Movies are like a jigsaw puzzle, where some pieces are definitely bolder and sexy to watch and desire.
They’re a bit like exploring a secret garden full of intense and intriguing feelings, where sensuality mingles with romantic aura in that subtle, slow, and sinuous dance that is seduction.
It is as if it were an exclusive and different playground for each of us, where adults can look back on their first experiences of youth while the younger ones dream of being grown up already, in the great arena without rules or restrictions of love and attraction.
But these films are not just a feast for the eyes: they literally have the power to make us think and feel new things, as well as the opportunity to understand the intimacy of those who are very different from us.
What’s even more impressive is that the effect of some can be long-lasting, lingering in our minds for years, like that favorite song we can’t stop humming.
This is not a passing phenomenon: these movies can shape how we view sensuality and intimacy, almost as if we want to borrow some of that magic and transfer it from the screen to our real lives.
Just as when we try to make new friends or broaden our horizons, we need to be open to concepts and ideas different from our own. In other words, to fully appreciate the richness of life in all forms, we cannot limit ourselves to the comfort zone of only what we already know.
In a way, that’s what I want to do with these many movie articles: offer you new ideas and insights into some movies you may have avoided or never even heard of.
Table of contents
Body Double (1984)
Today, we have an international selection of excellent directors, so let’s start immediately with this 1980s masterpiece by Brian De Palma.
The story begins on a small horror film set, where actor Jake Scully becomes paralyzed with fear inside a coffin during a scene due to his severe claustrophobia.
He is thus left with no job and nowhere to go, when fortunately for him, he meets the wealthy and mysterious Sam Bouchard, with whom he quickly becomes friends.
To help him, Sam offers to live in his luxurious mansion while he is out of town, thus being able to find a new job without pressure.
Besides luxury and comfort, the mansion offers an unexpected bonus: every night, the beautiful woman in the big house across the street performs an exciting striptease to the delight of anyone who cares to watch.
Of course, Jake does not miss the opportunity and admires her night after night until one night, right during the performance, an unknown masked assailant breaks into the house and kills her.
After the police quickly dismiss the incident as a simple robbery that ended in tragedy, the actor decides to personally investigate what lies beneath that story.
De Palma skillfully remixes the ingredients of his well-known Hitchcockian-flavored recipe for success, playing on voyeurism toward the magnificent bodies of Melanie Griffith and Deborah Shelton.
Watching and being watched is the life of protagonist Craig Wasson, an actor playing an actor exploring eroticism as a curious and innocent child.
Once again, cinema lives within cinema, beginning and ending on the set of horror B-movies, a hotbed of talent where De Palma reveals to us the little secrets of the craft.
It is a movie that is deservedly a timeless cult film, mixing sex and death with unparalleled class and elegance.
The Devil’s Honey (1986)
The following story comes from one of the most gifted and mistreated Italian moviemakers, at least until his (almost) posthumous revaluation in the late 1990s: Lucio Fulci.
It begins with the dysfunctional but passionate relationship between Johnny and Jessica (in the Italian version, Cecilia and Gaetano), a talented young saxophonist and his submissive mistress ready to satisfy his every perversion.
Although he constantly humiliates her, she cannot get rid of him, feeling more and more bound until one day, Johnny has a severe motorcycle accident.
Arriving at the hospital, he unfortunately never leaves the operating room alive, and the upset Jessica blames his death on Dr. Simpson, claiming that he would have been negligent in his work.
From that day, she began to harass the man with threatening phone calls and violent unannounced visits, permanently ruining his marriage.
Finally, Jessica kidnaps the doctor and takes him home, where she keeps him tied to the floor next to her former lover’s dog.
However, finally, together in the pain of loss, a strange relationship is born between them where hatred slowly becomes passion and then love, despite all that has happened.
Lucio Fulci narrates to us in this movie the unpredictability of love and how it is linked to sex, the vestibule of what is the complicity and intimacy of any couple.
Indeed, despite the beautiful protagonist Blanca Marsillach being continuously abused by the villainous Stefano Madia, she cannot avoid loving and struggling in every way to please him.
The same will happen to the doctor, played by the excellent Brett Halsey, who is also treated (literally) like a dog by the woman with whom he falls madly in love.
How everyone arrives at happiness remains a mystery, but once found, it is always best to hold on to it.
Law of Desire (1987)
With the next story, let’s move to Europe, more precisely to Spain, the birthplace of another longtime international cinematic genius, Pedro Almodóvar.
