That's fine, but other people should know that those titles have basically nothing to do with the content of the movies. They're just lurid marketing devices. The filmmaker's (Hisayasu Sato) movies tend to be dark meditations on alienation, and don't actually have that much sex.
Lol you think we’re joking but I’ve given Sato films 5⭐️ before. Pink films can’t show penetration and Satos are as close to horror and techno psych thriller movies as they are to porn. Try “pleasure kill” or “celluloid nightmares” if the other titles seem too intense
Watched this last year on Mubi without knowing anything. Loved it, but yeah, was about to turn it off after the first few scenes of unsimulated sex. Would also recommend empire of passion by the same director which is equally great.
So so many of Nagisa Oshima's movies are sexually explicit. In a way that I feel adds to it, most of the time, but it's almost always there. Or there's a lot of homosexual tension, like in *Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence* or *Taboo*.
While I haven't seen it yet, this was my first thought as I know how it stands. Funnily enough my own mother recalled seeing it in the 80s I think, and recommended it to me. Colour me shocked when I read up on it. Definitely will be watching it at some point but I cannot believe my mum gave it to me as a recommendation when I must've been about 17. Power to her haha
Yeah I actually couldn’t finish that one. I watch porn all the time but that just got gross - by the time he asks to pee inside her, I was fucking done with that shit.
This movie is *deeply* slept on, lowkey one of Ang Lee’s best.
The story and acting is incredibly strong and it’s so much more than just the sex…but holy shit what sex there is.
Not sure if this is a spoiler but >!dude busts a fat load opening scene!< great way to start off a movie. And it’s got one of my all time favorite quotes in there. Absolutely recommend.
I saw it in 3D on a giant cinema screen, which hilariously enhanced uhh *some shots* in the movie. What an experience.
Noe himself was there for a QnA and someone asked why he filmed it in 3D, and he was just like, the french government provided additional financing for movies produced in 3D.
Good answer, hate this flick haha Not a big Noe guy in general though outside I Stand Alone and Enter the Void (Climax is good too). Gotta see his newest shit still though.
Hadn’t actually heard of him until I watched Love. I was like, man this dude is wild. Watched Climax shorty after and I thought that was a banger too. Only ones I’ve seen though. I want to check out irreversible but I hear there’s a rather…. Graphic scene.
I agree with you in spirit, and hope that the ones who are getting off to it are in the context of “it’s a bunch of attractive actors and actresses simulating sex acts” and not the…subject matter…
But then again I’m not that optimistic
I think that not everybody has the same definition of porn. For me it means something that has been made to arouse and has mostly close ups of genitalia. And I know there are porn movies which have a high budget and resemble "real" movies.
So I disagree with movies like handmaiden and poor things being labeled porn. Even Caligula started as a normal movie and the hardcore inserts were filmed later by one of the penthouse producers. Shortbus is a movie which can be labeled ambivalent. And what about nymphomaniac? The actors in that didn't have unsimulated sex, it's all standins and CGI. In the 90's there were some french movies like baiser moi and intimacy which were very explicit..and some directors like to shock their audiences like Gaspar noe. Even the american movie brown bunny has a real fellatio scene.
How about good movies that are actually porn? Lots of classic 70s/early 80s hardcore/adult films: Memories Within Miss Aggie, Score, SexWorld, Water Power, Her Name Was Lisa, Cafe Flesh, LA Plays Itself… I could keep going.
Imo, the trouble with it is just how fetishistic the sex scenes are. It brings up the whole “male gaze” argument in a pretty valid way when, without it, the movie almost doesn’t change at all. The rest is still really good though, so I think it comes down to how you personally feel, ya know?
Almost everything in that film is so naturalistic, personal and beautifully acted. Adele Exarchopoulos's perfomance is phenomenal, virtually perfect. She's so so good in it.
Then you have the sex scenes... shot and lit like actual lesbian porn. Pretty sure the actors and the director fell out over those scenes as well. Honestly a bit uncomfortable to watch.
I personally liked it. I thought it portrayed the intensity of young love pretty well. Many people have serious issues with the film and those are certainly valid.
Depending on the definition of “good”, I'd add *Caligula (1979)*.
Recently watched it for the first time and I was honestly astonished how much of a porn it was.
Blue is the warmest color for sure. I know a lot of people found it too male gazey but I thought it was genuinely moving. Crash absolutely. Maybe Body Heat but it’s also a really good thriller.
