Just over a month ago, when I posted my last Top 3 and a Bit list, I said that my next list-post would be on Erotic Thrillers. After a month of watching these, many of which proved to be utterly dire, and a fair bit of reading around the subject (The Erotic Thriller in Contemporary Cinema by Professor Linda Ruth Williams, who turns out to be critic Mark Kermode’s better half), I think I am finally ready to put all this behind me. So, here goes…

As this is the first list I have done based on a specific genre, I thought some definitions might be in order. So, what is a genre?  “A film genre is a stylistic or thematic category for [films] based on similarities either in the narrative elements, aesthetic approach, or the emotional response to the film” (thank you, Wikipedia). In other words, similar themes, similar styles and a similar audience reaction.

So what is an erotic thriller? “The erotic thriller is a film subgenre defined as a thriller with a thematic basis in illicit romance or sexual fantasy.” Though exact definitions vary, it is generally agreed “bodily danger and pleasure must remain in close proximity and equally important to the plot. Most erotic thrillers contain scenes of softcore sex and nudity, though the frequency and explicitness of those scenes can differ from film to film.” (thank you again, Wikipedia).

And in the interests of completeness, erotic means “relating to or tending to arouse sexual desire or excitement”. So, ‘tending to arouse’ – i.e. the feather, not the whole chicken!

Now there are potentially an enormous number of films that fit this definition and as there are only so many hours in the month, I used various published lists to come up with a shortlist of some 70 films to watch. These included lists from Rolling Stone, Time Out and SlashFilm, whatever the hell that is. Some of these are what are known as Genre Films (commercial films which are made specifically to be erotic thrillers) and others are more arthouse films, usually more character driven, which are best classed as thrillers which are also, by their nature, erotic. I included both these types of film in my list, although it is clear that, for some, only the Genre Films fit the category. However, it was also clear from the outset that the Genre Films were going to get a bit samey and that the arthouse films were necessary in order to keep the process interesting.

So, here are my Top 3 Erotic Thrillers, together with notes on several additional films which are certainly worthy of attention:

(1)        Elle (2016 – Paul Verhoeven)

Michèle Leblanc (Isabelle Huppert), CEO of a successful video game company, is brutally raped in her Paris home by a man in a ski mask. Afterwards, she cleans up the mess, bins her clothes and orders a takeaway. An unimaginably traumatic event from her past prevents her from reporting the incident to the police. She is matter-of-fact and uncompromising in all of her relationships and in everything she does, which causes friction wherever she goes. However, despite her initial response, the rape has hit her hard and she goes down a dark and dangerous path which blurs the lines between revenge and consent. The film is very plot-heavy and in the hands of a lesser actress (and indeed a lesser director) it could have been a spectacular failure. However, Huppert gives an astonishing performance, and despite the utterly amoral nature of Leblanc, Huppert makes her not only a believable character, but also a sympathetic one. The film won 15 Best Foreign Language Film awards and Huppert won a staggering 26 Best Actress awards, including the César.

(2)        The Handmaiden (2016 – Park Chan-wook)

In Japanese-occupied Korea, a con man “Count Fujiwara” (Ha Jung-woo) plans to seduce a Japanese heiress named Lady Hideko (Kim Min-hee), marry her and then commit her to an asylum to steal her inheritance. He hires a pickpocket named Sook-hee (Kim Tae-ri) to become Hideko’s maid and encourage Hideko to marry him. But in Park Chan Wook’s exquisite adaptation of Sarah Waters’ 2002 novel Fingersmith, nothing is ever quite what it seems. The film is in three parts, telling the story from three different perspectives and as layer after layer of truth and half-truth are peeled away the real story is gently teased out. I first came across Park Chan Wook through his 2022 thriller Decision to Leave, which so impressed me I worked back through his earlier work – he rarely puts a foot wrong.

(3)        Swimming Pool (2003 – François Ozon)

Sarah Morton (Charlotte Rampling), an English novelist, goes to stay at the holiday cottage of her publisher, John Bosload (Charles Dance) near Lacoste in France. Here she hopes to find peace and inspiration for her next crime novel. But her quiet is disrupted by the arrival of Bosload’s daughter, Julie (Ludivine Sagnier), whose noisy, messy life consists of drinking, partying and bringing home men for sex. The two do not get on – they are polar opposites – but an uneasy truce develops between them and whilst not wholly embracing Julie’s lifestyle, Sarah dips her toe in the water. However, matters get a little out of hand… The film received very positive reviews and top-critic (and my personal hero) Roger Ebert said: “Ozon … understands, as Hitchcock did, the small steps by which a wrong decision grows in its wrongness into a terrifying paranoid nightmare” – praise indeed!

