Sex in Cinema: Greatest and Most Influential Erotic / Sexual Films and Scenes

Sex in Cinema: In the following collection, excerpted from the Mini-History of Sex in the Cinema at this site, here are some of the most significant milestones, and most influential and memorable sexual/erotic scenes and films on the big screen through cinematic history. Most of these films, with portrayals of sex and/or nudity, were considered quite erotic, groundbreaking, unique and/or controversial at the time.

Sex in Cinema: In the following collection, excerpted from the Mini-History of Sex in the Cinema at this site, here are some of the most significant milestones, and most influential and memorable sexual/erotic scenes and films on the big screen through cinematic history. Most of these films, with portrayals of sex and/or nudity, were considered quite erotic, groundbreaking, unique and/or controversial at the time. HISTORY OF SEX IN CINEMA - INDEX (chronological by film title) Intro \| Part 1 \| Part 2 \| Part 3 \| Part 4 \| Part 5 \| Part 6 \| Part 7 \| Part 8 \| Part 9 \| Part 10 \| Part 11 \| Part 12 \| Part 13 \| Part 14 \| Part 15 \| Part 16 \| Part 17 \| Part 18 \| Part 19 \| Part 20 \| Part 21 \| Part 22 \| Part 23 \| Part 24 \| Part 25 \| Part 26 \| Part 27 \| Part 28 \| Part 29 \| Part 30 \| Part 31 \| Part 32 \| Part 33 \| Part 34 \| Part 35 \| Part 36 \| Part 37 \| Part 38 \| Part 39 \| Part 40 \| Part 41 \| Part 42 \| Part 43 \| Part 44 \| Part 45 \| Part 46 \| Part 47 \| Part 48 \| Part 49 \| Part 50 \|
Sex in Cinema: Part 43 Greatest and Most Influential Erotic / Sexual Films and Scenes (chronological by film title) Milestone Films With Scenes That Were Especially Notorious, Infamous, Controversial, or Scandalous
Movie Title	Brief Scene Description	Example
Great Expectations (1998)	Alfonso Cuarón's R-rated modern adaptation of Charles Dicken's novel featured lushful cinematography set in Florida and New York City; it told about the long-term relationship between artist Finnegan Bell (Ethan Hawke) and the love of his life, golden-haired, cool, elitist and radiant Estella (Gwyneth Paltrow) over a period of years; it included two water fountain kissing scenes (one in their youth as 10 year-olds - portrayed by Jeremy James Kissner and Raquel Beaudene, and one as adults), a nude painting scene (with only brief partial-nude glimpses of Paltrow, although the sketch displayed full-frontal nudity), and a passionate love-making scene
Happiness (1998)	Controversial film-maker Todd Solondz's infamous and subversive unrated film about pedophilia was a black satire on middle-class suburban dysfunctionality; the film portrayed an unlikeable suburban dad and psychiatrist - Dr. Bill Maplewood (Dylan Baker), who was a predatory pedophile, exhibited in the scene at a little league game, in the backseat of his car (where he masturbated to a teen magazine), and during sleepovers hosted by his adolescent son Billy (Rufus Read) when he drugged and molested his son's schoolpal and teammate; also it included the scene of the honest conversation between father and son regarding the father being a "serial rapist" and "pervert" (the son asked: "Would you ever f--k me?" with his father's reply: "No, I'd jerk off instead"); also the famous ending scene of Billy admitting: "I came" (masturbating while spying on a buxom sunbather from the balcony); the film won the Cannes International Critics Prize in 1998, but was considered repulsive by the MPAA -- it received an NC-17 rating, even without explicit intercourse or violence
High Art (1998)	In writer/director Lisa Chodolenko's honest and convincing 'lesbian chic' film (her feature film debut), burnt-out, drug-addicted gay photographer Lucy Berliner (Ally Sheedy) and ambitious, mid-20s, heterosexual photography journal (Frame) associate editor Syd (Radha Mitchell) gradually fell in love and experienced deeper feelings for each other; during a trip to upstate New York in a pivotal scene, they experienced a slow, intimate and maturely-presented sex scene as they explored their insecurities and decided to have sex for the first time - within their doomed relationship; the film won the screenwriting award at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival
The Idiots (1998, Denmark) (aka Idioterne, Les Idiots)	Danish filmmaker Lars Von Triers filmed this stark black comedy with a hand-held camera - it was the second film made under the rules of Dogme '95; the subversive and unconventional film was made to protest bourgeois principles and conventions, in its story about a Copenhagen commune of middle-class individuals who pretended to be "spazzing" - or finding one's 'inner idiot' as if they were retarded or mentally challenged, to liberate themselves from social restrictions; it was an extremely controversial film due to nudity, group sex, and graphic unsimulated penetrative sex - the extended orgy sequence of the R-rated film was censored for U.S. audiences with black bars blocking images of male genitalia
Kirikou and the Sorceress (1998, Fr/Senegal, 2003 US)	French director Michel Ocelot's astonishing, sexually-mature French children's (?) film was based on West African mythical lore; it was a transparent parable for sexual politics and adult responsibility; the unrated film was controversial in its unabashed nudity and sexual themes, and its depictions of bare-breasted and semi-nude African villagers, and the appearance of the title character - a completely naked, anatomically-correct, precocious, small-statured young boy named Kirikou, who ultimately "conquered" the wicked, blackmailing, and castrating sorceress Karaba; the director was asked to draw bras on the women in his film and to cover up the title character but refused
