– Sex and Lucia

An enthralling Spanish movie that mainly centres around a young lady named Lucia and her tonic relationship with her boyfriend. Sex and Lucia is exceptionally well produced and it presents an intriguing story. As the title suggests Sex and Lucia contains it’s fair share of explicit imagery, however, there is much more to it than the occasional flash of nudity. A well constructed score and high quality of acting combine with many other impressive elements to make it an engaging and worthwhile watch for anybody that might be interested in an ensnaring subtitled story.

– Little Children

Three academy award nominations should suggest that a film is at least half decent, right? – Well, if so, then Little Children is no exception. Set in an enchanting and friendly little subarb in Boston is the tale of two adults, Sarah (Kate Winslett) and Brad, and their bold extra-marital affairs with each other. Other ingredients include a mentally challenged sex offender and an intense ex-policeman.

– Antichrist

From the talented Lars Von Trier comes this abstract piece of dark erotica. Antichrist follows a concerned husband (Willem Dafoe) as he attempts to cure his wife (Charlotte Gainsbourg) of some acute psychological difficulties. Husband and wife retreat to a remote cabin in the countryside for peace and serenity but as they spend time together their sexual activity becomes more and more aggressive and intoxicating. A mutilated vagina and a startling image of a deer with half a newborn fawn hanging out of it are amongst some of the whacky features in this visual arthouse spectacle. A good watch for film connoisseurs and fans of a more abstract genre.

– Betty Blue

A long haul at just over three hours in running time yet worth a watch for anyone interested in a lengthy French flick that features the odd flash of skin. Betty Blue did reasonably well at the French box office when it hit the screens back in 1986, however, despite an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Film, the movie has received mixed reviews amongst film critics. It’s about an attractive and energetic young lady and her passionate relationship with a failed writer.

– Eyes Wide Shut

Despite the fact that it may not be his greatest film ever made, Eyes Wide Shut should still be seen by all Stanley Kubrick fans if just for the fact that it was the last film he ever created before his death in 1999. Eyes Wide Shut consists of an expensive Hollywood cast – namely Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. Cruise plays a well respected New York doctor that embarks on an inexplicable late night excursion comprising of freaky masks, prostitution and an absurd orgy at an upmarket address. Kubrick didn’t hold back in honing his master skills for Eyes Wide Shut. Kubrick refused to use studio lighting and the film took over fifteen months to shoot. The piano solo featured in the movie is also a notable delight.

– The Piano Teacher

Another French flick for the list is one from renowned director Michael Haneke. The Piano Teacher is an ambiguous story about a sexually repressed middle aged lady who lives at home with her overbearing mother. She is a superb pianist with a profound knowledge of music and a strict yet proficient piano teacher. An attractive pupil becomes strongly drawn to her and uncovers a hidden agenda of maschostic fetishis.

– Blue Is The Warmest Colour

Three hours long and set over the space of several years is this passionate coming of age film about a lesbian relationship. Blue Is The Warmest Colour is a story about a teenage girl struggling to get a grasp on her sexual identity. After brief encounters with a boy she opens up to the possibility that she might be gay and thus becomes entwined in a full-on relationship with a vivacious lesbian.

– The Dreamers

From the director of The Conformist and Last Tango In Paris is this stylish movie about an American exchange student and his memorable Summer in Paris in 1968. The Dreamers is sexual, intelligent and alluring and a stellar cast compensate a superb soundtrack that fits nicely with the epochal setting. To drill deeper than the bare flesh of this movie reveals the architecture, style, attitudes and difficulties that doused the culture of Paris in the late 1960’s. The Dreamers is titillating from head to toe and makes for a very enjoyable watch.

– Nymphomaniac (Volume 1 + Volume 2)

Another of Lars Von Trier’s provocative movies on this list is perhaps the most graphic of them all. Nymphomaniac (Vol 1 + Vol 2) is one long film split into two parts. Each half is about 90 – 120 minutes long. It documents the life and times of a middle aged nymphomaniac as she recalls her shenanigans beginning from when she lost her virginity. Charlotte Gainsbourg is fantastic, just as she is in all of Von Trier’s movies, and she deserves greater praise than other top stars (Uma Thurman, Willem Dafoe) that feature in this film. Nymphomaniac is open to mixed reviews but one consistency that can’t be denied is that it is seamlessly erotic from start to end.

– Jeune et Jolie (Young and Beautiful)

Jeune et Jolie is a luxurious French movie about the promiscuous escapades of a sexually awakened teenager. Following the loss of her virginity, a teenage girl develops a curiosity and an appetite for sexual activity. Her curiosity leads her to a short term career as a prostitute where she discovers that she can exercise power as a woman via her sexual objectivism. Jeune et Jolie is a neat piece of stylishly executed cinema.