The protagonist of this tragic comedy movie about love and sex is Pablo Quintero, a famous Spanish director struggling with his love that is not entirely reciprocated by Juan, his lover.
At the same time, Pablo cares for his sister Tina, a transgender who does not have the same luck as his brother in his acting career or even in his personal life, being recently ditched by her lesbian lover, leaving her alone with their adopted daughter.
Adding further fire to the chaos enters the scene of Antonio, a rabid fan of Pablo’s movies who approaches and begins a relationship with him, even if this time, it is the director who does not fully correspond to the bond.
However, when Antonio fears losing his new lover, his reaction will be as violent as it is unpredictable, leading to a climax of madness that will nevertheless allow space for some love before death.
Amidst the deceptions and afflictions of all these characters, Almodóvar narrates the search, discovery, and loss of love in his usual light-hearted and vital Spanish style.
All this happens through the protagonist, Eusebio Poncela, who is almost a gateway bridge to the other characters’ psychoemotional dramas.
Over all, we can put the beautiful sister played by Carmen Maura, who surgically becomes a woman after a traumatic childhood that her brother accepts with affection and understanding.
With this other unforgettable cult movie, Almodóvar tells us about sex without shame, from homosexuality to masturbation, without pretending to give lessons but leaving it up to us to decide the actual values we want to find and defend in life.
Girl 6 (1996)
From flesh-and-blood sex, we move to phone hook-up sex, with one of the most obscure and forgotten movies by the great Spike Lee, a famous and beloved African-American director.
The main character in this little urban epic is young Judy, one of many girls who dreams of breaking through in the movies and has the great opportunity to audition for a Quentin Tarantino movie.
However, the girl cannot overcome her embarrassment to shoot a few nude scenes, so she humbly returns to her job as a waitress, despairing over the maybe unrepeatable opportunity she has just missed.
Fortunately, she finds a more comfortable and relaxing job when she has an interview with an erotic call center, where she meets other young African-American ladies who help her to be more open and uninhibited.
Quickly, Judy becomes one of the most sought-after sexy voices for clients, but with fame and success comes the danger of dealing with some perverts not quite right in the head.
As usual, Spike Lee spares nothing from rough American capitalism yet succeeds in composing his cinematic poetry even amid the sighs and moans of pleasure of the young call center girls.
Just like fellow Spaniard Almodóvar, Spike Lee blends comedy with drama of an America made of opportunity at a high cost, selling out his soul and dignity for a dirty fistful of dollars.
Leading lady of this movie, Theresa Randle, is simply outstanding in her physical and psychological transformation, going from a shy girl who runs away from an audition to keep her breasts uncovered to a sex tiger with whom men and women are afraid to confront.
A bittersweet tale for a movie that, like a few others, combines style with substance, turning the mundane of the everyday into pure cinematic enjoyment.
A Snake of June (2002)
We conclude with a name perhaps not everyone will know: Shinya Tsukamoto, a director no less than the other masters I mentioned today.
The protagonist of this sensational erotic drama is Rinko, a shy telephone counselor who offers psychological comfort to the unfortunate in need of help.
After rescuing Iguchi, a man on the verge of suicide, he becomes so obsessed with her that he sends compromising photos to blackmail and force her to submit to his sexual fantasies.
At first, it might seem like just yet another story to show some hot scenes with the beautiful protagonist having to play along with this old pervert. Still, actually, Iguchi’s real purpose is to save her from the stupid selfishness of her husband, Shigehiko.
The latter is a middle-aged man obsessed with cleanliness and perfection. He tries to prevent his wife from having a breast operation to remove a tumor, fearing only that it will disfigure her beauty, without caring about her health.
Shinya Tsukamoto bursts into the family drama genre with the same visual and narrative domination he had with sci-fi in the early days of his career through the indescribable madness and cinematic anarchy of Tetsuo.
It is incredible how the plot and characters in this story take such radical and unpredictable turns from one scene to the next: above all, the gorgeous Asuka Kurosawa, who initially seems like the classic helpless victim of third-rate porn movies, then becomes a female icon to the Nth degree who subjugates every man with her imposing majestic beauty.
With grace and courage, this woman puts every man in front of his stupidity and impotence to possess her. Whether it is the husband or the phone blackmailer, each must give way to Rinko’s desire to be free and choose for herself.
