Nerve and IFC's The 50 Greatest Sex Scenes in Cinema
Created by johnnyg.
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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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1 -
Don't Look Now
1973, in 17 top lists Check -
2 -
A History of Violence
2005, in 11 top lists Check -
3 -
Mulholland Dr.
2001 — a.k.a. Mulholland Drive, in 26 top lists Check -
4 -
Risky Business
1983, in 5 top lists Check -
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 -
10 -
Young Frankenstein
1974, in 14 top lists Check -
11 -
Ekstase
1933 — a.k.a. Ecstasy, in 4 top lists Check -
12 -
Il portiere di notte
1974 — a.k.a. The Night Porter, in 5 top lists Check -
13 -
Y tu mamá también
2001, in 15 top lists Check -
14 -
Team America: World Police
2004, in 5 top lists Check -
15 -
Get Carter
1971, in 11 top lists Check -
16 -
Coming Home
1978, in 5 top lists Check -
17 -
Body Heat
1981, in 7 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 -
20 -
Bound
1996, in 6 top lists Check -
21 -
The Kiss
1896 — a.k.a. The May Irwin Kiss, in 4 top lists Check -
22 -
Tian bian yi duo yun
2005 — a.k.a. The Wayward Cloud, in 4 top lists Check -
23 -
Brokeback Mountain
2005, in 21 top lists Check -
24 -
The Cooler
2003, in 1 top list Check -
25 -
Female Trouble
1974, in 6 top lists Check -
26 -
Out of Sight
1998, in 7 top lists Check -
27 -
Boys Don't Cry
1999, in 7 top lists Check -
28 -
Henry & June
1990, in 1 top list Check -
29 -
9 Songs
2004, in 2 top lists Check -
30 -
Me and You and Everyone We Know
2005, in 5 top lists Check -
31 -
Storytelling
2001, in 0 top lists Check -
32 -
Being John Malkovich
1999, in 14 top lists Check -
33 -
The Last Seduction
1994, in 10 top lists Check -
34 -
The End of the Affair
1999, in 1 top list Check -
35 -
Network
1976, in 14 top lists Check -
36 -
Boogie Nights
1997, in 12 top lists Check -
37 -
Shaft
1971, in 10 top lists 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 -
41 -
High Fidelity
2000, in 3 top lists Check -
42 -
High Art
1998, in 2 top lists Check -
43 -
Átame!
1989 — a.k.a. Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!, in 2 top lists Check -
44 -
Poison
1991, in 4 top lists Check -
45 -
Breaking the Waves
1996, in 14 top lists Check -
46 -
Sex, Lies, and Videotape
1989, in 11 top lists Check -
47 -
The Dreamers
2003, in 4 top lists Check -
48 -
Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus
2006, in 0 top lists Check -
49 -
Laurel Canyon
2002, in 0 top lists Check -
50 -
Ken Park
2002, in 1 top list Check
Last updated on Jan 13, 2012; source