Real Or Simulated? The New Generation Of "Hard-Core Art" Sex Scenes

New York Times:

A few years ago, Michelle Borth went topless for a movie, and she thought: "That's it. That's my last topless scene."

Then she read the script for the new HBO show "Tell Me You Love Me." The show required frontal nudity and such explicit sex scenes that the first question asked at a press conference with television critics last July was:

"Did anybody actually do it?"

The answer was no, but Ms. Borth, who plays Jamie in "Tell Me," is not faulting anyone for wondering.

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[Trilby]

I am tired of sex. I've done it all and now I'm just tired. It does not thrill me like it used to. Neither does Hollywood's simulation of it, no matter how explicit. In striving to be edgy they just go too far.

[lunaoscura]

I have nothing against sex scenes, but I wonder how important actually watching two people having (or pretending to have) real sex adds to any issues of intimacy between married people. As I see it to show it occasionally is OK, but the acting is in the face, the words, the intonation, and if you really want to get into the sex intimacy then being given a voyeuristic shot doesn't do it because it would only work if the couple is also watching themselves in the same way the audience is.
When actually having sex, the intimacy is in the emotions, in the eye contact and skin contact, not in any way having to do with a long shot from 5 feet away that shows the genitals which neither actor is looking at.

[jedevich]

Yeah, we do need a show about intimacy. Divorce rates are in the crapper and I am about to get married. The only relationship I can really go by is the one I am having right now.

And somedays it sucks. And for those who waited to marry and think they are doing the right thing (knowing the divorce rate is so high) -- yeah, I am going to watch and see.

And it is not smut. I don't think it is in the slightest. I am not naive and I am not ignorant. These are realistic relationships and the problems that come with them.

As for the show jumping all over the place and lacking continuity, give me a break. May, the therapist, is the hinge to all the couples. And now with Palek meeting Dave about the house being built for Palek's wife's sister (I don't remember her name), there are connections. I am sure more will develop as the episodes continue.

The show is a trainwreck. I love it.

[sculptor]

Michael Winterbottom, the director of 9 Songs, said that using real sex instead of simulated sex was much more easy on everyone. In essence he said that a regular sex scene was like walking along the edge of a cliff as close as you could without falling off and that real sex was more like putting on a harness and repelling down the cliff.

[realitytrumpsbull]

Or, live a REAL hard-core life, and shut the damn TV off...just think, give up all the
technical hassles of 'virtual reality', and live in REAL 'R'. Of course, if your REAL
life kind of sucks, that would explain why
so many people end up glued to the set watching
HBO's green-screened sex scenes...o­f course,
when it's on the tube, you don't run the risk
of STD's, child-support, jealous homicidal
spouses, watching your boyfriend/­girlfriend
/whatever die of a tragic and lingering illness in a hospital bed, relatives, holidays,
birthdays, funerals, accidentally marrying a lunatic and being stuck with them for life, or GETTING screwed in divorce court(see child support above). Yes, TV life is better...
you just get screwed for 50 bucks a month.
Devil you know vs. the devil you don't...

[PerryClease]

In my opinion the HBO series "Tell Me You Love Me" sucks (pun not intended.) All of the main characters are as annoying as hell, the stories jump around and don't seem to have continuity.

[okAcomputer]

i have to agree a little bit here. honestly i don't mind the sex scenes it just seems like they're exploitive. it seems to me to be needlessly graphic and also exessive (they're is barely and episode without it), as if that is the only reason to watch the show. Maybe it is. cos i'm having a hard time finding any other reason.

[Charity]

films in the late 60s/early 70s were alot more "implicit" (not explicit) than they are today. ever see the swedish import "i am curious - yellow"? frontal nudity, implied sex, no big deal (and not much of a story to us americans).

even helen mirren went frontal back then - and gasp! joe namath rolled on the floor nude with ann margret! oh, the horror!

it's only with the advent of jack valenti followed by the proliferation of the christian right into all of our lives than movies changed.

now we have loads and loads and loads of violence.

i preferred the simulated sex.

-----------

[AurigaRa]

"I feel the audience would be cheated if we say we’re doing a show about intimacy, and it’s not intimate,” Mr. Scott said."

So who says we need a show about intimacy?

TV is wasting our time.

[Ginzaman]

Is it possible for actors to have real explicit sex in a big budget movie that's NOT porno? Yes. Check out an old Japanese classic "Ai No Korida" (In The Realm of the Senses).

[tililek]

Bush is priming the pump for war, people are dying because of our administrations love of blood, and this is supposed to be news?

[BAKslider]

Keep the smut coming. Smut grabs market share - market share rules the airwaves - rule the airwaves and you rule the people. I would much rather have people view sex than televangelists beating the drums of war and repression. Sex is only unhealthy to the sick.

[LUNKHEAD]

The network-cable-media pimps will do anything to boost their pathetic ratings. They now MUST up the anty for advertiser dollar with pseudo-rea­l-graphic-­screaming-­cock-whore­-swallowin­g scenes with lots of paste shots. Make that pussy sell and sneak it under the radar to the delight of those on the right bankrolling the show.

[dryfactoidobotanoid]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoES2sRHWtk
cat power metal heart

[dryfactoidobotanoid]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aU-jvqSbqg
Good Woman (1 of 2)

[RandyRanson]

The way hollywood actors throw their bodies around, does it really matter, even real contact in sex, is unreal to them, it's just another act, an imitation thrill, even an ejaculated climax, provides the wide screen, with more emotive power, than their passionless whispers of deep affection. As ticket sales explode at the box office.
Everyone likes a good orgasm. Splush!