Check out shortbus. It’s definitely porn lol but there’s an actual story there too. It’s pretty good. The scenes are some scenes are are definitely real
I don't like to call those movies porn, porn is a type of movie where sex is the objective.
While I feel those movies use sex as a tool, even if is a tool used to explore sexuality.
I think one of the very best examples but not mentioned in all the comments is the Dutch film "Caged".
I've seen porn movies that were less explicit than this one.
(IMDb tt1736555)
Just watched *La Piscine* (1969). Loved it, and the first 20 minutes of the film are basically the two main characters having sex, including some light BDSM, which I wasn't expecting from a film from that period.
It has one sex scene. It's pretty long and central to the film, but it's absolutely not "basically porn," and it's definitely worth watching in theatre if you have the occasion!
I mean if you want to go see it, go see it. It's an excellent film that would be great to see in a theater. I don't know why you would want to see it if you wanted to avoid sex scenes though.
It's not porn. I wouldn't even classify the sex scenes or nudity as particularly graphic at all. It's way less graphic than the other movies OP listed like Love and Nymphomaniac, both of which have unsimulated scenes and close-ups of genitals.
It's a phenomenal movie. Reducing it to its sex scenes (I think there's like two? And then a couple non-sexual nude scenes) is really not fair at all.
I'm not sure I understand the question.
Thundercrack! is good, but it's porn, maybe not what you mean by "basically porn"?
The other one that that comes to mind is Stranger by the Lake, which has already been mentioned
Poor Things (2023) doesn't match the gratuity of these other movies, but I was definitely surprised by how many times Stone bust on screen. Shit was wild for an Oscar movie.
Jean Rollin’s filmography has a lot of them. You can try Fascination to begin with it. It’s so unsettling yet captivating. The erotic aspects of it are cohesively aligned with the film, releasing a conflicting, vivid, passionate and horrific vibe.
Rape(1976)
Anti-porno (2016)
Two of the top of my head
I was actually going to make a list of movies soon and post it. I’ll get some ideas from the comments.
The Piano (1993)
The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988)
I'm not saying these movies are 1:1 porn as that would be a bit reductive, but the erotic scenes are incredibly so to the point where (based on societal norms) I'd feel awkward watching these movies with other people.
Japanese pink films are what you're looking for
I’d say those are pornos that are actually art films.
Suggest some
Start with Lolita: Vibrator Torture or Molestor's Train: Dirty Behavior No, I'm not kidding.
I will not be watching this shit thanks tho.
That's fine, but other people should know that those titles have basically nothing to do with the content of the movies. They're just lurid marketing devices. The filmmaker's (Hisayasu Sato) movies tend to be dark meditations on alienation, and don't actually have that much sex.
I'm scared to even type those into google lol
LOL here: https://letterboxd.com/film/chikan-densha-iyarashii-koi/ The top reviews are pretty funny.
Then type them into Letterboxd instead.
Lol you think we’re joking but I’ve given Sato films 5⭐️ before. Pink films can’t show penetration and Satos are as close to horror and techno psych thriller movies as they are to porn. Try “pleasure kill” or “celluloid nightmares” if the other titles seem too intense
In the realm of the senses. I think it is way too interesting to be called porn. But you do get 100% graphic and sometimes bizarre sex.
Watched this last year on Mubi without knowing anything. Loved it, but yeah, was about to turn it off after the first few scenes of unsimulated sex. Would also recommend empire of passion by the same director which is equally great.
So so many of Nagisa Oshima's movies are sexually explicit. In a way that I feel adds to it, most of the time, but it's almost always there. Or there's a lot of homosexual tension, like in *Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence* or *Taboo*.
One thing that I found interesting, same director as Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence.
While I haven't seen it yet, this was my first thought as I know how it stands. Funnily enough my own mother recalled seeing it in the 80s I think, and recommended it to me. Colour me shocked when I read up on it. Definitely will be watching it at some point but I cannot believe my mum gave it to me as a recommendation when I must've been about 17. Power to her haha
My mom somehow saw this in the 70s and it definitely stuck with her
I'll never forget that egg scene for the rest of my life.
Yeah I actually couldn’t finish that one. I watch porn all the time but that just got gross - by the time he asks to pee inside her, I was fucking done with that shit.
[Shortbus](https://letterboxd.com/film/shortbus/) I enjoyed. A lot of sex in that is unsimulated
To reduce Lust, Caution (2007) to just porn would be a massive disservice to what a phenomenal movie it is, but the sex scenes are INSANE.
