Movies like Fifty Shades of Grey
by KyaBakwaasHai | created - 17 Feb 2017 | updated - 16 Aug 2017 | Public******* 1. Movies Like "Emmanuelle 1974" :- [link]http://www.imdb.com/list/ls069765874/[/link] 2. Movies Like "Basic Instinct 1992" :- [link]http://www.imdb.com/list/ls062989669/[/link] 3. Movies like "Malena 2000" :- [link]http://www.imdb.com/list/ls062832354/[/link] *******
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1. Belle de Jour (1967)
R | 100 min | Drama, Romance
A frigid young housewife decides to spend her midweek afternoons as a prostitute.
Director: Luis Buñuel | Stars: Catherine Deneuve, Jean Sorel, Michel Piccoli, Geneviève Page
Votes: 48,437 | Gross: $0.03M
Luis Buñel’s surreal classic sees a middle-class housewife Séverine (Catherine Deneuve) electing to become a daytime prostitute while her husband is at work. While there is some brothel-based kink, the key BDSM content lies in the dream sequences, in which Séverine fantasised about an S&M relationship with her husband. Based upon Joseph Kessel’s 1928 novel, Belle de Jour would inspire a real-life escort, her books and the UK TV series Secret Diary Of A Call Girl, which featured several S&M scenes.
2. 9½ Weeks (1986)
R | 117 min | Drama, Romance
A woman becomes involved with a man she barely knows. Complications develop during their sexual escapades.
Director: Adrian Lyne | Stars: Mickey Rourke, Kim Basinger, Margaret Whitton, David Margulies
Votes: 43,494 | Gross: $6.73M
The Fifty Shades Of Grey of its day, 9 1/2 Weeks is based on Elizabeth McNeill’s semi-autobiographical book, and sees Mickey Rourke’s mysterious Wall Street broker casting a sexual spell over Kim Basinger’s timid divorcee. Cross-dressing and public sex lead to whipping and boundary-testing galore. While relatively unsuccessful on home ground, the film found its audience abroad and became a cult favourite on video and later DVD.
3. Crash (1996)
NC-17 | 100 min | Drama
After getting into a serious car accident, a TV director discovers an underground sub-culture of scarred, omnisexual car-crash victims who use car accidents and the raw sexual energy they produce to try to rejuvenate his sex life with his wife.
Director: David Cronenberg | Stars: James Spader, Holly Hunter, Elias Koteas, Deborah Kara Unger
Votes: 65,616 | Gross: $2.04M
Most audiences can handle a light spanking, but Crash ups the kink factor by exploring a world in which characters indulge their sadomasochistic desires by engineering car crashes. Defiantly provocative and certainly not for the squeamish, David Cronenberg’s film was released in a R version, as well as a NC-17 for adults only. Rumours that Cronenberg might direct Fifty Shades Of Grey turned out to be wisthful thinking.
4. Last Tango in Paris (1972)
NC-17 | 129 min | Drama, Romance
A young Parisian woman meets a middle-aged American businessman who demands their clandestine relationship be based only on sex.
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci | Stars: Marlon Brando, Maria Schneider, Maria Michi, Giovanna Galletti
Votes: 57,759 | Gross: $36.14M
5. Secretary (2002)
R | 107 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A young woman, recently released from a mental hospital, gets a job as a secretary to a demanding lawyer, where their employer-employee relationship turns into a sexual, sadomasochistic one.
Director: Steven Shainberg | Stars: James Spader, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jeremy Davies, Lesley Ann Warren
Votes: 97,626 | Gross: $4.06M
Clumsy, awkward young woman meets a mysterious domineering businessman called Mr Grey and develops a submissive relationship with him. Sound familiar? It’s hard to believe 50 Shades writer EL James wasn’t influenced by this witty Sundance favourite that seeks to normalise the idea of the BDSM relationship. It also made a star of Maggie Gyllenhaal, who brought every-girl fragility to her role opposite cool, calm Crash star James Spader. At it again, eh, Spader?
6. The Night Porter (1974)
R | 118 min | Drama
A concentration camp survivor rekindles her sadomasochistic relationship with her lover, a former SS officer - now working as a night porter at a Vienna hotel - but his former Nazi associates begin stalking them.
