Sex is central to edgy new films in Cannes
By Erik Kirschbaum

CANNES, France, May 21 (Reuters) – Group sex, violent sex, gay sex,
and wife-swapping were among the central elements of stories in
entries at the Cannes Film Festival this year.

Whether a reflection of changing sexual mores around the world or
merely the work of edgy directors pushing new limits, Cannes audiences
were shown a great number of films with stories revolving around or
showing non-traditional sex.

“As the boundaries of what’s considered acceptable on and off the
screen get pushed back, directors are moving in to occupy that vacuum
of space and push the boundaries even further,” said Variety’s European
Editor Adam Dawtrey.

“In times that are tough for independent films, it’s important for
them to find an edge to give them some commercial appeal, though not
in a cynical way. The instinct is: ‘How do you grab audiences?’ And
the answer is with juicy scenes.”

Films with heterosexual intercourse or romantic suggestions of it have
long helped filmmakers in many genres to tell and sell their stories.

But this year a great diversity of sex has been displayed.

In “Where the Truth Lies”, Kevin Bacon and Colin Firth play a popular
entertainer duo with multiple daily sex partners, but their friendship
ends after sex with their hotel maid goes awry.

“I wanted to create this world that was intoxicating,” said Canadian
director Atom Egoyan, describing the need for group sex. “They could
take any amount of drugs they wanted and have as much sex as they
wanted. It was an unbridled atmosphere.”

“Don’t Come Knocking” is about a degenerate Hollywood star played by
Sam Shepard who learns he fathered two children, now adults, decades
earlier. But he’s slept with so many women in his life he at first
can’t even vaguely recall their mothers.

“Sam’s character is a womaniser and that’s one of his life’s
tragedies,” director Wim Wenders told Reuters. “It’s a disease like
alcohol. It’s why he missed his life because he was only always
thinking of the thrill of sex, drugs and rock and roll.”

In “Chromophobia”, a prostitute played by Penelope Cruz wears a
nurse’s costume for a sex ritual with a client, an elderly retired
judge who turns out to be her daughter’s father.

In Woody Allen’s “Match Point” a sizzling affair between the
brother-in-law and sister-in-law in a rich British family starts in
a rain-drenched wheat field but ends tragically after he gets her
pregnant and kills her to keep the scandal romance a secret.

Wife-swapping is the spice in life belatedly discovered by a retired
French couple in “Peindre ou Faire L’Amour”.

Barry Pepper clips and smells his dirty toenails in “The Three Burials
of Melquiades Estrada” before rising from the couch for a quick,
animal-like sex session with his bored wife while she continues to
watch television from the kitchen.

Perhaps the most controversial film is director Carlos Reygadas’
“Batalla en el Cielo” (Battle in Heaven). It starts with a teen girl
performing fellatio on an obese middle-aged Mexican who later has
graphic sex with his even heavier wife.

But he rejected criticism sex in his film is gratuitous.

“The whole world is involved in sex,” Reygadas said.

05/21/05 13:50 ET