Sex

“Beyond the beauty, the sex, the titillation, the surface, there is a human being. And that has to emerge.”
– Jeanne Moreau

In this book, I discuss extraordinary movies that offer us insights regarding each stage of life. Although we don’t usually think of sex as a stage of life, sex is the life force without which the other stages of life could not exist. I think of sex as the crossroads where all the stages of life intersect: family, childhood, romance, relationships, and, surprisingly, even death.

In the movie “Y tu mama tambien,” two teenage boys embark on a road trip with a beautiful, intelligent, twenty-eight year old woman. Without realizing it at first, we slowly come to understand that the theme of death hovers over all the events in this extraordinary film. This movie is as poignant as it is revelatory.

The argument in “Sex, Lies and Videotape,” the second movie I discuss, is that conversation can sometimes be more intimate and more sensual than having sex. The “videotape” in the title is used to record women talking about their sex lives. With our minds, we can do things to each other that go beyond a physical relationship. Of course, we know that words are no substitute for real sex. The reason conversation can be so erotic is precisely because real sex hovers in the background.

Finally, in Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece, “Lolita,” sex goes completely off the rails, at least by the usual standards of society. I hope you find these movies about sex to be moving and thought provoking.