Director: Liliana Cavani | Stars: Dirk Bogarde, Charlotte Rampling, Philippe Leroy, Gabriele Ferzetti
Votes: 14,523 | Gross: $0.63M
A concentration camp survivor develops a complex S&M relationship with her torturer in this controversial drama from Italian arthouse director Liliana Cavani. 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.
7. Maîtresse (1976)
Not Rated | 112 min | Drama, Romance
A common thief (Depardieu) breaks into the house of a professional dominatrix (Ogier), and begins to help her "train" her clients. Though this world is alien to his experience, he finds ... See full summary »
Director: Barbet Schroeder | Stars: Gérard Depardieu, Bulle Ogier, André Rouyer, Nathalie Keryan
Votes: 2,387
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 2003.
8. Preaching to the Perverted (1997)
R | 100 min | Comedy, Drama
While working for a conservative MP, an IT professional infiltrates a BDSM club and falls for the head dominatrix.
Director: Stuart Urban | Stars: Guinevere Turner, Christien Anholt, Tom Bell, Julie Graham
Votes: 1,368
Billed as “the first fetish feature film”, this London-set indie became a firm favourite on the fetish scene while narrowly avoiding the porn tag. This witty, kitsch look a kinky clubbing stars Guinevere Turner as a dominatrix under government investigation. “Turner makes Sharon Stone look like a mother superior,” Empire magazine declared.
9. The Piano Teacher (2001)
R | 131 min | Drama, Music
A young man romantically pursues his masochistic piano teacher.
Director: Michael Haneke | Stars: Isabelle Huppert, Annie Girardot, Benoît Magimel, Susanne Lothar
Votes: 70,776 | Gross: $1.90M
Tackling the thorny topic of self-mutilation as a form of sexual arousal, this French-Austrian thriller benefits from a masterful performance from Isabelle Huppert as the music professor hiding a wealth of fetishes behind her repressed exterior. Based on Elfriede Jelinek’s 1983 novel, Michael Haneke’s film is a complex and often uncomfortable watch that scored highly on the festival circuit.
10. A Dangerous Method (2011)
R | 99 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
A look at how the intense relationship between Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud gives birth to psychoanalysis.
Director: David Cronenberg | Stars: Michael Fassbender, Keira Knightley, Viggo Mortensen, Vincent Cassel
Votes: 107,874 | Gross: $5.70M
Fifteen years after Crash, David Cronenberg explores BDSM via a love triangle between Jung (Michael Fassbender), Freud (Viggo Mortensen) and their complicated patient Sabina (Keira Knightley), who had a fondness for spanking. Knightley certainly doesn’t hold back when it comes to being flogged by Michael Fassbender, although she admitted to slugging vodka before filming that particular scene.
11. Venus in Fur (2013)
Not Rated | 96 min | Drama
An actress attempts to convince a director how she's perfect for a role in his upcoming production.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Emmanuelle Seigner, Mathieu Amalric
Votes: 20,783 | Gross: $0.34M
Based on David Ives’s play, Roman Polanski’s film remains theatrical in tone but is never less than absorbing. After arriving late for an audition, a seemingly chaotic actress (Emmanuelle Seigner) begins to play erotic power games with a director (Mathieu Amalric). The story revolves around Leopold von Sacher-Masoch’s 1870 novella Venus In Furs, a ground-breaking portrait of female dominance and male submission.
12. The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972)
Not Rated | 124 min | Drama, Romance
A successful fashion designer abandons a sado-masochistic relationship with her female assistant in favor of a love affair with a beautiful young woman.
Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder | Stars: Margit Carstensen, Hanna Schygulla, Katrin Schaake, Eva Mattes
Votes: 10,887
Some of the films listed here are obvious precursors to “Fifty Shades Of Grey,” but “The Bitter Tears Of Petra Von Kant” obviously shares DNA with the recently released “The Duke Of Burgundy” (which is discussed down the list). Directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder and based on his own heavily autobiographical play (a veiled version of the triangular relationship between the director, his lover Günther Kaufmann and his assistant/composer Peer Raben), ‘Bitter Tears’ follows the titular fashion designer (Margit Cartensen) as she falls deeply in love with the beautiful Karin (Hanna Schygulla) while tormenting her devoted assistant Marlene (Irm Hermann). A unashamedly melodramatic nod to Fassbinder’s beloved Douglas Sirk and "All About Eve" (that film’s director Joseph Mankiewicz gets a name check at one point), the film doesn’t have that much in the way of whips and chains but is more effective than most at depicting the raw, brutal power dynamics of a sub/dom relationship, thanks in part to claustrophobic staging from the director and future Scorsese DP Michael Ballhaus. Not to mention Cartensen’s fearless turn and Hermann show-stealing, virtually silent performance.