And the Honourable Mentions …

The following films are those that came close to making my Top 3, but did not quite get there (the ’bit’), listed in alphabetical order:

Basic Instinct (1992 – Paul Verhoeven)

This is one of the best known of all the Genre Films, from the erotic thriller ‘dream team’ of Verhoeven, Eszterhás and Douglas (not a firm of solicitors). Catherine Tramell (Sharon Stone) is a crime novelist who becomes the prime suspect in the sex-related murder of her boyfriend, in a manner detailed in advance in one of her published novels. Maverick detective Nick Curran (Michael Douglas), who is seeing police psychiatrist Dr. Beth Garner (Jeanne Tripplehorn) in relation to a previous ‘misdemeanour’, investigates the crime. However, the whole situation is complicated by the unhealthy relationship that develops between Tramell and Curran. The premise sounds rather cliched, but it certainly works. However, it is perhaps best known for ‘that picture’ of Sharon Stone’s private parts and for Joe Eszterhás being paid $3 million for the script – at that time a record fee – rather than for the quality of the film itself.

Bitter Moon (1992 – Roman Polanski)

Nigel and Fiona Dobson (Hugh Grant and Kristin Scott Thomas) are on a cruise ship on route to India, ostensibly to rejuvenate their flagging marriage. They befriend a beautiful, but clearly damaged, young French woman, Mimi (Emmanuelle Seigner), and later meet her much older, disabled American husband Oscar (Peter Coyote), a cynical, failed writer. Oscar takes advantage of Nigel’s fascination with Mimi to trap him into hearing the story of his strange and twisted relationship with his wife. Whilst Oscar’s tale is lurid and obscene, neither Nigel nor the audience can look away – one just has to know what happens next. And Polanski, who proved his thriller credentials with the earlier Chinatown, is right there with an ending that takes everyone by surprise.

Body Heat (1981 – Lawrence Kasdan)

Inspired by the archetypal 1944 film-noir Double Indemnity, this is a classic of the Genre. In the Southern Florida heat, Ned Racine (William Hurt), a low-rent lawyer, begins an affair with married Matty Walker (Kathleen Turner). But her rich shady-businessman husband Edmund Walker (Richard Crenna) stands in the way of their happiness, or at least he stands in the way of her freedom and all of his money. Since divorce is not an answer (they signed a pre-nup agreement) there can be only one way out. This was Turner’s breakout film, and she is perfectly cast in the role of Femme Fatale. With great supporting roles for both Ted Danson and Mickey Rourke, this could hardly fail to be a hit.

Damage (1992 – Louis Malle)

This is described by Wikipedia as a romantic psychological drama – it is certainly much more erotic than romantic and with a tight script by David Hare, (adapted from the 1991 novel by Josephine Hart) and in the safe hands of Louis Malle, it proves an intriguing thriller. Dr Stephen Fleming (Jeremy Irons), a government minister, begins a steamy affair with a beguiling, but rather damaged, young French woman, Anna Barton (Juliette Binoche). Unfortunately, she is also the girlfriend of his son Martyn (Rupert Everett). The stellar cast is completed by Miranda Richardson, playing Stephen’s loving wife Ingrid. As Anna’s relationships with both father and son develop, something is bound to go wrong, and when it does, it is certainly dramatic. Irons and Binoche both picked up acting awards, however it was Richardson who won most plaudits, taking three Best Supporting Actress awards, including the BAFTA.

Fatal Attraction (1987 – Adrian Lyne)

No list of erotic thrillers would be complete without this, the one that sparked the naming of the genre, and gave us the rather interesting cliché bunny boiler. Attorney Dan Gallagher (Michael Douglas) cheats on his wife with a colleague, Alex Forrest (Glenn Close). He clearly intends this as a one-night stand, but the sex was really wild and exciting, and so he allows himself to be enticed back for seconds – after all, his wife is away for the weekend, so what’s he got to lose? However, when the weekend comes to an end, and he tells her it is all over, it seems she has other ideas.  As he tries to distance himself from her, she becomes more and more clingy and dangerous. The storyline might feel a little hackneyed now, but it didn’t then, and at the time it was a main topic of conversation at all the smart dinner parties (apparently).

