R&R Rated

What's there left to say about 1995's multi-Razzie award winning cult classic Showgirls that hasn't already been said? Quite a bit actually! Rory has seen the movie a million times, but Roe had never seen this hyperbolic exploration of Las Vegas, sex and exploitation. Will this be the movie that finally tears their shared love of movies and sex scenes apart? Listen and see!

2012's foreign language awards magnet is under the sexy microscope this week, as Roe and Rory examine the cinematic depiction of a life-changing injury, and disability scholars' thinking about this representation of the sex life of a character with a disability. Tangents include the magnetic chemistry between Marion Cotillard and Matthias Schoenaerts, women internalising the male gaze, why great f*ck-buddies are the world's unsung heroes, and the tragic tale of the loneliest whale in the world.

Roe & Rory take a look at 2002's romantic drama thriller Unfaithful. Aside from netting Diane Lane an Oscar nomination, it also manages to offer a more complex and interesting examination of infidelity than most Hollywood movies. Until, well, it doesn't. Digressions include how sorry the third party should be about their role in cheating, the problematic panic defence, & the Venn diagram intersection of Frenchness and smugness.

This week, Roe and Rory reluctantly cast their gaze on the Netflix phenomenon 365 Days, a film that claims to be an erotic romance and is, in fact, neither. Roe and Rory explore why the film's depiction of violent sex, toxic masculinity and rape is far from the transgressive, boundary-pushing depiction of sex it's claiming to be, and is instead a rehash of tired, damaging, gendered tropes of romance, passion and sex. Digressions include the role capitalism plays in depictions of romance, why sassiness is not the same as empowerment, why BDSM is always associated with abuse and a lack of joy, and why this film may be problematic, but ultimately, society is The Problem. The call is coming from inside the house, people...TW for discussions of sexual violence and kidnap.

It's time to talk about the sexiest film scenes that don't actually show any sex! Starting with a discussion of Steven Soderbergh's 1998 crime-caper-comedy starring Jennifer Lopez and George Clooney, Roe and Rory talk about how directors can create erotic tension and a sexy atmosphere without showing any sex. Digressions include a rant about the hetero, male-centric concept of 'foreplay'; what film you should watch to improve your sexting skills; and why a woman sitting in a bar does not need your negging chat-up lines.

Roe and Rory discuss the groundbreaking feature from Ang Lee.

Roe and Rory want you to join them this week as they discuss what is probably the most famous threesome in cinema history, which takes place in 1998's erotic thriller. Everything from "no nudity clauses" to "sticky champagne boobs" are analysed, as well as Kevin's Bacon and whether or not we can take Matt Dillon seriously as a sex icon.

Derek Cianfrance’s 2010 drama Blue Valentine is a non-chronological film depicting the passionate rise and heartbreaking fall of a relationship between Dean (Ryan Gosling) and Sindy (cinema’s perpetual sad wife, Michelle Williams.) In this episode, Roe and Rory discuss how parallel sex scenes reflect changes in a relationship dynamic; how women’s pleasure is often unfairly deemed obscene by censors; why women are continuously depicted as running from abortion clinics; & the ultimate question: When a relationship breaks down, where does the love go?

In a time of quarantine and social isolation when we're all thinking about the people we cannot physically touch, what better film to discuss that the disembodied romance, Her? Joaquin Phoenix can't blame COVID in Spike Jonze's 2013 Oscar nominated sci-fi romantic drama which sees a writer fall in love with his new artificial intelligence operating system, voiced by Scarlet Johansson. Roe and Rory take a deep-dove into this unusual love story and talk about the art of cyber sex; the gendered nature of operating systems (Hi Alexa, Siri and Janet from The Good Place!); and the new thought experiment puzzling and arousing physicists across the globe: Schrödinger's clit.

Released in 1992, Basic Instinct starring Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone was nominated for Oscars, made a huge amount at the box office, and is considered by many to be the greatest erotic thriller of all time. But now, 30 years later, how does it hold up? And why did THAT scene become the most freeze-framed still of all time?