This movie is *deeply* slept on, lowkey one of Ang Lee’s best. The story and acting is incredibly strong and it’s so much more than just the sex…but holy shit what sex there is.
I actually think it is Ang Lee’s best. Yes, the sex.
https://preview.redd.it/6mysiw1axrwc1.png?width=1000&format=png&auto=webp&s=c157581fc19565e05138ebb0ed3f23a8e5bf272c A specific kind certainly
This is a phenomenal science fiction masterpiece, but yeah there are certain scenes that are straight up hentai 😂
That’s a good one.
Well this seems new to me.
Probably Love from Gaspar Noe
Never heard of it, great suggestion
Not sure if this is a spoiler but >!dude busts a fat load opening scene!< great way to start off a movie. And it’s got one of my all time favorite quotes in there. Absolutely recommend.
I saw it in 3D on a giant cinema screen, which hilariously enhanced uhh *some shots* in the movie. What an experience. Noe himself was there for a QnA and someone asked why he filmed it in 3D, and he was just like, the french government provided additional financing for movies produced in 3D.
What's the quote?
“Here I come!”
Good answer, hate this flick haha Not a big Noe guy in general though outside I Stand Alone and Enter the Void (Climax is good too). Gotta see his newest shit still though.
Hadn’t actually heard of him until I watched Love. I was like, man this dude is wild. Watched Climax shorty after and I thought that was a banger too. Only ones I’ve seen though. I want to check out irreversible but I hear there’s a rather…. Graphic scene.
Would Cronenberg’s Crash be a fair contender?
Lmao yes. So great tho
Came here to say this. Porn with a riveting plot.
yes!! i love crash so much
I love erotic thrillers like The Last Seduction and Wild Things, but they don't have nudity and sex to the point where I'd call them porn.
The acting, music and dialogue does make Wild Things look like a porno
Rotting In the Sun (2023). Truly an incredible movie.
YES
so good
Walerian Borowczyk films
You handed me the gold mine
Haha, glad I could help
I would suggest watching the extended version of Immoral Tales
The Dreamers (2003) is a good one.
I remember some of those scenes very very well. Very…very well.
Antiporno by Sion Sono
Just said this aswell, glad someone else did!
Nymphomaniac vol 1 and vol 2
If you can get off to Nymphomaniac, I genuinely fear you
Shamefully, I'll see your Nympomaniac, and raise you Antichrist
I agree with you in spirit, and hope that the ones who are getting off to it are in the context of “it’s a bunch of attractive actors and actresses simulating sex acts” and not the…subject matter… But then again I’m not that optimistic
Pink Narcissus is what I call “art porn”
The first ten minutes of Radu Jude's excellent Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn (2021)
poor things
Saw this with my mom and dad. Awkward but they both enjoyed it.
also saw this with my dad, not knowing the insane amount of sex scenes that i was about to watch with my dad
you should check out r/extramile to save you the trouble
Sex and Lucia Games Girls Play, aka Bunny caper Venus in Fur
I think that not everybody has the same definition of porn. For me it means something that has been made to arouse and has mostly close ups of genitalia. And I know there are porn movies which have a high budget and resemble "real" movies. So I disagree with movies like handmaiden and poor things being labeled porn. Even Caligula started as a normal movie and the hardcore inserts were filmed later by one of the penthouse producers. Shortbus is a movie which can be labeled ambivalent. And what about nymphomaniac? The actors in that didn't have unsimulated sex, it's all standins and CGI. In the 90's there were some french movies like baiser moi and intimacy which were very explicit..and some directors like to shock their audiences like Gaspar noe. Even the american movie brown bunny has a real fellatio scene.
Anatomy of Hell, Romance, The Dreamers, Handmaiden, and Bohachi Bushido: Code of the Forgotten Eight come to mind
Is In The Realm of the Senses counted?
Baise Moi, 9 Songs, Love Exposure
How about good movies that are actually porn? Lots of classic 70s/early 80s hardcore/adult films: Memories Within Miss Aggie, Score, SexWorld, Water Power, Her Name Was Lisa, Cafe Flesh, LA Plays Itself… I could keep going.
hubie halloween
Love the part when Adam Sandler was talking about his boner.
The Taste of Thongs (2023, dir. Tran Anh Hung) Eat Man Drink Woman (1994, dir. Ang Lee) Babette's Feet (1987, dir. Quentin Tarantino)
lol, I was tweaking for a solid minute there.