Gone Girl (2014 – David Fincher)

When Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck)’s wife Amy (Rosamunde Pike) suddenly disappears, he quickly becomes the prime suspect. Did he kill her and hide the body? Or has she been kidnapped? Or has she really just walked out on her marriage? The story is told in three distinct parts, each from a different perspective. The first two stack up reasonably well and are believable, however for me the third was just a little too far-fetched, although it did provide an interesting role for Neil Patrick Harris. The script is by Gillian Flynn, based on her 2012 bestselling novel (which famously Barack Obama mentioned as one of his favourite reads). Somehow, however, the plot twists make this more amusing than suspenseful. When it was first released, I saw it at a small London cinema – just me and a drunken hen party, who roared with laughter throughout – perhaps that has forever coloured my view of it.

The Housemaid (2010 – Im Sang-soo)

This is the second South Korean film on my list and is a remake of Kim Ki-young’s 1960 film of the same name, which sadly I have not yet managed to locate. Eun-yi (Jeon Do-yeon) takes a job as a housemaid for an upper-class family. The husband Hoon (Lee Jung-jae) is a hugely powerful businessman; his stay-at-home wife Hae-ra (Seo Woo), already the mother of a little girl, is heavily pregnant with twins. Perhaps predictably, as Hae-ra ceases to give him what he wants sexually, Hoon turns to the naïve, but rather enticing, Eun-yi for his pleasures. However, the ever-watchful Mrs Cho (Youn Yuh-jung) sees all, and reports the affair to Hae-ra’s mother, who gallops in to save her daughter’s marriage. This is almost a proper old-fashioned thriller, with echoes of Hitchcock, right up until the absolutely astonishing ending!

In the Cut (2003 – Jane Campion)

So far as I am aware, this is Campion’s only thriller, which she also co-scripted with Susanna Moore, who wrote the novel from which it was adapted. English teacher Frannie Avery (Meg Ryan) witnesses a girl giving head to a NYC cop in the cellar bathroom of a downtown Manhattan dive-bar. Despite the seediness of this, she is clearly intrigued and just a little excited by what she sees. Then the girl then falls victim to a serial killer who has been plaguing the area for a little while. Frannie begins a relationship with an NYC Cop, Malloy (Mark Ruffalo), who is investigating the murders. But a tell-tale tattoo suggests that maybe he was the cop in the bathroom, which might mean he is also the serial-killer? What could have been a fairly run-of-the-mill thriller is lifted by Meg Ryan’s excellent nuanced performance in the lead role, and Campion’s tight direction.

Knife in the Water (1962 – Roman Polanski)

Roman Polanski’s only Polish language feature to-date, this was recognised by Martin Scorsese as one of the masterpieces of Polish cinema and nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film – not bad for his first full-length picture. Andrzej (Leon Niemczyk) and Krystyna (Jolanta Umecka) are driving to a lake, when they come upon a young man (Zygmunt Malanowicz) hitchhiking in the middle of the road. They stop to give him a lift and convince him to join them for a weekend’s sailing. However, Andrzej’s constant need to demonstrate his superiority quickly turns the outing into a battle of wills between the two men, with bikini-clad Krystyna looking on, sometimes excited, sometimes disgusted. Polanski, who also co-wrote the screenplay, demonstrated from his very first film that he understood innately just how to build suspense.

The Last Seduction (1994 – John Dahl)

Bridget Gregory (Linda Fiorentino), a ruthless telemarketing manager in New York City, walks out on her job and leaves her husband Clay (Bill Pullman), stealing his money in the process. She drives off into the sunset, but only gets as far as Beston, a small town near Buffalo. She allows herself to be seduced by local boy Mike Swale (Peter Berg) and they begin a sexual relationship, but it is clear from the beginning that she is just using him. Then, when it seems likely that her husband may have tracked her down, she ups the stakes. Fiorentino’s performance as the femme fatale is exceptional, and garnered much acclaim, generating talk of an Oscar nomination, however she was deemed ineligible because the film was shown on television before its cinema release. 

