Explicit sex scenes

From what I remember, the sex scene isn't explicit. It's faked, like in most films. But still it's pretty steemy, they kiss and rub a lot. ;)

Wong kar-Wai, the director, never uses screenplays, and the actors are aware of that. They choose to play the game. And Tony didn't feel like he was trraped or something, at least he wasn't mad afterwards, because since then he made two more films with Kar-Wai (playing straight characters, by the way).

Hi
Let me simply answer to your questions first.

- is it explicit?

I don't think so. At least their bottoms are not shown when they have intercourse if that's what you mean by "explicit". From reading your post, I guess you're thinking something very very explicit like porn. It's nothing like that. The scene is not longer than a minute, but yet it is very powerful.
I personally suggest that you see this film and judge for yourself whether or not it is "explicit".

- are they body doubles?

No.

- I read (here on IMDB) that Tony Leung Chiu Wai didn't know he was supposed to do a gay sex scene. Where does this information come from?

Tony says that in some interviews. WKW also admits it, he says he didn't "lie" to Tony though. Since he never uses a script and often changes the story, he just gave him the idea he had had at that time.

And can't this actually be considered immoral (to drag someone to a film, and due to some artistic motivation be forced to do such a scene)?

I think it all depends on the director/actor relationship. WKW and Tony have been working together for quite a long time and I guess WKW was confident that Tony would do it once he's understood the whole point of the film which he did. You may then say WKW could have told Tony the real story prior to the shooting, but that's how he works, as I wrote above, no script. I also read somewhere that WKW thought that Tony was too used to his films/way of shooting, so he wanted to surprise and shock him and see what it would bring out of him. More importantly Tony could have walked out if he didnft want to, but he didn't. Why? The answer is in the film.

I agree with you that some sex scenes are not particularly necessary to be explicit and I even find them not necessary at all sometimes. Concerning the scene in Happy Together though I think it has its own purpose. Firstly, it simply shows you at the very begginning of the film that they are a gay couple. Secondly, ahem, well I'm not good at this kind of topic, but I think the "position" of the two somehow gives you the idea of their (gay) relationship? Like one has more control over the other? I don't know. Whatever the purpose is (it's all a matter of how you look at it), WKW never seems to be working in an arrogant way. He knows what the film needs and doesn't need.

Another point you made sounds interesting as well. There's still something I don't quite understand though.

We almost always tend to understand and put ourselves in a character's shoes, a natural behavior. I believe that's not too far from trying to understand the actors. So in a way they become people "close" to us. And what would you think if your girlfriend, boyfriend or just friend would just have sex with someone in front of you and a room full of people?

What do you mean by "the actors" here? The ones having sex for real in a film? Whatever you mean, isn't it a leap of logic? Or maybe it's a syllogism. I understand that the actors in a film sometimes become close to us and there are also some films that I can relate myself to. However they are actually someone you don't know, in fact they are merely the actors doing their job after all. Having said that, I don't care what they do in a film. But your boy/girlfriend or just friend having sex in front of you is another story. They are not doing it in a film and it's not fake.


Turns out that lonely people are all the same.

The sex is not explicit. It is faked.

Explicit sex is when you show the act itself. The "in and out", so to speak.

Tony Leung is straight, as far as I know.

(Leslie Cheung was gay)

I'll answer this part of your entry:

"But I've read (also here on IMDB) that there's an actress (european, if I recall correctly), that has perfomed an explicit blowjob."

Yes, it was Maruschka Detmers, a Dutch actress in the Italian film, "Il Diavolo in Corpo," or, "Devil in the Flesh." It may have hurt her career greatly as all any interviewer wanted to talk about with her was the oral sex she gave in that film."

There is explicit sex throughout the Japanese film, "In the Realm of the Senses."

And funny enough, since we're on Tony Leung, there was a big stir (no pun intended) over whether there was actual penetration with an 18 year old Jane March in "The Lover." Check out the IMDB for that film.

Then there is the very questionable film, "Caligula" which starred big name actors like Malcolm McDowell, John Gielgud, and Peter O'Toole. There was lots of explicit sex including some money shots.

"in most cases I've seen the explicit penetration were not necessary since everything else we're seeing is disturbing enough or serves the purpose.In the end, to me, it only reflects the arrogance of the directors (he knows we, the audience, are vulnerable to he's whishes)."
...perhaps to some these scenes are not disturbing. Don't you think it is important to ask yourself why such scenes are automatically so "disturbing" and taboo(dicks get nc17 in the us, vag's don't), esp when violence and maming almost never get that nc-17. What's so bad about bodies and sex(definitely a fr. new wave attitude)? What about the context that this is a chinese flick(ok not mainland, but...) Was it not NECESSARY over there? Also what kind of arrogance is it to think that you are going to marry one of these actresses someday(just kidding).

Not necessary? Personally when I fall in love with a character(s)(say in a movie) I want to know every detail, even the sordids, and am grateful when a director includes something that is say taboo(esp the risk he took in china with this scene). You say how sex is porn in porn, art in art. But why can't one bleed into the other?(artsy porn, or pornsy art?) And what does it matter?

Also noone mentions how beautiful this scene was(lighting, room, intensity, bodies, rawness). The most 'disturbing' thing about is that it took place in a dying love. Consider the source! Watch the movie! And then if you are not convinced, watch In The Mood For Love(possibly the antithesis to Happy Together), which is WKW way more restrained and considers the characters privacy in necessary way.

(man how did you make it thru Sex and Lucia?;)

any way I'd be intrigued by your response if you r still checking this thread