Meryl Streep names the sexiest scene of her career: “I didn’t want it to end that day”
The debate about the depiction of sex in the movies has exploded in recent years, with everything from Babygirl to Bridgerton opening up conversations about sensuality and intimacy on screen, challenging our limited understanding of the ways this can be portrayed. Many sex scenes have gone down in history and defined cinema as we know it, whether it be the love scene in Don’t Look Now or Brokeback Mountain, sparking simultaneous levels of outrage and admiration that separates the true film lovers from the prudes.
However, there have also been moments that are distinctly sexual without containing anything that is physically explicit, with Meryl Streep describing the sexiest non-sex scene of her entire career.
Meryl Streep has played a host of iconic characters over the years, ranging from the romantically conflicted Donna in Mamma Mia! to the subdued depression of Joanna in Kramer VS Kramer. Throughout her many years in the business, she has been a leading creative figure who continues to elevate the medium through her gritty roles and commitment to nuanced storytelling. Part of her legacy comes from her ability to redefine the conventions of film through characters that defy our expectations, something that Streep achieved through her 1985 film Out of Africa.
Out of Africa, directed by Sydney Pollack, follows a Danish author called Karen Blixen, who moves to Africa to build a new life for herself and falls in love with a local game-hunter called Denys. Robert Redford stars alongside Streep in this absorbing and deeply romantic drama, following the pair as they begin a relationship against the backdrop of a beautiful rural environment. Their relationship is fairly charged, with a definitive level of sexual tension between the pair that is only heightened by the heat and the landscape around them.
However, there was one scene that grabbed audiences around the world, with the on-screen couple managing to create erotic suspense through nothing more than a bottle of shampoo and some hippos. The scene in question is, of course, the hair-washing scene, in which Denys sees Karen struggling to brush her hair and offers to wash it for her. It is a deeply intimate moment, with Karen revelling in the care being shown to her as they bathe by the river.
When describing this scene, Streep said, “It’s a sex scene in a way, because it’s so intimate. We’ve seen so many scenes of people fucking, but we don’t see that loving touch, that care”.
The actor went on to reveal that her hair and makeup artist Roy Hellund gave some pointers to Redford on how to correctly do this, something that dramatically improved the scene. Streep expanded on this, saying, “By take five I was so in love! I didn’t want it to end that day, even in spite of the hippos”.
The pair were warned about the hippos before shooting, being told that many people are killed by them when crossing over into their territory by the river. This perhaps adds another edge to the scene as you watch something so tender and careful in contrast to a slightly dangerous setting.
