10 most disturbing sex scenes in cinema history
Since the early days of cinema, the depiction of sex on screen has come a long way. The first sex scene ever shown was in the 1933 film Ectascy, starring Hedy Lamarr. The erotic drama, helmed by Czech director Gustav Machatý, is very tame in terms of today’s standards, with only the actor’s face shown as classical music plays.
However, as the years have progressed, filmmakers have become more ambitious with their depictions of sex; after all, explicit scenes have been described in literature for centuries. The first act of unsimulated sex was shown in They Call Us Misfits, a Swedish documentary from 1968 directed by Stefan Jarl and Jan Lindqvist. Since then, many films have depicted real sexual acts, such as Vincent Gallo’s The Brown Bunny or Gaspar Noé’s Love.
Many filmmakers have pushed cinema’s boundaries to the limits to depict provocative or shocking sex acts, using them to disturb the viewer. As much as sex scenes can be used to show acts of love and passion, they can also be used to show human depravity, as highlighted by scenes of rape and abuse.
These scenes aren’t here for cheap shock value or to stir controversy for the sake of it. They reflect how cinema has grappled with power, trauma and the darker corners of human psychology. Some are raw, some surreal, but all of them left a mark that couldn’t be undone once the credits rolled.
The films below have all garnered significant amounts of controversy for their disturbing sex scenes, from Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange to Lars von Trier’s Antichrist.
10 most disturbing sex scenes in cinema history:
A Clockwork Orange (Stanley Kubrick, 1971)
After releasing his masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey, Stanley Kubrick adapted Anthony Burgess’ dystopian novel A Clockwork Orange on a scaled-back budget. However, that didn’t prevent the director from making anything less than brilliant. The movie shocked audiences with its graphic depictions of violence and sexual assault, leading Kubrick to pull the movie from British cinemas for almost 30 years after copycat crimes occurred.
One of the film’s most disturbing scenes takes place near the beginning of the film when Alex (Malcolm McDowell) and his gang of ‘droogs’ break into a house and rape a woman in front of her husband while gleefully spouting the lines to ‘Singing In The Rain’. Alex wears a bizarre long-nosed disguise as he cuts the woman’s outfit off and forcibly has sex with her.
Antichrist (Lars von Trier, 2009)
Like Gaspar Noé, Lars von Trier is not scared to depict the deepest levels of human depravity in his films. From The House That Jack Built to Nymphomaniac, von Trier’s work is certainly polarising, and it’s hard to pick just one moment from his filmography that could be described as the most disturbing. But, as far as horrific sex scenes go, Antichrist is full of intense moments.
Charlotte Gainsbourg and Willem Dafoe play a couple who, following the accidental death of their son, relocate to the woods, where they engage in increasingly violent and odd sexual activity. At the beginning of the film, we witness the death of the couple’s son – he falls out of a window – intercut with slow-motion black-and-white shots of the pair having sex. However, most shocking is the scene where Gainsbourg’s character whacks Dafoe’s penis with a block of wood before stroking it until he ejaculates blood.
Crash (David Cronenberg, 1996)
David Cronenberg has always blended sexuality with his use of shocking body horror, and Crash is his most sexually-charged film. He even told The Guardian, “To me, movies are sex. Movies were made for sex, there’s no question about it.” Crash follows a group of people who get aroused by car crashes, and Cronenberg invites us to watch his cast of characters engage in bizarre sexual acts, such as James Spader’s character having sex with a vulva-shaped scar on the leg of Patricia Arquette’s Gabrielle, which is wrapped in restrictive steel braces.
Upon its release, The Evening Standard dubbed Crash “A movie beyond the bounds of depravity.” The film ends with Spader’s James and Deborah Kara Unger’s Catherine staging a car crash, and as she lies in the wreckage, James has sex with her. It’s certainly odd, to say the least.
Fat Girl (Catherine Breillat, 2001)
Since the 1970s, Catherine Breillat has created magnificent works of subversive cinema that focus on taboo subjects like female sexuality. Her work is groundbreaking, although the explicit nature of her films has led some of them to be banned or censored in certain countries. Breillat’s 2001 entry, Fat Girl or À ma sœur!, was banned in Canada for a few years, and the BBFC removed the rape scene at the film’s end when the movie was released on home video.
