The problematic scene Emerald Fennell was obsessed with: “It’s one of the sexiest things I’ve ever seen”
When you’re called Emerald Fennell, it only seems inevitable that your name will be on everyone’s lips at some point or another. For the filmmaker, controversy came in 2023 after releasing her second movie, Saltburn, which divided audiences and became one of the most talked about films of the year.
The highly aestheticised thriller saw Barry Keoghan play a manipulative misfit who charms the Saltburn household before orchestrating their downfall. There were many moments that led viewers to feel uncomfortable, from a particular scene set in a graveyard to the movie’s lacklustre exploration of class dynamics. Fennell’s attempts to satirise the wealthy – despite being incredibly rich and upper class herself – are questionably executed. At least it gave us the renaissance of some 2000s pop classics like ‘Murder on the Dancefloor’ and ‘Perfect’.
Fennell also directed Promising Young Woman in 2020, which earned her the Oscar for ‘Best Original Screenplay’. The film didn’t stir as significant buzz as Saltburn, but it has been equally praised and derided, especially due to its tragic ending, which some believe is not as empowering as the film sets out to persuade us.
So far, Fennell’s career has attracted plenty of attention, and whether you’re a fan of her movies or not, you can’t deny the fact that her work gets people talking. With Saltburn, many people were shocked by the sexual content of the film, which is relatively mild compared to your average arthouse erotica but, for a mainstream movie, seemed rather transgressive.
It seems like Fennell is interested in challenging her viewers’ perceptions of what is considered sensual or sexy and what crosses the line into simply being “too far”. Thus, it is unsurprising that when she once picked out a movie that she believes features “one of the sexiest scenes of all time,” her choice was rather debatable.
Appearing on the Talking Pictures: A Movie Memories Podcast, Fennell revealed that she was “obsessed” with Martin Scorsese’s Cape Fear. Released in 1991, the film follows Robert De Niro’s Max, a violent rapist who begins to terrorise the family of the lawyer who put him in prison.
She explained, “The scene where Robert De Niro comes to the high school to seduce Juliette Lewis, it’s one of the sexiest things I’ve ever seen, which is very complicated.” The scene Fennell is referring to sees De Niro’s character kiss and place his finger in Lewis’ character’s mouth, who is meant to be just 15. We’d argue the scene is much more uncomfortable than it is sexy.
Fennell reasoned, “My answer is always, ‘You are allowed to be turned on.’ Permission is the main thing that I kind of wish I could kind of say before this film is like, permission to laugh, permission to be horny, permission to scream, permission to hate it. I loved Juliette Lewis. I mean, Natural Born Killers, another very troublingly sexy film.”