13. The Story of O (1975)
NC-17 | 97 min | Drama
Photographer O's lover takes her to a Château, where she is, like other women there, naked, humiliated by whipping, sexual abuse by men etc. When O leaves, her lover gives her to his much older step-brother.
Director: Just Jaeckin | Stars: Corinne Cléry, Udo Kier, Anthony Steel, Jean Gaven
Votes: 6,847
Published in 1954, Anne Declos’ Marquis de Sade-influenced novel “Story Of O” (published under the nom de plume Pauline Reage) was one of the most important literary works in introducing BDSM to a wider audience —as a literary phenomenon, it was inevitable that the book would make it to the screen at some point. “Wages Of Fear” and “Les Diaboliques” helmer Henri-Georges Clouzot unsuccessfully attempted to mount an adaptation at one point, but it eventually reached the screen thanks to “Emmanuelle” director Just Jaeckin in 1975. It’s largely plot-free, involving a young woman called O (Corinne Cleary) whose lover Rene (Udo Kier) brings her to a chateau to be initiated in the world of sadomasochism by his step-brother Sir Stephen (Anthony Steel). It’s a clear forerunner to ‘Fifty Shades,’ though the exploits are a fair bit more hardcore and shares many of the same dramatic weaknesses. If your inclinations line up with the film’s ensemble, there might be some allure (though the presence of Kier is, frankly a little off-putting), but the characters are so blank, the material so repetitive, and the direction so cheap and shoddy (and often unintentionally funny, like the LOL-tastic owl mask that O wears at the end) that it’s typically hard for the non-inclined to get anything out of it. Still, the whole thing’s on YouTube, though the film was banned in the UK until 2000.
14. In the Realm of the Senses (1976)
NC-17 | 109 min | Drama, Romance
A passionate telling of the story of Sada Abe, a woman whose affair with her master led to an obsessive and ultimately destructive sexual relationship.
Director: Nagisa Ôshima | Stars: Tatsuya Fuji, Eiko Matsuda, Aoi Nakajima, Yasuko Matsui
Votes: 22,548
It might feel like unsimulated sex scenes in serious arthouse cinema is a relatively recent invention in light of films like “The Idiots,” “9 Songs,” “The Brown Bunny,” “Shortbus” and “Nymphomaniac." But “In The Realm Of The Senses,” from the late Japanese director Nagisa Oshima, caused significant fuss four decades ago. Technically a French production (Japanese laws only allowed the explicit film to be made as a foreign production), it’s set in Tokyo in 1936, as the owner of a hotel (Tatsuya Fuji) begins a boundary-pushing relationship with a maid (Eiko Matsuda) who used to be a prostitute. Based loosely on a real-life event involving a woman named Sada Abe and with the Japanese title “Ai No Corrida” (which translates literally as “Bullfight Of Love,” which is rather more fitting), it’s a portrait of an all-consuming love affair. But while it has political (and particularly in the context of the others films on this list, feminist) overtones, this film manages to effectively mix the sensual and the disturbing. Though obviously there’s more of the latter in the film’s famous finale, in which Fuji is strangled to death mid-coitus and Matsuda then cuts his penis off. It’s a tremendous example of using real sex as a storytelling technique rather than as pure titillation.
15. Tightrope (1984)
R | 114 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
New Orleans single dad and cop Wes Block goes after a serial rapist-killer, but when he gets too close the hunter suddenly becomes the hunted.
Directors: Richard Tuggle, Clint Eastwood | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Geneviève Bujold, Dan Hedaya, Alison Eastwood
Votes: 18,989 | Gross: $48.14M
16. Blue Velvet (1986)
R | 120 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
The discovery of a severed human ear found in a field leads a young man on an investigation related to a beautiful, mysterious nightclub singer and a group of psychopathic criminals who have kidnapped her child.
Director: David Lynch | Stars: Isabella Rossellini, Kyle MacLachlan, Dennis Hopper, Laura Dern
Votes: 213,380 | Gross: $8.55M
17. Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1989)
NC-17 | 101 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
An unbalanced but alluring former mental patient takes a porn star prisoner in the hopes of convincing her to marry him.
