Why We Need Sex Scenes in Movies and 'Fair Play' | The Big Picture

Fair Playthe Netflix hedge-fund thriller

Fair Play 2023

Chloe Domont's Sundance-to-Netflix (reportedly $20 million) debut, starring Phoebe Dynevor and Alden Ehrenreich as hedge-fund analysts whose engagement curdles once she gets the promotion he expected. Sean and Amanda both liked it more than not: the first two-thirds work as a quiet, actor-driven power-dynamics drama, but they diverge on the hedge-fund milieu (Sean thinks it's thinner than 'Industry' or 'Billions') and spend real time on the ending, whether the final violent sex scene is assault, and whether Emily's closing lie to her boss earns the film's last note of triumph.

The Royal HotelKitty Green's outback thriller

The Royal Hotel 2023

Kitty Green's follow-up to 'The Assistant,' starring Julia Garner and Jessica Henwick as American backpackers who take bar jobs at a menacing outback pub run by Hugo Weaving. Amanda calls it one of the year's best, an effective thriller that never loses its entertainment value while tracking the low-grade dread of whether the surrounding men will turn violent. Based on the documentary 'Hotel Coolgardie.'

The Assistant 2019

Kitty Green's prior film, about a young assistant to a Harvey Weinstein-esque boss, shot tightly from her point of view and cited as more experimental than 'The Royal Hotel.'

Hotel Coolgardie 2016

The documentary 'The Royal Hotel' is adapted from, about two backpackers working an outback bar.

Cat Personthe viral short story, stretched to a feature

Cat Person 2023

Susanna Fogel's adaptation of Kristen Roupenian's viral 2017 New Yorker story, starring Emilia Jones and Nicholas Braun. Both hosts liked the source material and think the film is faithful up to a point, but argue a story built around one specific, awkward sex scene can't sustain a two-hour runtime. The added texting/Reddit subplot, an evolutionary-biology digression with Isabella Rossellini, and a third-act swing into stalker-thriller territory all get singled out as bolted-on and unearned.

Why We Need Sex Scenes in Moviesthe bigger conversation, with producer Bobby Wagner

Basic Instinct 1992

Cited as an erotic thriller where the sex scenes are load-bearing to the plot, not decoration.

Fatal Attraction 1987

Same argument: the sex is the inciting incident of the text.

Unfaithful 2002

Sean's go-to Adrian Lyne example; the bathroom scene is the one he says has stuck with him.

Out of Sight 1998

Less overtly about sex than the others but the chemistry between the leads is central to why the movie works.

The English Patient 1996

Another example where the central romance can't be separated from the plot.

Oppenheimer 2023

Discussed at length as a counterpoint to the idea that studios can't put sex in a tentpole: the two Cillian Murphy/Florence Pugh scenes ('I am become death') drew both praise and mockery, and got censored in some foreign markets.

Fast X 2023

Cited as an awkward recent attempt to wedge a sex scene into a franchise movie that doesn't need one.

The Marvels 2023

Name-checked in the run of upcoming superhero movies as evidence the genre is running out of gas.

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom 2023

Same bit: Sean says he'll still see it, for Patrick Wilson.

Beau Is Afraid 2023

Ari Aster's film builds to a sex scene the hosts call genuinely funny, with a shoutout to Parker Posey; framed as the opposite lesson from 'Oppenheimer': repression, not desire, is the danger.

Passages 2023

Ira Sachs' film, cited as one of the year's most acclaimed and an example of sex filmed in a way the hosts say they aren't used to seeing, un-glossy and physical rather than softly lit.

Fifty Shades of Grey 2015

Brought up alongside 'Game of Thrones' as mainstream, commercially massive sex-forward material.

Little Children 2006

Patrick Wilson's earlier film, name-checked in the same breath as his 'Aquaman' casting.

Dumb Money 2023

Referenced back to the hosts' prior episode on finance movies as a comparison point for 'Fair Play.'

In conversation

Chloe Domont on

Network 1976

Domont's father showed it to her at age 10 and she calls it still her favorite movie of all time; she traces her love of provocation and heightened tone back to it.

Chloe Domont on

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo 2011

David Fincher's version. Domont's answer to the show's closing question about the last great thing she's seen, praised for Rooney Mara's performance and Fincher's control of tone.

Also mentioned raised along the way

In passing during the 'Fair Play' talk Hail, Caesar!Rules Don't ApplySolo: A Star Wars StoryDon't Worry DarlingTwelve MonkeysThe Big ShortBoiler Room

In passing during the 'Royal Hotel' talk Casting JonBenetBabyteethThe BikeridersFinestkind

Horror-as-metaphor comparisons PearlMaXXXine

In passing The Wonderful Story of Henry SugarAmerican GigoloThe CanyonsWild ThingsWitnessTaylor Swift: The Eras Tour

Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads

TV BridgertonYoungerIndustryBillionsOzarkSuccessionThe BearGame of ThronesTrue BloodDream OnCalifornicationThe IdolSopranosLokiHomicide Hunter

Ads Boar's HeadFanDuelNetflix (FIFA World Cup Launch Edition)NOS EnergyWhole FoodsThe Wedding Scammer (podcast promo)

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