This haunting rape scene occurs after 13-year-old Anais witnesses her 15-year-old sister and mother brutally killed in their car by a stranger. Immediately, the man takes Anais to the woods, where he has sex with her. Whereas the edited version of the film doesn’t show the act, the uncut version shows a depraved moment that is truly disturbing.
In the Realm of the Senses (Nagisa Ōshima, 1976)
Nagisa Ōshima’s 1976 erotic drama In The Realm of the Senses was highly controversial upon its release for many reasons. Based on the real 1936 murder of Kichizō Ishida by his lover, Sada Abe, who strangled him and cut off his penis, the film is very explicit. The characters perform unsimulated sex, taking up a large majority of the movie, which explores the intersection between desire and deranged obsession.
One of the most disturbing scenes comes in the form of an egg placed inside a vagina before being eaten. However, the worst is arguably when Sada kills her unfortunate lover during sex before slicing off his genitals.
Irréversible (Gaspar Noé, 2002)
Gaspar Noé is known for his provocative and anxiety-inducing films, often using intense editing techniques and music to disorient audiences and emphasise the drama unfolding on screen. His most controversial film, Irréversible, starring Vincent Cassel and Monica Bellucci, is told in reverse order, with each segment appearing to be shot continuously.
The film depicts the brutal rape of Belucci’s character in a subway underpass, which is presented in an uncomfortable ten-minute-long scene. It caused 250 people to walk out of its Cannes Film Festival screening and remains one of the most disturbing sex scenes ever filmed.
Pink Flamingos (John Waters, 1972)
The world of John Waters could be described as trashy, grotesque, and camp, which is exactly why he has garnered such a cult following over the past six decades. His film Pink Flamingos, starring Divine, contains a multitude of sins, from coprophagy to rape and murder. At the end of the film, Waters’ voiceover declares Divine as “not only the filthiest person in the world, but she is also the filthiest actress in the world.”
In one of many disturbing scenes, Divine gives a real blowjob to Danny Mills’ character. The catch? He plays her adult son, Crackers. He declares his devotion to his mother as she fellates him in what is undoubtedly one of the film’s most bizarre moments.
Requiem for a Dream (Darren Aronofsky, 2000)
Requiem for a Dream is a harrowing tale of the effects of drug abuse, reflected in the four main characters whose lives are slowly destroyed by their use of addictive substances. Starring Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, Ellen Burstyn and Marlon Wayans, the movie is a difficult watch. Darren Aronofsky penned the script with Hubert Selby Jr, based on the latter’s 1978 novel. The pair decided to make the movie about more than just drugs, but addiction in general.
When Connolly’s Marion finds herself desperate to fund her addiction, she does whatever it takes to satisfy her cravings. As the film nears its end, clips of Sara experiencing intense electro-shock therapy and disorientating shots of medics are cut between scenes of Marion performing a sexual act involving a double-ended dildo and another woman in front of a bunch of cheering Wall Street businessmen.
Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1975)
Pier Paolo Pasolini’s final film, Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom, remains one of the most shocking pieces of cinema ever made. It is a twisted masterpiece that depicts the effects of capitalism, fascism and authoritarianism through the torture of innocent teenagers at the hands of a group of disgusting libertines. Yet to convey his message, Pasolini employs some vile imagery, such as people being force-fed faeces or having their nipples and eyes ripped out.
However, there are plenty of abhorrent rape and torture scenes that make Salò unforgettable – no matter how hard you try and forget the events played out on screen. Quite frankly, there are too many disturbing sex scenes in the film to pick just one for this list.
The Piano Teacher (Michael Haneke, 2001)
Isabelle Huppert gives a performance of a lifetime in Michael Haneke’s The Piano Teacher, adapted from Elfriede Jelinek’s novel of the same name. The film explores the life of Erika, a lonely and sexually repressed piano teacher living with her domineering mother. Erika engages in unusual behaviour, from mutilating her own genitals to sniffing used tissues while watching porn in a sex shop. However, she soon begins a sadomasochistic relationship with one of her students, Walter.
The film is disturbing in many ways, although there are two scenes that stand out as the most horrifying. The first is when Erika kisses and gropes her mother in bed, climbing on top of her as her mother attempts to push her off. If that wasn’t shocking enough, the film depicts the bitter end of Erika and Walter’s relationship through him violently raping the protagonist on the floor. He attempts to fulfil the desires that she has previously expressed, yet, struggling on the floor, it soon becomes clear that she doesn’t want these thoughts to become her reality.