Director: Pedro Almodóvar | Stars: Victoria Abril, Antonio Banderas, Loles León, Julieta Serrano
Votes: 31,610 | Gross: $4.09M
Pedro Almodovar never met a sexual taboo he didn’t want to bust, and “Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!” sees the director get his kink on in satisfying fashion, even if the film doesn’t rank among his best. A comic precursor to the much-later “The Skin I Live In,” the film marked the end of a chapter for Almodóvar; he fell out with muse Carmen Maura in pre-production, after telling her she was too old for the female lead (they wouldn’t work together until they reconciled for “Volver”), and it marked his last collaboration for two decades with Antonio Banderas, who went to Hollywood after the film’s success. As for ‘Tie Me Up!,’ it’s difficult; essentially a sweet romantic comedy, but one where the obsessive behavior often seen in the genre is taken to new extremes, with Banderas’ mental patient kidnapping a porn-actress-turned-horror-starlet (Victoria Abril), with whom he once slept with, and who he keeps tied to her bed, eventually with her consent. There are troubling aspects —the film was derided by feminists on release— but the film’s sweetness, provided by vulnerable, big-hearted turns by Banderas, Abril and Loles Léon, makes it work. The film’s also earned its place in cinema history for reasons beyond its quality: Miramax sued the MPAA after the film was given an X rating, kicking off a debate that would eventually lead to the creation of the NC-17 rating.
18. The Duke of Burgundy (2014)
Not Rated | 104 min | Drama, Romance
A woman who studies butterflies and moths tests the limits of her relationship with her lesbian lover.
Director: Peter Strickland | Stars: Sidse Babett Knudsen, Monica Swinn, Chiara D'Anna, Kata Bartsch
Votes: 14,228 | Gross: $0.03M
19. The Whip and the Body (1963)
Not Rated | 87 min | Horror, Romance
The ghost of a sadistic nobleman attempts to rekindle his romance with his terrorized, masochistic former lover, who is unwillingly betrothed to his brother.
Director: Mario Bava | Stars: Daliah Lavi, Christopher Lee, Tony Kendall, Ida Galli
Votes: 4,583
20. Bitter Moon (1992)
R | 139 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller
After hearing stories of her, a passenger on a cruise ship develops an irresistible infatuation with an eccentric paraplegic's wife.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Hugh Grant, Kristin Scott Thomas, Emmanuelle Seigner, Peter Coyote
Votes: 42,221 | Gross: $1.86M
This is legendary filmmaker (and fugitive from justice) Roman Polanski’s stab at BDSM. Nigel (Hugh Grant) and Fiona (Kristen Scott Thomas) are a bored, married couple on a cruise to Istanbul, passing through India. They come across Mimi (Emmanuelle Seigner) and her paraplegic husband, Oscar (Peter Coyote), a couple very into BDSM. Oscar first tormented Mimi, humiliating her constantly and forcing her into an abortion, then, after Mimi renders him paraplegic, she relishes both dominating and humiliating him, having sex with other men in front of him. Nigel finds himself taken by Mimi, but she may prove too hot and twisted for him to handle.
21. Personal Services (1987)
R | 105 min | Comedy
The story of the rise of a madame of a suburban brothel catering to older men, inspired by the real experiences of Cynthia Payne.
Director: Terry Jones | Stars: Julie Walters, Alec McCowen, Shirley Stelfox, Danny Schiller
Votes: 1,840 | Gross: $1.74M
22. Life Is Sweet (1990)
R | 103 min | Comedy, Drama
A shop assistant, her cook husband, and their twin daughters go about their lives in a working-class London suburb.
Director: Mike Leigh | Stars: Alison Steadman, Jim Broadbent, Claire Skinner, Jane Horrocks
Votes: 11,189 | Gross: $1.52M
23. Basic Instinct (1992)
R | 127 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
A violent police detective investigates a brutal murder that might involve a manipulative and seductive novelist.
Director: Paul Verhoeven | Stars: Michael Douglas, Sharon Stone, George Dzundza, Jeanne Tripplehorn
Votes: 216,546 | Gross: $117.73M
Paul Verhoeven’s erotic phenomenon starred Michael Douglas as Nick Curran, a detective investigating the case of a rock star who was brutally stabbed to death with an ice pick by a mystery blonde. The prime suspect is Catherine Tramell (Sharon Stone), an icy, bisexual writer with a penchant for bondage. While the leg-crossing scene is the most iconic, there are also several sexy BDSM scenes here featuring Stone tying Douglas to the bed and riding him like Seabiscuit.
