From a teenage girl’s sexual awakening to gay men in a three-way, from incredibly flexible gymnastic sex to a mother having her way with a teddy bear, the 2015 Sundance Film Festival unabashedly explored areas of human sexuality rarely seen in feature films. Warning: MAJOR SPOILERS!
The Bronze
This brash comedy about a has-been gymnast, co-written by and starring The Big Bang Theory’s Melissa Rauch, may have kicked off Sundance on a decidedly mixed note, but people are still talking about its outrageous third-act sex scene. After receiving some disheartening news, Rauch’s character has an ill-advised fling with her nemesis, a former fellow Olympic gymnast played by Sebastian Stan. The pair go back to her hotel room and proceed to have athletic sex — literally. They do flips. They do lifts. They do turns. Rauch ends up bent over a table, and Stan does a few pommel horse moves on her back before getting back to it. Rings are involved. It’s incredibly raunchy and very, very funny. The scene was made possible with the help of some game body doubles, leaving us all wondering whether or not it’s Stan or his stand-in who’s flexible enough to lift his leg in a heel stretch above his head. —Alison Willmore
Scott Henriksen
The Diary of a Teenage Girl
Growing up is never easy, but Minnie (Sundance breakout Bel Powley) has a particularly rough time of it after getting involved in a relationship with her mom’s boyfriend, Monroe (Alexander Skarsgård). Their secret hookups leave Minnie confused and emotionally wrenched around, but are themselves voracious and raw, an encapsulation of her sexual awakening and overflowing sensuality. The film is daringly frank in depicting the sex in which Minnie engages, with Monroe and with others, portraying it frankly, without a sense of prurience or judgment, and with the understanding that showing its heroine’s desire and enjoyment of what she does in bed doesn’t equal a stamp of approval for her illegal, unhealthy relationship. That said, the most provocative scene isn’t one that takes place during sex at all, but immediately after, when Monroe has taken Minnie’s virginity. As they’re tangled together in bed in the aftermath, she wets her finger with her own blood and uses it to draw an “X” on Monroe’s leg, the moment one of shocking triumph. —A.W.
Sam Emerson
Dope
Malcolm (Shameik Moore) is the relatable, empathetic, geeky kid we’re all rooting for throughout the best work yet from writer-director Rick Famuyiwa (Our Family Wedding, Brown Sugar, The Wood). So when Lily (Chanel Iman), a sultry, rich temptress, disrobes and tells him she wants to give him his first time, game on. The problem: After Malcolm is naked and ready, Lily is nowhere to be found. The culprit: She has discovered Malcolm’s backpack filled with bricks of drugs — and sampling those goods prove to be far more tempting than taking his virginity. Their would-be sex goes haywire — brace yourself for a vomiting in the mouth scene. So, no sex for now for our dorky protagonist; his only option is the comically graphic masturbating that we saw him doing earlier in the comforts of his bedroom. —Kelley L. Carter
Scott Falconer
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