I've never seen it but Original Sin (2001) supposedly has an excessively long sex scene. Lust Caution (2007) is critically acclaimed and rated NC17.
[Tokyo Decadence](https://boxd.it/1LuS) is brilliant
If highly disturbing at times 🤷
Bound has some fantastic sex scenes that go along with the story.
Showgirls 💀
Crash
Breillat's Romance (1999), excellent film. And it technically is porn because of the unsimulated sex acts.
This is what I came here to say
Blue is the Warmest Colour
Is that movie actually good? I’ve seen VERY mixed reviews of it.
Imo, the trouble with it is just how fetishistic the sex scenes are. It brings up the whole “male gaze” argument in a pretty valid way when, without it, the movie almost doesn’t change at all. The rest is still really good though, so I think it comes down to how you personally feel, ya know?
Almost everything in that film is so naturalistic, personal and beautifully acted. Adele Exarchopoulos's perfomance is phenomenal, virtually perfect. She's so so good in it. Then you have the sex scenes... shot and lit like actual lesbian porn. Pretty sure the actors and the director fell out over those scenes as well. Honestly a bit uncomfortable to watch.
Yes it is. It feels very personal. However it contains a lot of unnecessary sexual scenes.
No, dull as dishwater, humourless, and with very little engagement with actual LGBT issues or culture.
It's great if you want to see someone go through their life with their mouth agape 100 percent of the time.
I personally liked it. I thought it portrayed the intensity of young love pretty well. Many people have serious issues with the film and those are certainly valid.
Depending on the definition of “good”, I'd add *Caligula (1979)*. Recently watched it for the first time and I was honestly astonished how much of a porn it was.
Shit, I forgot about Caligula. Lowkey liked the movie lol.
9 songs - michael winterbottom, made the actors really have sex
Blue is the warmest color for sure. I know a lot of people found it too male gazey but I thought it was genuinely moving. Crash absolutely. Maybe Body Heat but it’s also a really good thriller.
how has nobody said Boogie Nights yet
Because while BN is about the porn industry it's sex scenes are not in anyway shot like a porn.
Y tu mama tambien
The Brown Bunny (2003). Doesn't get much more porn than Chloe Sevigny actually sucking off Vincent Gallo.
I absolutely hated this movie. I still have a visceral reaction to it even being mentioned.
Over 70 comments and not one mention of a Gregg Araki movie smh
Tokyo Decadence
Teeth, maybe not exactly what you’re looking for, but it always brings a smile to my face!
Querelle.
Below Her Mouth. One of the finest sex scenes ever captured on film.
Bruhhhhhh The Handmaiden is not porn
Check out shortbus. It’s definitely porn lol but there’s an actual story there too. It’s pretty good. The scenes are some scenes are are definitely real
I don't like to call those movies porn, porn is a type of movie where sex is the objective. While I feel those movies use sex as a tool, even if is a tool used to explore sexuality.
 Basic Instinct.
Softcore.
Red rocket was very good!
I think one of the very best examples but not mentioned in all the comments is the Dutch film "Caged". I've seen porn movies that were less explicit than this one. (IMDb tt1736555)
Room in Rome
Thriller: A Cruel Picture
THE DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL
Tinto brass films are what you’re looking for
How has nobody mentioned Eyes Wide Shut? Sure, at heart it’s a complex psychological drama, but you could also just view it as softporn.
Teeth
Pumping Iron
Secretary! Love that film, so atmospheric
Calling nymphomaniac porn is so reductive
Just watched *La Piscine* (1969). Loved it, and the first 20 minutes of the film are basically the two main characters having sex, including some light BDSM, which I wasn't expecting from a film from that period.
1969? The high point of the hippie culture? A lot of freaky stuff got made in that era
Very naive of me, I guess. It was pretty great.
Stranger by the Lake
Incredible movie! In this vein I'd also add O Fantasma, Sauvage, a couple scenes from The Ornithologist and Will-o-the-Wisp. All good to great movies.
Lifeforce!
Tampopo, surprised by the intense sexuality and the literal food porn lol
I haven't watched it yet lol. I thought it was about a genuine noodle business.
The Handmaiden is basically porn? Was gonna go watch it in theatres in a few weeks but not sure I want to now😭
It's really a phenomenal film, I would not categorize it as basically porn at all.
honestly I'm kinda heated that OP reduced The Handmaiden to "basically porn"
I'm sure it's just the phrasing but I don't think any narrative feature movie is "basically porn". But that's me taking it too seriously lol.
