We’re used to saying practically anything on our movie and TV screens these days. But so much of what we see today has, not so very long ago, been classified as pornography. It was only in 1960 that the first official publication of the printed version of Lady Chatterley’s Lover went on trial in the UK for flouting the obscenity laws. Through the decades, various movies have gone out on a limb to break sexual taboos. Here are some of them:
This Czech film starring Hedy Lamarr, who was only 18 when she appeared, has two sex scenes involving nudity. In one scene, she has sex with a man, and it caused a sensation because it was the first depiction of sex in a mainstream flick. It is still considered the cinema's first sex scene.
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Ecstasy (1933) was directed by Czech director Gustav Machatý and was the first non-pornographic film to feature a female orgasm. The film was controversial due to its portrayal of nudity and sexuality, and it was banned in several countries. Hedy Lamarr, who was only 18 when she appeared in the film, became an international star as a result of her performance. The film was also notable for its realistic portrayal of female pleasure, which was a rarity in the early days of cinema. Ecstasy is now considered a classic of early cinema and remains one of the most important films in the history of sexual representation in film.
This movie is definitely a landmark in Black filmmaking in the United States – this extravagant, angry, belligerent, loud movie reaches a high pitch early and maintains it all until the end. The biggest highlight was how Melvin Van Peebles really managed to kick cinematic sand in yet another taboo's eyes by filming scenes of un-simulated sex involving his 13-year old son.
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Director Ken Russell shares a magnificent tale of desire, diabolism, and God in "The Devils". The movie is based on the religious hysteria stirred up in a 17th century French town. The biggest highlight of the movie was a nun orgy, and a randy Vanessa Redgrave, who, for the first time ever, brought the Lord down from the cross to have her way with Him. Some considered it a masterpiece, others called it an over-the-top lurid approach… but it was definitely an attempt to break sexual taboos.
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The film stars Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie as a couple haunted by memories of their dead daughter. It's a great film as a whole, and is known for a scene that puts it in the list of movies that broke sexual taboos. In the scene, the parents get ready to go out for the evening, but they decide to go for a nude interlude in which Sutherland asks for an "appetizer". It was the very first time when the world witnessed on-screen coitus.
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This controversial drama from Bernardo Bertolucci is actually a dark masterpiece about grief and love. The movie has several deliberately transgressive sex scenes, including the infamous scene where Marlon Brando asks Maria Schneider to bring the butter in a suggestive manner. It was the first time when the world witnessed something as kinky as "go get the butter" on the big screen.
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Caligula is among the first western films to have un-simulated sex scenes with several scenes of actual ejaculation and orgies. It involves an excessive display of gratuitous sex, which made it one of the most controversial films during its time. Even though the movie really played a role in breaking sexual taboos, it is banned in many countries even today.
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Directed by Paul Morrissey, it was the very first movie that broke the "Erection Taboo" in mainstream cinema. Joe Dallesandro's penis did the trick here and stirred a controversy. The scene had Dallesandro with an erection and an actress wrapping a big ribbon around it. Interestingly, it was real, not some prosthetic like the one you may have seen in "The Wolf of Wall Street".
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Have you seen any of these? What other movies that broke sexual taboos do you know of? Do you think 50 Shades of Grey qualifies?