24. Body of Evidence (1992)
R | 99 min | Drama, Thriller
A lawyer defends a woman accused of killing her older lover by having sex with him.
Director: Uli Edel | Stars: Madonna, Willem Dafoe, Joe Mantegna, Anne Archer
Votes: 16,242 | Gross: $13.28M
25. Exit to Eden (1994)
R | 113 min | Comedy, Crime, Romance
Elliot heads for the sexual fantasy island, Eden. He takes some photos of diamond smugglers. They and undercover cops want the photos and follow him to Eden.
Director: Garry Marshall | Stars: Dana Delany, Dan Aykroyd, Rosie O'Donnell, Paul Mercurio
Votes: 7,284 | Gross: $6.84M
26. Romance (1999)
R | 84 min | Drama, Romance
Frustrated by the lack of intimacy in her relationship, a young schoolteacher goes through a series of intimidating and often violent sexual partners.
Director: Catherine Breillat | Stars: Caroline Ducey, Sagamore Stévenin, François Berléand, Rocco Siffredi
Votes: 11,871 | Gross: $1.28M
With half a dozen films by the name of Romance available it's easy to get confused, but Catherine Breillat's 1999 slice of eroticism represents one of the early "mainstream" movies of the era to feature scenes of unsimulated penetrative sex. Caroline Ducey plays Marie, a young woman who's boyfriend refuses to have sex with her, leading her to embark on a journey of sexual exploration with a series of other men. The hardcore sex scenes are offset by a strangely objective study of Caroline's increasing detachment, while the final scenes see her moving further away from conventional sexual encounters towards sadomasochism with an older man. Romance marks the beginning of a period of mainstream and arthouse cinema experimenting with unsimulated sex.
27. Quills (2000)
R | 124 min | Biography, Drama
In a Napoleonic era insane asylum, an inmate, the irrepressible Marquis De Sade, fights a battle of wills against a tyrannically prudish doctor.
Director: Philip Kaufman | Stars: Geoffrey Rush, Kate Winslet, Joaquin Phoenix, Michael Caine
Votes: 56,431 | Gross: $7.06M
If any one writer and thinker can be said to epitomise the libertinism of the late eighteen and early nineteenth centuries, that writer is the Marquis de Sade. Sade's penchant for often violent eroticism landed him in hot waters with the authorities on more than one occasion. Quills, starring Geoffrey Rush and Kate Winslet, avoids presenting a blow by blow biopic of de Sade's life, instead opting to use his life as a launch pad for ideas about sexuality, pornography and censorship. While it isn't the most challenging film to have been made based around de Sade's writings (more on that later) it's nevertheless a solid movie with strong performances throughout, including Joaquin Phoenix and Michael Caine in supporting roles.
28. Killing Me Softly (2002)
R | 100 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
A woman faces deadly consequences for abandoning her loving relationship with her boyfriend to pursue exciting sexual scenarios with a mysterious celebrity mountaineer.
Director: Kaige Chen | Stars: Heather Graham, Joseph Fiennes, Natascha McElhone, Ulrich Thomsen
Votes: 19,156
29. The Notorious Bettie Page (2005)
R | 91 min | Biography, Drama
The life of Bettie Page, a 1950s pin-up model and one of the first sex icons in America, who became the target of a Senate investigation because of her risqué bondage photos.
Director: Mary Harron | Stars: Gretchen Mol, Lili Taylor, Chris Bauer, Jared Harris
Votes: 11,561 | Gross: $1.41M
After directing the big screen adaptation of American Psycho - a film which plays with elements of dominance and pain for horror effect - Mary Harron turned her attention to perhaps the first famous bondage model in her biopic The Notorious Bettie Page. Page's early life was marred with abuse and control - from a devoutly Christian background she was abused as a child and later gang raped, experiences which led her down her path as a model. Harron tackles the subject matter with sensitivity, while Gretchen Mol delivers one of the best performances of her career (which perhaps isn't saying a great deal).
30. Black Snake Moan (2006)
R | 116 min | Drama, Music
A God-fearing bluesman takes to a wild young woman who, as a victim of childhood sexual abuse, looks everywhere for love, never quite finding it.
