaspar Noé, Richard Prince, Sam Taylor-Wood, Marilyn Minter, Cecily Brown, Sante D’Orazio and Tunga.
Topics: Sex and Relationships, Film, Entertainment, Celebrity, Weird
Joshua Nair