The era of chastity in cinema seems to be on its way out, eroticism has returned to Hollywood. He writes it New York Timeswho claims that ‘Sex is back‘, sex is back, thanks to films like Challengers (2024), directed by the Italian director Luca Guadagninostarring, among others, Zendaya. In one of the scenes, the young actress, who plays the role of Tashi Duncan, a promising tennis player, begins a ménage à trois with two boys. In other sequences they have sex on the hood of a car or in the back seat, in a dorm room, in a sauna.
Hot shivers
“It really seems like the pendulum has brought directors back to exploring adult relationships and sexuality in their projects,” he commented Amy Pascalproducer of Challengers. The past to which the producer refers is that of the 80s and 90s: the period of Hot shiver (Body Heat), Basic instinct, Officer and gentleman, Fatal Attraction, Eyes wide shut, Disclosure or Cruel intentions – First rule: don’t fall in loveall films in which eroticism reigned supreme.
The disappearance of sex
The trend reversal occurred in the 2000s when studios began to focus on franchises and animated films suitable for minors. These are genres capable of conquering a global audience and also increasing profits with merchandising, as well as reaching the Chinese market where censorship prohibits sex scenes.
In 2019 the Washington Post he wrote that sex had practically disappeared from popular cinema while, according to Playboyonly 1.2 percent of films released between 2010 and 2020 contained overt sexual scenes, the lowest level since the 1960s.
The revenge
Now the time has come for revenge. Just think of the bathtub scene in Saltburn where Oliver (Barry Keoghan) drinks the water in which Felix (Jacob Elordi) just took a bath and masturbated. In Poor things Emma Stone he is sexually insatiable in a Paris brothel.
Without restraints also some comedies not suitable for an audience of minors such as, Everyone except you (Anyone but you), where they let loose Sydney Sweeney And Glen Powellwhile in Girlfriend for rent (No hard feelings), Jennifer Lawrence she is a sort of prostitute with the mission of introducing a somewhat awkward student to sex.