Director: Craig Brewer | Stars: Christina Ricci, Samuel L. Jackson, Justin Timberlake, S. Epatha Merkerson
Votes: 66,267 | Gross: $9.40M
31. Shortbus (2006)
Not Rated | 101 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A group of New Yorkers caught up in their romantic-sexual milieu converge at an underground salon infamous for its blend of art, music, politics, and carnality.
Director: John Cameron Mitchell | Stars: Sook-Yin Lee, Peter Stickles, PJ DeBoy, Paul Dawson
Votes: 35,204 | Gross: $1.99M
32. Nymphomaniac: Vol. I (2013)
Not Rated | 117 min | Drama
A self-diagnosed nymphomaniac recounts her erotic experiences to the man who saved her after a beating.
Director: Lars von Trier | Stars: Charlotte Gainsbourg, Stellan Skarsgård, Stacy Martin, Shia LaBeouf
Votes: 130,630 | Gross: $0.79M
33. Matador (1986)
NC-17 | 110 min | Drama, Thriller
A matador is wounded by a bull and can no longer kill in the arena. It is just one of the problems of one of the characters that unexpectedly collide in this film.
Director: Pedro Almodóvar | Stars: Assumpta Serna, Antonio Banderas, Nacho Martínez, Eva Cobo
Votes: 12,842 | Gross: $0.21M
Spanish director Pedro Almodovar is no stranger to exploring non-mainstream sexual preferences in his movies, often taking homosexuality and transgender issues as the basis for the characters who inhabit his stories. Matador takes the idea of domination and sadism to the extreme and features a murderer who kills her prey during sex, sinking a sharp pin into their neck which she keeps concealed in her hair. Sumptuous-looking and featuring Antonio Banderas in a role which was to eventually catapult him into the international spotlight, Matador is an intelligent thriller which flirts with sexual taboos.
34. Crimes of Passion (1984)
R | 107 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller
A mysterious woman, fashion designer by day and prostitute by night, is hounded by two men: a married father of two children and a sexually repressed preacher.
Director: Ken Russell | Stars: Kathleen Turner, Anthony Perkins, Bruce Davison, Gordon Hunt
Votes: 8,410 | Gross: $2.91M
Ken Russell's Crimes Of Passion might not have the artistic clout of a film like Belle De Jour but it's still a worthy addition to a collection of films which explore the world of BDSM and is worth watching for Kathleen Turner's performance alone. Turner plays Joanna Cray, a woman who moonlights as a prostitute by the name of China Blue and finds herself involved with a string of clients with bizarre sexual fetishes. As lurid and over the top as is to be expected from Russell (a director who appears to have had the word "subtlety" removed from his lexicon) it's satirical elements might be heavy-handed but if you're after a trashy yet entertaining film then you'd do worse than to watch Crimes Of Passion.
35. Flower and Snake (1974)
74 min | Drama, Thriller
The elderly Senzô Tôyama orders his employee, Makoto Katagiri, to kidnap and train his wife Shizuko in order to break her pride so that she will submit to his desires.
Director: Masaru Konuma | Stars: Naomi Tani, Nagatoshi Sakamoto, Hijiri Abe, Willie Dorsey
Votes: 532
You'd have to have been living under a rock your entire life to have missed the fact that the Japanese seem to like things a little kinkier than the rest of us. Even before In The Realm Of The Senses came out, Japanese cinema was starting to reflect this tendency, not least with Flower And Snake. Released in 1974, two years before Nagisa Oshima's masterpiece, Flower And Snake - along with the later Wife To Be Sacrificed - marked the beginning of the S&M Roman Porno era. This is a film entirely for enthusiasts of BDSM, and while plenty more has come since which can be considered more boundary-pushing, it still shows up Fifty Shades Of Grey for the tepid cop-out it really is.
36. Cruising (1980)
R | 102 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A police detective goes undercover in the underground S&M gay subculture of New York City to catch a serial killer who is preying on gay men.
Director: William Friedkin | Stars: Al Pacino, Paul Sorvino, Karen Allen, Richard Cox
Votes: 27,529 | Gross: $19.80M
William Friedkin's Cruising might not exactly be a ringing endorsement of either the gay community or the fetish scene but as a film in its own right it serves up a solid psychological thriller which touches on some sensitive issues. Al Pacino plays a police officer sent undercover into the world of S&M gay clubs to track down a serial killer. Critics and gay rights activists alike slammed Cruising at the time of its release - for different reasons - but in the years since a reappraisal has seen this thriller garner a steady cult following. While no masterpiece, Cruising isn't the homophobic movie some suggested at the time of its release, even if it falls short of providing a nuanced depiction of the gay scene in which it is set.
