Nerve and IFC's The 50 Greatest Sex Scenes in Cinema
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There’s a reason that any talk of sex in film comes back around to certain titles again and again. Getting two (or more) attractive actors to mash their faces together and huff and puff for the camera is relatively easy. Shooting a memorable sex scene is hard.
We here at IFC News and Nerve.com sat through a lot of movie sex to make this list — oh, we suffered through it somehow. But even after all that ranking, weighing and debating, we’d be hard pressed to define exactly what it is that makes a sex scene great — in true Justice Potter Stewart fashion, we just know it when we see it, whether it shocks us, titillates us, turns us on, breaks our hearts or confounds our expectations.
The oldest film on this list is from 1896; the newest is from last year. You’ll notice we decided to leave certain standards in the field off. And as always, these lists are a launching point for you to tell us what you think.
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5 -
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
1988, in 6 top lists Check -
6 -
37°2 le matin
1986 — a.k.a. Betty Blue, in 8 top lists Check -
7 -
My Beautiful Laundrette
1985, in 7 top lists Check -
8 -
Secretary
2002, in 2 top lists Check -
9 -
The Big Easy
1986, in 1 top list Check -
11 -
Ekstase
1933 — a.k.a. Ecstasy, in 4 top lists Check -
16 -
Coming Home
1978, in 5 top lists Check -
18 -
Unfaithful
2002, in 0 top lists Check -
19 -
Lucía y el sexo
2001 — a.k.a. Sex and Lucía, in 0 top lists Check -
21 -
The Kiss
1896 — a.k.a. The May Irwin Kiss, in 4 top lists Check -
23 -
Brokeback Mountain
2005, in 21 top lists Check -
24 -
The Cooler
2003, in 1 top list Check -
26 -
Out of Sight
1998, in 7 top lists Check -
29 -
9 Songs
2004, in 2 top lists Check -
34 -
The End of the Affair
1999, in 1 top list Check -
38 -
Shortbus
2006, in 2 top lists Check -
39 -
The Piano
1993, in 14 top lists Check -
40 -
L'amant
1992 — a.k.a. The Lover, in 0 top lists Check -
42 -
High Art
1998, in 2 top lists Check -
45 -
Breaking the Waves
1996, in 14 top lists Check -
47 -
The Dreamers
2003, in 4 top lists Check
Last updated on Jan 13, 2012; source