Subscribe to watch - 14-day free trial, then £6.99 a month
Sex Is Comedy
A director struggles to film a difficult sex scene with two actors who hate each other, in Catherine Breillat's exploration of intimacy coordination.
Director: Catherine Breillat
Overview
French cinema's arch provocateur, Catherine Breillat, investigates and attempts to understand what happens on a film shoot when scenes involving physical intimacy arise.
How can something as intimate as the sexual act be captured on film? How can psychological and logical reality, along with the 'show' aspect of the act, be set aside, so that one is just left with the body? Made many years before the advent of Intimacy Coordinators on film sets, Breillat's film remains a key text on cinematic sex and bodily objectification, as well as arguably her funniest and most approachable work.
Related
Parasite Parasite
Drama 2019 132 mins Director: Bong Joon-ho
Bong Joon Ho's Oscar®-winning box-office sensation is a darkly comic, twisty rollercoaster ride.
Sister Midnight Sister Midnight
Comedy 2024 107 mins Director: Karan Kandhari
A genre-bending comedy about a frustrated and misanthropic newlywed who discovers certain feral impulses that land her in unlikely situations.
Holy Cow Holy Cow
Comedy 2024 92 mins Director: Louise Courvoisier
In the heart of the French Alps, a wayward teen finds his purpose in cheese – and discovers that maturity isn’t just for Comté.
Tomorrow I'll Wake Up and Scald Myself with Tea Tomorrow I'll Wake Up and Scald Myself with Tea
Comedy 1977 90 mins Director: Jindrich Polák
A deliciously demented Czech time-travel romp that's both hilariously silly and impressively ingenious.
Trees Lounge Trees Lounge
Comedy 1996 91 mins Director: Steve Buscemi
Venerable character actor Steve Buscemi steps behind the camera in this profound study of a lonely, alcoholic, and unemployed mechanic.
The Marching Band The Marching Band
Drama 2023 103 mins Director: Emmanuel Courcol
An acclaimed conductor strikes up a relationship with a brother he never knew he had in this touching French drama with echoes of Brassed Off.
Interior. Leather Bar. Interior. Leather Bar.
2013 60 mins Director: James Franco and Travis Mathews
James Franco and Travis Mathews recreate explicit footage cut, rumoured to be lost, from one of the most notorious gay features ever made.
Love and Death on Long Island Love and Death on Long Island
Comedy 1998 89 mins Director: Richard Kwietniowski
John Hurt stars in Richard Kwietniowski’s comedy of fame and obsession about an older man (Hurt) who becomes infatuated with a young Hollywood actor (Jason Priestley), and proceeds to track him down.
8½ 8½
Drama 1963 138 mins Director: Federico Fellini
Fellini triumphantly conjured himself out of writer's block with this magnum opus about a film director experiencing his own creative crisis.
The Souvenir The Souvenir
Drama 2018 120 mins Director: Joanna Hogg
Sight and Sound's 2019 film of the year is the compelling, semi-autobiographical drama from acclaimed writer-director Joanna Hogg.
Werner Herzog: Radical Dreamer Werner Herzog: Radical Dreamer
Biopic 2024 90 mins Director: Thomas von Steinaecker
A riveting and all-encompassing portrait of the iconic German filmmaker.
Les Rendez-vous d'Anna Les Rendez-vous d'Anna
Drama 1978 128 mins Director: Chantal Akerman
A quasi self-portrait that was neglected on its release, this road movie is a profound musing on loneliness and the long shadow of the war.
Romance Romance
Drama 1999 98 mins Director: Catherine Breillat
Shockingly explicit, Catherine Breillat’s critically acclaimed Romance is one of the most controversial films of modern cinema.
Pharaoh Pharaoh
Historical drama 1965 146 mins Director: Jerzy Kawalerowicz
Dazzling epic, in which the young Pharaoh Ramses XIII clashes with Egypt's clergy over influence on the affairs of the state and its coffers.
Desire: The Carl Craig Story Desire: The Carl Craig Story
Documentary 2024 91 mins Director: Jean-Cosme Delaloye
An intimate portrait of legendary techno producer, DJ and record label creator Carl Craig and an ode to his beloved city, Detroit.
Je t'aime, je t'aime Je t'aime, je t'aime
Drama 1968 95 mins Director: Alain Resnais
A mysterious time-travel experiment becomes a warped voyage through memory, in this mesmerising sci-fi from acclaimed director Alain Resnais.
La Reine Margot La Reine Margot
Historical drama 1994 158 mins Director: Patrice Chéreau
Sumptuous historical drama starring Isabelle Adjani and Daniel Auteuil; a thunderous yarn full of dastardly plots, familial hatred and perverse desire
Scrubbers Scrubbers
Drama 1982 93 mins Director: Mai Zetterling
1980s borstal drama – billed as the female Scum – featuring Amanda York and Kathy Burke as inmates in a ruthless women’s prison.
Mona Lisa Mona Lisa
Gangster 1986 100 mins Director: Neil Jordan
An ungainly cockney chauffeur navigates the seedy streets of London, gradually falling for the elegant and mysterious prostitute who is his passenger.