37. Sick (1997)
Not Rated | 90 min | Documentary
Diagnosed with cystic fibrosis from a young age, performance artist Bob Flanagan shared his life and pain in his art, usually through sadomasochistic practices.
Director: Kirby Dick | Stars: Bob Flanagan, Sheree Rose, Kathe Burkhart, Kirby Dick
Votes: 1,710 | Gross: $0.12M
While narrative fiction films dominate this list, it wouldn't be complete without Sick: The Life And Death Of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist. Few documentaries have provided such an insight into not only the world of BDSM but also the unique performance artist who forms the subject of the film. Bob Flanagan's perfomance art - along with his writing and poetry - is informed by his suffering from cystic fibrosis, his BDSM shows pushing the envelope of pain and artistic expression. If ever you want to see the correct way to hammer a nail through your penis, this is the documentary you need to see. For most of us, it's a unique insight into a world far removed from the one we're familiar with.
38. Tokyo Decadence (1992)
NC-17 | 112 min | Drama
A submissive hooker goes about her trade, suffering abuse at the hands of Japanese salarymen and Yakuza types. She's unhappy about her work, and is apparently trying to find some sort of ... See full summary »
Director: Ryû Murakami | Stars: Miho Nikaido, Yayoi Kusama, Sayoko Amano, Tenmei Kano
Votes: 3,544 | Gross: $0.28M
Returning to Japan for the final time on this list of BDSM-related films and Tokyo Decadence stands out as one of the most popular of the pink cinema movies released in the West. There's little in the way of a substantial plot to Tokyo Decadence but if BDSM is your thing the prolonged scenes of humiliation and domination will no doubt be right up your street. Perhaps the strangest thing about the film is the music composer - Ryuichi Sakamoto will be far more familiar to fans of less specialised cinema, even winning an Academy Award for his soundtrack to The Last Emperor. Seeing his name on the credits to Tokyo Decadence is surprising, to say the least.
39. Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975)
TV-MA | 117 min | Drama
In World War II Italy, four fascist libertines round up nine adolescent boys and girls and subject them to 120 days of physical, mental, and sexual torture.
Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini | Stars: Paolo Bonacelli, Giorgio Cataldi, Uberto Paolo Quintavalle, Aldo Valletti
Votes: 65,117
If there's one movie on this list which takes the concept of sadism well beyond the boundaries of titillation and into the realms of the psychopathic it is Pier Paulo Pasolini's fascist commentary, Salò, Or The 120 Days Of Sodom. Few films are as likely to disturb and repulse the viewer as much as this. Set after the fall of Mussolini's dictatorship in Italy, 1943, Salò, Or The 120 Days Of Sodom explores the depths of depravity of the political elites and can be seen as a metaphor - albeit a rather obvious one - for the corruption of power. Based on the book by the Marquis de Sade this is truly grim viewing not for the weak stomached, with scenes of torture giving way to carnage which resembles a snuff film. If you want to provoke a reaction from someone, show them Salò, Or The 120 Days Of Sodom.
40. The Pet (2006)
Not Rated | 94 min | Drama, Thriller
A young woman in dire financial straights accepts an offer to be a wealthy aristocrat's human "pet" for six months. Then ruthless modern "pet-nappers" kidnap the woman to sell her on the GSM (Global Slave Market).
Director: D. Stevens | Stars: Pierre Dulat, Andrea Edmondson, Summer Nguyen, Steven Wollenberg
Votes: 704
41. 8MM (1999)
R | 123 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A private investigator is hired to discover if a "snuff film" is authentic or not.
Director: Joel Schumacher | Stars: Nicolas Cage, Joaquin Phoenix, James Gandolfini, Peter Stormare
Votes: 141,556 | Gross: $36.66M
42. After Fall, Winter (2011)
Not Rated | 132 min | Drama, Romance
"After Fall, Winter" is a dangerous, sexy, poignant, and at times darkly-funny story about two people who desperately want intimacy but have fashioned lives of reclusivity and emotional ... See full summary »
Director: Eric Schaeffer | Stars: Eric Schaeffer, Lizzie Brocheré, Marie Luneau, Christian Mulot
Votes: 947
43. Swept Away (1974)
R | 114 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama