It must be torture for passionate fans of “Fifty Shades of Grey” as they (along with the just plain curious) anticipate the film’s Friday release. Early reports say the film’s sex scenes will total a mere 20 minutes, but how well-scrutinized those 20 minutes will be! When it comes to portraying S&M themes on screen, depicting extreme sexual practices tends to be trickier than getting into a latex body suit. One constraint for filmmakers is balancing how much the scenes should educate, fascinate or titillate the audience. At the same time, directors need to treat the practices being portrayed with respect. Given the resistance of Hollywood cinema to realistically depict BDSM culture, independent and international cinema has been best at producing films of this type, with many of them skirting risky censorship issues.
“The Duke of Burgundy,” in theaters and VOD now, depicts a master/slave relationship between two lesbian lepidopterists (read Salon's review). It is a terrific example of how to do S&M right. Writer/Director Peter Strickland employs an assured visual style that draws audiences into the main characters’ closed circuit. He keeps viewers captivated as he teases out meanings on who has the power in the relationship, and he never judges these women, who become excited by a “human toilet.”
Here are 10 BSDM films with various themes and genres from the last 40 years ranked from worst to best.
10. “Exit to Eden”
Based on an Anne Rice novel, Garry Marshall’s misguided caper comedy has undercover cops (Rosie O’Donnell and Dan Aykroyd) chasing jewel thieves on a sex fantasy island called Eden. Marshall plays BDSM for laughs that never come. He styles O’Donnell and Aykroyd in outrageous leather outfits and studded collars, as if the mere sight of them in bondage gear is funny. Meanwhile, the “romantic” storyline features Mistress Lisa (Dana Delany) “disciplining” masochist Elliot (Paul Mercurio) by sitting on him or tying him up naked and flogging his cute caboose. When the Mistress and her slave actually have sex, it’s boring vanilla missionary-style sex, which is, perhaps, meant to be ironic. But “Exit to Eden” is boring, missionary-style S&M.
9. “9 ½ Weeks”
Perhaps the most erotic moment in Adrian Lyne’s largely feeble attempt to make sadomasochistic relationships sexy is the closed-eyes feeding scene. John (Mickey Rourke) dominates Elizabeth (Kim Basinger) in many respects, but she seems to be turned on by his control. Lyne’s glossy (read: superficial) style makes the sensual texture of cherries and corkscrew pasta palpable, and the fleshy surface tension of Jell-O is quite sexually suggestive. Of course, the playful “game” becomes increasingly more explicit with Elizabeth biting into a phallic hot pepper. And when she furiously chugs milk a few frames later, is there any doubt about the symbolism of the milky white liquid running down her face? What about the sticky honey he drizzles all over her tongue and thighs after? Elizabeth’s “pain” in this scene generates some pleasure, but “9 ½ Weeks” is all surface, no content. And talk about torture! A scene features the couple going out and purchasing a whip, but said whip is never seen being used.
8. “Shortbus”
John Cameron Mitchell celebrates his sexually uninhibited characters in an amusing and explicit opening montage. James (Paul Dawson) performs auto-fellatio, unaware than his voyeuristic neighbor, Caleb (Peter Stickles) is watching; Sofia (Sook-Yin Lee) and Rob (Raphael Barker) are a married couple who have sex in various strenuous positions; and Severin (Lindsay Beamish), a sarcastic dominatrix, flogs a “trust fund hipster” while he asks her probing questions. Mitchell, however, reveals that each of these characters is emotionally unhappy. This is in part because they hide, rather than communicate their feelings to their partners. In fact, the film is using the pain James, Sofia and Severin feel regarding physical sex as a way of addressing their emotional needs. They each want to feel “something,” not nothing. Viewers who embrace “Shortbus” will enjoy the wild, sexy ride, but for those who think it tries too hard, it proves to be a rather facile film.
7. “Crash”
David Cronenberg, of “Videodrome” and “Dead Ringers” fame, is the only filmmaker who could adapt J. G. Ballard’s novel about people aroused by auto accidents. His kinky characters give meaning to “auto-erotica,” and participate in sexy, sadomasochistic scenes in which James Dean and Jayne Mansfield’s famous car accidents are recreated for everyone’s sexual pleasure. The film, which can be read as a pointed commentary about humans and technology, has characters connecting by physically “crashing” into each other, either in car accidents or by “ramming” each other sexually from behind. If Cronenberg’s tone shifts gears between serious and risible, it includes a notable appearance by Rosanna Arquette as Gabrielle, an injured woman with steel braces on her legs and scars on the back of her thighs. When she wears fishnet stockings, she looks like one sexy dominatrix.
6. “The Night Porter”
Liliana Cavani’s provocative and controversial film, set in 1957 Vienna, has Max (Dirk Bogarde), a former Nazi officer, working as a night porter in an elegant hotel. He takes care of his guests until he is taken aback locking eyes with Lucia (Charlotte Rampling), the wife of a visiting American conductor. Max knew Lucia as his “little girl,” from her time in a concentration camp. Their reunion triggers horrible flashbacks for her. Max, however, is distracted by Lucia’s arrival; her appearance coincides with a trial to expunge his war crimes. While she is initially afraid of him, when they meet up one night they embrace passionately and resume their previous relationship. Before long, Lucia is shackled in Max’s apartment, where he hits her. They play games with broken glass. Apparently, you do hurt the one you love the most. “The Night Porter” treats its lovers’ sadomasochistic relationship as an extreme form of Stockholm syndrome, with Lucia protecting Max, rather than punishing him for what he did to her. It’s a daring, albeit not entirely successful premise, but the film’s themes about guilt and shame resonate.
5. “Nymphomaniac”
Lars von Trier’s penetrating investigation of a woman’s sexual identity has the title character, Joe (Charlotte Gainsbourg, in a fearless performance), participating in a disturbing episode where she is abused/empowered by Billy Elliot — er, K (Jamie Bell). He calls her Fido after hitting her in the face so hard she almost falls over. He offers her no “safe word” to stop the pain, and makes her wait for hours for his attentions, which jeopardizes her childcare. When he does take her back to his lair, K binds Joe to a couch with rope, straps and duct tape before whipping her with a damp riding crop. She screams before he even makes first contact. When he does connect, however, he hits her so hard it leaves her visibly bruised. Von Trier is somewhat cheeky in this sequence, adding moments of unexpected humor, such as when K introduces Joe to the concept of the “silent duck.” Ultimately, the two-part film is a lengthy — and for some portentous — debate in which Joe and Seligman (Stellan Skarsgård) discuss where sexual tendencies and predilections originate.
4. “Sick: The Life and Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist”
Kirby Dick’s outstanding documentary about Bob Flanagan is as fascinating as its subject, a “supermasochist.” Flanagan, who died at age 43, suffered from cystic fibrosis and was in constant pain. He found a woman, Sheree Rose, who was a dominatrix, and he gave her control of his body and life. While the film is at times hard to watch — yes, Flanagan is seen hammering a nail into the head of his penis! — “Sick” is a remarkably sympathetic, funny and life-affirming documentary that shows how BDSM can help people live fuller, richer and even healthier lives.
3. “A Year Without Love”
This excellent Argentine film — it won the Teddy Award at the Berlin Film Festival for Best Feature Film — is based on the diaries of Pablo Pérez, an HIV+ gay man. Pablo (Juan Minujín) explains that his passion for leather formed in his childhood. “I always liked superheroes,” he says in a poignant voice-over. “Their muscular bodies, the tight outfits, the masks. They shaped my ideal of a strong, protective man.” As a dominant man moves a whip or a knife along his naked back, Pablo flinches with obvious delight. There are several sequences shot in S&M clubs, and these episodes add further insight into the appeal the leather scene has for Pablo; the power he feels provides a form of control over his body that his disease has stripped from him. Pablo is also anxious to pursue a relationship with hunky master Martín (Javier van de Couter). In one intense encounter Martín crushes Pablo's neck with a leather boot before stringing him up for some ass- and nipple-teasing knife play. “A Year Without Love” is a sensational film, both sensual and extremely well made and acted.
2. “Secretary”
This witty comedy-drama has Lee (Maggie Gyllenhaal) “assuming the position” (as the poster tag line reads) of secretary to a lawyer, E. Edward Grey (James Spader). The clever opening sequence has Lee performing everyday tasks like stapling and preparing coffee while manacled at both wrists by a bar that stretches along her back. Later she is spanked while reading a letter corrected by her boss. “Secretary” shows how Mr. Grey (Did E. L. James find her character name here?) is as “damaged” as Lee. He is grieving over the loss of his wife; she has recently been released from an institution and has a history of cutting herself. Both are hurting, and they use their S&M activities to help the other through their pain. But their codependent relationship, while highly compatible, becomes complicated. This is what makes “Secretary” such a touching romance, and the film is bolstered by two incredibly accomplished performances by Spader and Gyllenhaal.
1. “Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom”
Pier Paolo Pasolini’s scandalous “Salò” remains forever potent. The film, based on the writing of the Marquis de Sade, features various sadomasochistic acts ranging from urophilia to coprophagia, inflicted on captive teenagers, male and female, by middle-aged Fascist dignitaries in the Nazi-controlled Republic of Salò in World War II Italy. What makes “Salò” so indelible is that the acts are not consensual and they culminate in mutilation and murder. The various episodes of emotional, physical and sexual brutality are difficult to watch, but Pasolini uses them to question issues of power and authority in society, as well as compliance and dissent, religious freedom, sexuality, fetishism and patriotism. It’s a striking, unforgettable film, albeit one that requires a strong constitution.
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