Or so it seems. While the results of this experimentation are mixed at best some are good films and some are decidedly not , the way BDSM has been used historically gives us insight into changing cultural taboos from around the world. Perhaps unsurprisingly, most of these films do not present BDSM relationships in a particularly healthy light. Below is a list of ten films that, for one reason or another, represent the cultural significance of BDSM. A British member of parliament on a vendetta of moral rectitude hires a young Christian computer programmer to infiltrate their parties and gather evidence of their debauchery to close them down. The plot is comically thin, but it does the job of carrying the audience from saucy set piece to saucy set piece. The film was one of the first to portray the BDSM community instead of focusing on sexy antics between two partners who are mostly confined to their bedroom. While it suffered a limited initial release, it has grown into a cult success to the point where director Stuart Urban created a Kickstarter campaign in to create a graphic novel sequel. The campaign failed to meet its goal, but a separate campaign to have the film restored and rereleased succeeded, so it can still be enjoyed today. Of course, sometimes those emotionally-distant spurts of passion never really end, as is the case in this film.
Preaching to the Perverted
R29 Original Series
Posted On: September 2, The first Fifty Shades movie, Fifty Shades of Grey broke box office records by becoming highest grossing explicit film ever. If you find these two 50 Shades movies lackluster, there are actually other BDSM-themed movies that are purported better. Lee Holloway Maggie Gyllenhaal , a young woman with a history of severe emotional problems, is released into the care of her overbearing parents following a stay at a mental institution. She finds work as a secretary for a rigid and demanding attorney, E.
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Dirk Bogarde and Charlotte Rampling star as the pair who resume their relationship after the second world war, while he is working as a night porter. A striking, disturbing study of power, sexuality and transgressive behaviour, it features a topless Rampling dancing in a Nazi cap and leather gloves. Gerard Depardieu stars as a small-time crook called in to fix the plumbing of a professional dominatrix Bulle Ogier. This may sound like the premise for a straight-up porno, but while it pushed censors to the limit with its explicit dungeon scenes, this French arthouse film was downgraded to from an X to an 18 certificate in the UK in Cross-dressing and public sex lead to whipping and boundary-testing galore.
Of course we have to include it. Often heralded as one of the best BDSM films of all time, 's Secretary follows the relationship of a dominant boss and his submissive secretary. Coincidentally, the boss, played by Spader, is named Grey. The movie focuses on the affair between psychologist Carl Jung and Sabina Spielrein, who was initially a patient of Jung's and later became a physician herself not to mention one of the first female psychoanalysts. The pair explore their sexual impulses, including bondage and spanking. The infamous leg-crossing scene gets all of the attention, but Stone's character Catherine Tramell is also very into bondage. Behold: Charlize Theron wielding a riding crop in a flapper dress for Head in the Clouds. Gretchen Mol starred as pin-up girl Bettie Page in this biopic that also delved into her work posing for bondage shoots.
