Saturday

During my viewing of Pushing Tin, a question occurred to me: why do filmmakers always skip the sex scene? We'll see the couple kissing, possibly getting into bed and undressing, but then they'll fade out, music will start, and we'll cut to them the next morning. The obvious reason as to why sex is omitted is because of the rating of the movie. Also, sometimes, the stars will refuse to show themselves naked. Yet in a great many movies people do have sex - we just don't see it. Why don't they show it? The real reason, I think, is that (like a scene of two people talking in a car) there's very little variation a director is capable of. There's not much to work with, if you see what I mean. When was the last time you saw a sex scene and thought 'well, that's interesting'? They're functional scenes, in terms of directing, and it's best to avoid them unless you have a very clear and original idea. Of course, I would say that the better films delay the main couple getting together until the film has finished. However, not that I'm an expert in such things, the best scene I know of is from Don't Look Now, and this is mainly through the way their undressing and loving and cut is together with them dressing again afterwards and preparing to go out. The two acts become the same thing, and it brings a hollowness to what they're doing, but also somehow a humble passion. The rating of the film gives directors an easy way out, and it would be much more interesting if they were forced to deal with it directly.