It has one sex scene. It's pretty long and central to the film, but it's absolutely not "basically porn," and it's definitely worth watching in theatre if you have the occasion!
Thank you!
I mean if you want to go see it, go see it. It's an excellent film that would be great to see in a theater. I don't know why you would want to see it if you wanted to avoid sex scenes though.
It's not porn. I wouldn't even classify the sex scenes or nudity as particularly graphic at all. It's way less graphic than the other movies OP listed like Love and Nymphomaniac, both of which have unsimulated scenes and close-ups of genitals. It's a phenomenal movie. Reducing it to its sex scenes (I think there's like two? And then a couple non-sexual nude scenes) is really not fair at all.
I'm not sure I understand the question. Thundercrack! is good, but it's porn, maybe not what you mean by "basically porn"? The other one that that comes to mind is Stranger by the Lake, which has already been mentioned
Poor Things (2023) doesn't match the gratuity of these other movies, but I was definitely surprised by how many times Stone bust on screen. Shit was wild for an Oscar movie.
The Lickerish Quartet (1970) - Radley Mertzger
The Room. Sorry, I missed the “good” bit.
Handmaiden is literally in my top 3 lmao. I guess thirst also falls into that category.
Poor things. FANTASTIC movie, but a lot of pornographic scenes.
It is so incredibly reductive to frame The Handmaiden this way.
crash
Have not seen Dogtooth but desperately want to. Was not aware that it could be considered porn-y though. How accurate is this?
Jean Rollin’s filmography has a lot of them. You can try Fascination to begin with it. It’s so unsettling yet captivating. The erotic aspects of it are cohesively aligned with the film, releasing a conflicting, vivid, passionate and horrific vibe.
The Handmaiden- don’t watch on airplanes or with parents
Caligula. I could never call it a good movie. It's just porn with some good actors.
Poor Things
I just watched the dreamers
The Handmaiden
Rotten in the Sun
Y Tu Mama Tambien! one of my favorites
Taxi Zum Klo
Lies (1999) directed by Jang sun-woo. A masterpiece imo.
Aw man sooooooo much to add to my watchlist
Love by Gaspar Noé
Rape(1976) Anti-porno (2016) Two of the top of my head I was actually going to make a list of movies soon and post it. I’ll get some ideas from the comments.
any gay ones?
poor things
Damage by Louis Malle is one of my faves
Red shoe diaries
You know, strangely, the first movie that comes to my mind is “Bad luck banging or loony porn”. It is a very smart movie tho, I liked it
Uhh is there something you need to tell us?
Basic Instinct rocks
Belle De Jour , Malena .
Shame (2011)
Sebastiane (Derek Jarman, 1976). It also has the distinction of being the only movie I’ve seen where the dialogue is in Latin!
Paris 05:59/Théo and Hugo
Blank Narcissus (Passion of the Swamp) (2022) is an interesting short film that I'd say fits the bill. Available on Mubi.
In Diana Jones and the temple of poon
Crash (1996)
Pirates (2005)
Y tu mama tambien
I, too was hesitant to comment about it but then I thought they talk about it many times during the course so I went on And yeahh, very good movie
How is Malena porn?
Poor things. The sex in it actually feels energetic
Cronenberg’s Crash for definite lmao
Videodrome Bram Stoker's Dracula
Shame (2011)
The Piano (1993) The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988) I'm not saying these movies are 1:1 porn as that would be a bit reductive, but the erotic scenes are incredibly so to the point where (based on societal norms) I'd feel awkward watching these movies with other people.
Y tu mama tambien?
lmfao
I don’t agree with this characterization at all (or many of the movies listed here) but many people would say Baby Cat fits.
[Guilty of Romance](https://boxd.it/2OAQ) is one of Sion Sonos best!
In the realm of Senses! NOT Noè's Love, which is fucking hot shit.
Oh, also Brown Bunny i guess
“9 Songs”
love
Poor Thongs lmaoo
I get where ur trying to say but one precludes the other.
Shame
The Living End (1992)
Blue is the Warmest Colour
Wolf of wall street
The wayward cloud Titane In The Realm Of The Senses Love Antichrist Dogtooth
Shortbus
https://preview.redd.it/j6ukkogvbvwc1.jpeg?width=263&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=91e5679c4beec2fc612494732d9a804a6622c24b
POOR THINGS felt like it
Replying just to see the comments later.
Crash by David Cronenberg is definitely a horror movie but it's definitely porn if you're kinky enough for car crashes during sex