With Valentine’s Day fast approaching, you might be looking for some suggestions of how to keep things steamy in your relationship. Everyone’s definition of “steamy” is different, so we’ve pulled together a list of some of the best films of the past few decades with a reputation for being sexy, kinky, a little bit dangerous, and just plain hot.
From the illicit affairs of Fatal Attraction and the bondage of Fifty Shades of Grey to the tender and sensual romances of Lady Chatterly’s Lover, there are plenty of films here that run the gamut of sexual desire. Here’s what’s good if you’re in need of some sexy inspiration this Valentine’s Day.
Based on the wildly popular book series by E.L. James, Fifty Shades of Grey stars Dakota Johnson as Anastasia Steele, a young woman who gets sucked into a kinky, sadomasochistic relationship with a billionaire, Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan) who’s into BDSM. The original film and its two sequels, Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed, are all available on several platforms including Peacock and Max.
Park Chan-wook’s 2016 film The Handmaiden is about the steamy, sexy relationship between a Japanese woman, Lady Hideko (Kim Min-hee), living in Korea during the Japanese occupation of that country in the 1930s, and her maid, Sook-hee (Kim Tae Ri). Though they have an intimate relationship, it turns out that Sook-hee has ulterior motives for seducing her beautiful boss. The loves scenes between the two women are intensely passionate and erotic, while also being beautifully staged and shot by Park.
Ride or Die, which is based on a Japanese manga Gunjo written by Ching Nakamura, stars Kiko Mizuhara as Rei, a doctor who is in love with her friend Nanae (Honami Sato). When Rei learns that Nanae is being abused by her husband, she seduces and kills him. Despite the fact that Nanae is conflicted about Rei’s brutality, the two women go on a road trip together and the two women end up connecting on an emotional and sexual level.
Based on a true story, Netflix’s Spanish erotic drama Elisa & Marcela depicts the romance between between Marcela Gracia Ibeas (Greta Fernández) and Elisa Sanchez Loriga (Natalia de Molina), the first women in Spain to get married to each other – though they had to pose as a heterosexual couple to do so. The film spans their earliest moments together after they meet, their first time having sex, and their eventual wedding in 1901.
In the Singaporean erotic thriller Lang Tong, Angeline Yap and Vivienne Tseng play sisters Li Er and Li Ling, who are in a love triangle with a man named Zach, played by William Lawandi. Proving that money and sex can hold more power than family bonds, when Li Ling writes Zach into her will and leaves all her money to him, her sister and Zach hatch a plan to murder Li Ling so they can be together and share the inheritance together. The sex scenes in the film were considered so racy that when it was released theatrically in Singapore, three minutes had to be cut out.
Lady Chatterly’s Lover, the novel written by D.H. Lawrence and published in 1928, was the subject of an obscenity trial when it first came out on account of its sexual themes, and since the, it’s been banned in several countries. Which is exactly why it makes for a great, sexy movie adaptation. Several have been made, but perhaps none is as steamy as the 2022 version starring Emma Corrin as the title character, Constance Chatterly, a woman who starts a passionate affair with a man named Oliver Melliors (Jack O’Connell) after her husband becomes injured during World War I.
The 1980s were a decade filled with erotic thrillers, but probably none are as famous and iconic as Fatal Attraction, the film where a weekend tryst between married man Dan (Michael Douglas) and the woman he just met, Alex (Glenn Close), turns into a psychosexual, stalker nightmare. While the bulk of the movie centers on Alex’s attempts to make Dan love her, despite the fact that he’s married and has a kid, the flirtation and eventual sex that starts their relationship is torrid and steamy. Fatal Attraction is available on several streaming services including Peacock, Pluto TV, and Paramount+.
In 2021’s The Voyeurs, Sydney Sweeney and Justice Smith star as Pippa and Thomas, a young couple who pull a Rear Window and start to spy on their neighbors. Unlike Rear Window, what they discover is not a murder, but an uninhibited couple across the street who have sex all the time. Pippa becomes a little too obsessed by the neighbors, going to dangerous lengths to learn more about them, and soon enough, she and Thomas are sucked into their weird sexual games.
Michael Douglas was on a real roll the in ’80s and ’90s, appearing in some of those decades most talked about films, including 1987’s Fatal Attraction, and 1992’s Basic Instinct. In the latter film, he starred as a homicide detective, Nick Curran, who falls for icy blonde Catherine Trammel (Sharon Stone), the prime suspect in the latest case he’s investigating. Written by Joe Eszterhas and directed by Paul Verhoeven, the film is full of hot sex, nudity, and neo-noir thrills.
Basic Instinct is available on several platforms including Paramount+, Prime Video, and Philo.
The Netflix original movie 365 Days (also known as 365 dni) is the first film in the 365 trilogy, and it features a Sicilian mobster Massimo (Michele Morrone) who kidnaps a Polish woman, Laura (Anna-Maria Sieklucka), and imprisons her for 365 days in order to make her fall in love with him. (He does that by having a lot of sex with her.) In the second and third films, the pair get married, it’s discovered that Massimo has an evil twin, and Laura has an affair with a hot gardener named Nacho (Simone Sussina), so carve out time for all three and extend that Valentine celebration!
Every movie list needs one controversial hot take, so here’s mine. Deep Water was meant to mark Adrian Lyne’s triumphant return to directing after a 20 year break. The film, starring then-couple Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas, was instead a kind of laughable non-entity that everyone forgot about once Ben got back together with JLo. Still, the film has a few memorably sexy moments, including one sexy scene involving Affleck’s character rubbing lotion all over his wife’s naked body.
Alfonso Cuarón’s 2001 road trip movie was one of that year’s most-talked-about films thanks to the steamy love scene between stars Diego Luna, Gael Garcia Bernal, and Maribel Verdu. The film, about two young men who take a road trip with an older woman, is a coming of age story that features all of the characters testing their boundaries, both sexual and emotional, as they share a very intimate few nights together.
2019’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire is French drama about an aristocratic woman named Heloise (Adele Haenel) who is about to be married off to a nobleman and her relationship with the painter commissioned to paint her portrait (Noemie Merlant). The relationship between the two women simmers with sexual tension and eventually erupts with what might be the sexiest armpit moment in movie history.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire is available to stream on Hulu.
Adèle Exarchopoulos stars as Adele, a teenager whose relationship with an older art student, Emma (Léa Seydoux) helps her find herself in this French romantic drama. The film garnered attention upon its release in 2013 thanks to its NC-17 rating, earned for its explicit sexual content. Beyond its sex scenes, it’s an emotional roller coaster story of first true love filled with incredible performances from its lead actresses.
Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
