I’m going to risk repeating myself here. I blogged about the new Greg Araki movie – I Want Your Sex – back in January when it was doing the festival circuit. There wasn’t a trailer for it back then and the reviews were mixed.
It’s now on general release. There are a bunch of positive reviews for it. And there is a trailer which makes it look both funny and pretty damn kinky. I’m now actually excited to see it.
The Guardian has a recent interview with Araki on the film, where he reveals it was originally written as a male boss dominating his female intern. That was back in 2014. Fortunately for us, he decided to flip it around.
I have seen some comments online saying that it’s a shame to have a domme being portrayed as consent violating and abusive. I do get that, but I suspect in this kind of comedy everyone is going to be portrayed with some major character flaws. Sane, safe and sensible make for great scenes but not great drama.
Olivia Wilde in a scene from ‘I Want Your Sex’.
I am looking forward to this.
I have two hopes:
1) Kink is portrayed as fun and enjoyable in itself – not just a bit of foreplay to vanilla sex.
2) They don’t overplay the ‘kink is ridiculous’ aspect, and portray anyone who engages in it as laughable and pathetic. Is spanking fun and sexy and exciting? Or is it ‘ha ha, look at this clown’?
It is not clear, from the trailer, whether my hopes will be realised. But if they are realised even a little bit, that’s better than the usual portrayal of BDSM. So I definitely want to see it.
I have seen it. It is ambivalent to kink in a way that I actually like. It is really about consent and communication and has some wild changes in tone that i thought were impressive but wasnt for everybody. I would recommend it to cinephiles, but not the general public that doesnt necessarily have a lot of media literacy.
That’s good context. Thanks for sharing. Not too surprised to hear about the tonal changes, that seems to come through from other bits I’ve seen of it.
-paltego
Thank-you.
I am a devotee of K-dramas. So I am very well acquainted with tonal changes and mood whiplashes.
I have now seen the film. I have no idea whether this is any indication of how popular it will be, but my wife and I were the only people in the auditorium.
It was very enjoyable: funny, thought provoking, engaging.
If anyone is going into it expecting a kink-fest, they will be disappointed. Most of the BDSM that actively features in the film is there in the trailer. There is some nice D/s play at the start, but the actual kink scenes are pretty much limited to a montage about a third of the way into the film.
The two main characters are, I think, shown to enjoy BDSM activities for their own sake – not just as a quick prelude to sex. The sub character talks at one point about how he finds it all exciting and fun and liberating. He says that it gives him a sense of freedom.
There is a BDSM(ish) scene at about the 2/3 mark around which the whole film pivots. I can absolutely understand it narratively and dramatically. From those points of view it makes perfect sense and is well judged. I confess, however, that, from a kink POV, I am uncertain and conflicted about what to make of it.
Paltego, I hope you will make a post about the film once you have seen it.
It is my hope that, one day, I will find a film or novel about a D/s BDSM relationship in which there is no sexual activity between the Domme and the sub. Just the domination and the kink, please.
(And yes I realise that in this – as in so many things – I am in the minority.)
Thanks for the review! Good to know. Sad there’s not a bit more kink in it, but nice to hear that the sub has positive things to say about the BDSM activities.
I’m not sure I’m going to get the chance to get to a theater to see it. However, will definitely be getting it when it shows up on streaming.
-paltego