“Where to, Miss? To the stars.” Kate and Leo uttering these lines in the iconic car scene in Titanic might just be one of the sexiest starts to one of the sexiest and most passionate moments in movie history. Kate’s reply is interesting because “To the stars” is exactly where a lot of women want to be taken – and not just in their personal sex lives, but in movies. Many women do choose the traditional porn, but a lot of times, what women find sexiest isn’t at all trashy – it’s classy, tender, passionate, beautiful, intense. And I think there are a lot of movies out there that don’t get enough credit for having these scenes, these moments, and what I like to call “Porn for Women.” So I’m going to give them some credit.
Titanic – So we have the scene I referenced above, when Jack and Rose sneak into the storage room, climb into the car, and experience one of the steamiest, most tender, and most real love making moments. I don’t think anyone can forget the handprint on the window. But Titanic has another of my favorite Porn for Women scenes when Jack is sketching Rose. Everything from the way she’s lying on the sofa to his hair falling in front of his true blue eyes as he focuses so intently to the soft strokes of the pencil on the page…who knew a scene where two people don’t physically touch could be so phenomenally sexy and intimate?
Atonement – The library scene. This scene between Keira Knightley and James McAvoy is perfectly choreographed, down to the moment that she lifts her foot out of her shoe and the precise way that their fingers intertwine. It’s pure passion as these two come together and have to have each other, right there and then in the middle of the dim-lit library. Knightley’s stunning emerald gown doesn’t hurt anything either, nor McAvoy’s good looks.
The Notebook – This is probably one of the most recognized scenes from the modern film era, and certainly from a “chick flick.” The rain is pouring, Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling are yelling at each other, and then the pause and the epic line “It wasn’t over. It still isn’t over” as he grabs her face and they come together in the most passionate kiss. She jumps up to straddle him, he pins her against the wall in the house, they desperately undress each other, and then again, just the right amount of pause as he slowly peels off her stockings. What’s so unique about this scene is the balance between intensity and tenderness. It makes it feel so real.
Match Point – Slightly less well known, but this is one of my absolute favorite films and the scene between Scarlett Johansson and Jonathan Rhys Meyers in the field definitely deserves a spot on this list. It’s so gritty, so wrong but oh so right. You feel them both struggle between knowing they shouldn’t but needing to nevertheless. And like The Notebook, it’s pouring with rain. Something about that just makes for unbearably sexy moments.
Shakespeare In Love – Mistaken identity. The writer and the rich girl. Joseph Fiennes and Gwyneth Paltrow. An amazing combination embodied by the scene where he finally figures out that she’s been disguised as a man and climbs up to her room (yes, Romeo and Juliet style). There’s something bizarrely sexy about him removing her boy clothes, especially when he makes her spin out of the cloth she’s used to bind her breasts. It’s playful, sincere, and again, real. These feel like two real people having an honest interaction. This is probably the most graphic of the scenes I’ve listed, but that works because it’s not just sex. It’s two people making love in the most literal sense of the phrase.
That’s all I’ve got. Porn for women found in some of the sexiest chick flicks ever made. If your favorite didn’t make it onto my list, post a comment!
Photo from http://www.xianet.net/2011/02/weird-sex-scenes-in-oscar-nominated-movies/