New Rose Hotel (1998)	Abel Ferrara's mind-bending R-rated film, an adaptation of William Gibson's short story, told about freelance corporate espionage agents Fox (Christopher Walken) and X (Willem Dafoe) who were involved in a 'kidnapping' scheme of a Japanese scientist named Hiroshi (Yoshitaka Amano); X's love affair with seductive, nubile accomplice Sandii (Asia Argento), hired as a hooker to seduce the scientist in Morocco, developed during 'training' sessions, and endangered the plan; with plentiful nakedness, including an erotic swimming pool scene between Dafoe and Argento
Out of Sight (1998)	Director Steven Soderbergh's crime caper contained a well-known cat-and-mouse, romantic love-making scene between convicted bank robber Jack Foley (George Clooney) and kidnapped deputy federal agent/marshal Karen Sisco (Jennifer Lopez); their first meeting was their celebrated locked-in-a-car trunk scene in a getaway car when they exchanged sexy quips and banter (about Faye Dunaway's films such as Bonnie and Clyde and Three Days of the Condor) and he stroked her thigh; later, they flirtatiously called each other different names: Gary and Celeste, with the sequence inter-cutting between their conversation in a Detroit hotel lounge sharing a drink and the scene of them, minutes later, kissing, undressing and getting into bed in a penthouse hotel room -- with snow falling outside and the lights of the city seen through the window
Pleasantville (1998)	Director Gary Ross' PG-13 fantasy comedy (his directorial debut film) included colorful scenes of Lover's Lane where teenaged couples went to have sex in their perfect, black-and-white 1950s, sexless sitcom town; in one scene, strait-laced and repressed wife Betty Parker (Joan Allen) experienced her first orgasmic, masturbatory, pleasurable climax of self-discovery during a solitary, sensual bath (magically, the tree in the front yard of the white picket-fence home also burst into flames); and later newly-independent Betty declared her newfound emotive-color to her traditionalist husband George (William Macy): "I don't want it to go away" - and then boldly posed nude for artistic soda shop proprietor Mr. Johnson (Jeff Daniels) - and had the portrait displayed in the store window
Shakespeare in Love (1998, US/UK)	John Madden's R-rated, Best Picture-winning romance/period drama featured a scene in which writers-block suffering bard/playwright William Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes) lovingly unwrapped the bound torso of a scandalous, disguised, cross-dressed female Lady Viola De Lesseps (Oscar-winning Gwyneth Paltrow) for naked love-making- she would soon become his inspiration for writing a work titled "Romeo and Ethel, The Pirate's Daughter" ("the greatest love story almost never told" according to the film's tagline)
Slums of Beverly Hills (1998)	Writer/director Tamara Jenkins' semi-autobiographical coming-of-age sex comedy told about a Jewish family in mid-70s Southern California; this insightful independent film followed the post-puberty growing pains of a soon-to-be high school freshman named Vivian Abramowitz (Natasha Lyonne in her first major feature film role), who inherited ample breasts - which awkwardly blossomed when she became "stacked overnight" and required an industrial-strength bra that brought her continual embarrassment -- the modestly-sized Lyonne needed large-sized prosthetic breasts for the role; in one scene, she allowed drug-dealing neighbor Eliot (Kevin Corrigan) to touch her new acquisitions under her clothing ("Just breasts. Second base. That's it, not all the way"); she also had a new-found curiosity about sexuality when her hormones raced out of control, and let Eliot take her virginity in a car "just to get it over with"; later, she had to undergo breast reduction surgery - reflected in a mirror view
There's Something About Mary (1998)	This often-offensive Farrelly Brothers' effort - mostly a raucous, vulgar, non-PC, no-limits romantic comedy, was one of many gross-out comedies that spewed forth in the late 90s; it actually had little nudity but was full of raunchy and lewd sight gags, off-color comedy, and immature sick jokes about mostly tasteless subjects; most often, this film was advertised with the crude image of Mary Jensen (Cameron Diaz) with 'all-natural' creamy white hair gel taken for her own hair styling from Ted Stroehmann's (Ben Stiller) left ear lobe after he was interrupted during a self-pleasuring session - this sank the teen comedy genre to a new low; and in one of the film's earlier scenes, accident-prone prom date Ted was thought to be a masturbating voyeur and accidentally and painfully caught his manhood ("frank and beans") in his pants zipper
Twilight (1998)	Writer/director Robert Benton's R-rated LA who-dunit detective drama was one best forgotten by an aspiring actress before she became famous; it told about blackmail, murder, and how the past haunted retired, aging private investigator Harry Ross (Paul Newman); it contained a brief early nude scene of 17 year-old Mel Ames (future Oscar-winner Reese Witherspoon for Walk the Line (2005)) who had run off to Mexico with an older loser boyfriend named Jeff (Lieve Schreiber), whom she asked: "Do you love me?" after he kissed her; as he showered in the room, she was confronted by Harry - and hypothesized: "Let me guess. My parents sent you"