Example

The Loss of Sexual Innocence (1999)

Mascara (1999)

Pola X (1999, Fr./Ger./Swiss)

Romance (1999, Fr.) (aka Romance X)

This sexually-graphic drama import from daring French filmmaker Catherine Breillat faced international censorship problems for its explicit depictions of fellatio and intercourse; the film's poster displayed a red X over a self-pleasuring female's private parts; it told about the lack of connection between love and sex; the main character was a sexually-frustrated Parisian elementary school teacher named Marie (Caroline Ducey) who was paired with an unresponsive male partner named Paul (Sagamore Stevenin) - he rarely agreed to intercourse and responded disinterestedly to fellatio; therefore, she sought sexual gratification through various 'no-strings-attached', explicit sexual encounters (including rear-entry sex) with studly Italian stranger Paolo (Italian porn star actor Rocco Sefredi); she also was sexually involved and developed a relationship with her older boss named Robert (Francois Berleand) who enjoyed bondage and stimulated her potential for masochism; the film's scenes included a rape, a controversial fantasy dream sequence (in which she imagined herself sexually defenseless with other women - their waists were available and positioned next to a hole in a wall as unseen strangers on the other side of the wall could engage in explicit sex with them through the opening), bondage scenes, a gynecological exam, and closeup footage of a childbirth (edited and replaced by Blockbuster Video); it was also the first mainstream movie to feature an erect penis; it was released with no MPAA rating, although it undoubtedly would have been an NC-17 rating with its full frontal nudity and explicit unsimulated oral sex - a turning point in the candid depiction of non-pornographic sex on screen for a mainstream film

The Sex Monster (1999)

Varsity Blues (1999)

Volaverunt (1999, Fr./Sp.) (aka The Naked Maja)

Walk on the Moon (1999)

Water Drops on Burning Rocks (1999, Fr.) (aka Gouttes D'eau Sur Pierres Brulantes)

American Psycho (2000)

This film was one of the best instances demonstrating how violence could often be rated less harshly by the MPAA ratings board than sex; there were multiple scenes of wealthy 27 year-old delusional New York stock executive serial killer Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) dancing and singing to the music of Huey Lewis and the News ("Hip To Be Square"), Phil Collins, or Genesis ("In Too Deep") as foreplay to violence - in one grisly instance in which he wore a clear rain-slicker in his apartment, he hit associate Paul Allen (Jared Leto) over the head with a shiny new axe head - with blood splattering over his face from the impact of the strikes (off-screen); and in another violent scene, a nude and bloodied Bateman chased after fleeing hooker Christie (Cara Seymour) with a chainsaw and dropped it down on her from a stairwell - she died a bloody death when it hit her in the back; however, the scene that brought the greatest ratings controversy was the three-some (edited to avoid an NC-17 rating) sex scene with two prostitutes: Christie and Sabrina (Krista Sutton), in which Bateman posed to admire himself in a mirror and simultaneously videotaped the menage a trois in order to re-enact his fantasies from porn films

Baise Moi (2000, Fr.) (translated "Screw or F--k Me")

Bedazzled (2000)

Coyote Ugly (2000)

In this sexy Flashdance-like romantic comedy, a cross between Cocktail (1988) and Showgirls (1995), aspiring, blonde-haired 21 year-old songwriter/singer Violet Sanford (Piper Perabo) in NYC found that she was desperate and broke and forced to work as a bump-and-grind, scantily-clad barmaid at a hot bar called Coyote Ugly; in the PG-13 film's major sex scene (although a steamier version of the scene with nakedness from Perabo's body double was found in the unrated extended version), she explained what nervous stagefright felt like in order to seduce charming young Australian chef Kevin O'Donnell (Adam Garcia) amidst full-sized stand-up cardboard cut-outs of famous celebrities (Bill Clinton, John F. Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, etc.); she deliberately made him nervous ("the only way I can show you is to make you really nervous") by playfully and slowly stripping down while talking about her racing heart and shaking body ("and everything gets a big cloudy"); she also described how she sometimes lost control: "it's been known to last all night...it's excruciating!"; she then proceeded to kiss him, wearing only her bluish-purple tanktop and thong panties as she removed his shirt, and before long was making love to him with more sensuous kisses and naked embraces

Dancing at the Blue Iguana (2000)

The Gift (2000)

Representative of films that became notorious because of the first-time nudity of one of their performers, this one featured Dawson's Creek's Katie Holmes as a spoiled, promiscuous sexpot named Jessica King - the sultry daughter of a prominent citizen, who was suddenly and mysteriously missing in a baffling case, and unexpectedly - in a flashback - ripped off her shirt and bared her breasts before nice-guy Georgia school principal and fiancee Wayne Collins (Greg Kinnear); it was revealed in the twisting plot that Collins killed Jessica in jealous retribution ("Why would you do this to me?") because she confessed to her affair with backwater resident and abusive husband Donnie Barksdale (Keanu Reeves) - when she retorted "Maybe I wanted to be with a man for a change," he pushed her backward onto a car and strangled her

Ginger Snaps (2000, Can.)

Gitano (2000, Sp.)

High Fidelity (2000)

Hollow Man (2000)

In this creepy science-fiction horror thriller by Paul Verhoeven, a derivative of H.G. Wells' classic The Invisible Man, brilliant scientist Dr. Sebastian Caine (Kevin Bacon) tested an invisibility serum on himself - with deviant consequences; the 'hollow man' spied upon his pretty neighbor (Rhona Mitra) from an adjacent apartment; while she took a shower, he rang her doorbell but when she came to the door and viewed through the peephole, no one was there at her door; when it rang again three times, she opened the door and unwittingly let the invisible intruder in; she was further watched at her dressing table as she rubbed cream into her skin and combed her hair - spooked by her moving mirror, she was then attacked and thrown on the bed, where she was presumably invisibly raped by the unseen assailant

In the Mood for Love (2000, HK) (aka Fa yeung nin wa)

Le Libertin (2000, Fr.)