Matador (1986 – Pedro Almodóvar)

Diego Montes (Nacho Martínez) is a former bullfighter, forced into early retirement after being gored, who now acts as a bullfighting instructor. Among his students is Ángel (Antonio Banderas), a diffident young man who suffers from vertigo. One day Ángel attempts to rape Diego’s girlfriend, Eva (Eva Cobo). Racked with guilt he hands himself in to the police, but she refuses to press charges. In order to assuage his guilt, he admits to two murders which he believes Diego committed. He is appointed a defence lawyer, María Cardenal (Assumpta Serna), who is obsessed with Diego. And it turns out that both Diego and María are both completely obsessed with death. A pretty standard build-up for an Almodóvar film, perhaps, but his usual colourful, stylish visuals together with the straight-faced conviction of the excellent cast make this a truly gripping and exciting thriller.

La Piscine (1969 – Jacques Deray)

La Piscine – doesn’t that mean Swimming Pool? We’ve already had that! Yes, but this is a different one. And just to make it more complicated, whilst they are in no way connected and have totally different subject matters, both are French, and both were released as La Piscine in France and as The Swimming Pool in England.

Jean-Paul (Alain Delon), a writer, and Marianne (Romy Schneider), his girlfriend, are holidaying at a friend’s villa near Saint-Tropez. Harry (Maurice Ronet), an old friend who was Marianne’s lover before Jean-Paul, arrives for a visit, surprising the couple by bringing along his 18-year-old daughter Penelope (Jane Birkin). Harry still has designs on Marianne, and Jean-Paul becomes jealous, although he has a similar interest in Penelope, who interestingly has no love for her father. As the temperature rises, so the temperatures rise (see what I did there), with tragic results. This is a very gentle thriller, but it is certainly an erotic one, with all the sexual mores of the swinging sixties displayed for all to see.

Rendez-Vous (1985 – Andre Techine)

Nina (Juliette Binoche, in her first starring role) is a young provincial actress, newly-arrived in Paris, and not getting many offers of work. She is sleeping around, both literally and metaphorically, as she searches for a flat of her own, but with very limited resources. Her estate agent Paulot (Wadeck Stanczak) falls for her and offers her a place to stay, but it is his flatmate Quentin (Lambert Wilson) who she falls into a mutually destructive relationship with. Quentin was due to play Romeo in a production that should have been staged the previous year in London, but had to be shelved after the untimely death of the actress due to play Juliette. The production was to be directed by Scrutzler (Jean-Louis Trintignant) who shows up unannounced in Paris, ready to attempt to resurrect the play. The film is a lyrical exploration of love and loss and of reality and fantasy, which won a Best Director award for Techine at Cannes.

Sea of Love (1989 – Harold Becker)

New York City homicide detectives Frank (Al Pacino) and Sherman (John Goodman) team up to track down a serial killer who is preying on guys who have placed poetic, lonely-hearts ads in a local newspaper. They undertake a sting operation by placing their own ‘poetic’ ad in the paper. However Frank, a burned-out alcoholic whose wife left him for a colleague, falls in love with a potential suspect, Helen (Ellen Barkin), which complicates matters somewhat. As Frank falls deeper and deeper in love, more and more clues emerge suggesting Helen is the serial killer. This was the film credited with resurrecting Pacino’s flagging career (his first film since Revolution had spectacularly bombed four years earlier). It is not great, but it is certainly worth watching for Pacino alone.

I feel sure that I will have offended someone (probably Mark Kermode and the Professor) by including non-genre films in my list, so here are my Top 3 Genre Films, just for the record:

(1)           Body Heat

(2)           Basic Instinct

(3)           In the Cut

And the rest…

So, what else did I watch in compiling my list? The following films were also considered, but did not make the grade, many by a country mile:

L’Amant Double, Body Double, Bound, Dead Ringers, Fair Play, Jagged Edge, No Return, No Way Out, Poison Ivy, Presumed Innocent, Single White Female, Sliver, Unlawful Entry, Wild Things and quite a few more, that do not even deserve entering in the list of not very good stuff.

Incidentally, I also watched Indecent Proposal, which I had never seen before, and rather enjoyed it, but it is more of a rom-com or drama than a thriller, so didn’t qualify.

I know I have missed loads of Erotic Thrillers; however I really do need a rest from them now. If you have any films you really think I have to watch (i.e. that may deserve a place in my ‘Top 3 and a Bit’) please let me know. I will endeavour to find them and watch them … eventually … when I leave the darkened room I am about to retire to!