The six best fetish scenes in cinema

Car crashes, feet, sadomasochism and more unconventional sex this way...

Fetish scenes in film are surprisingly few and far between, even when stunning films about sex – Gaspar Noe’s Love from last year for example – are becoming more and more frequent. Whilst these films are unflinching in their depictions of the darker side of sex, few breach the boundaries of convention. That many of the scenes in the list were absent from YouTube, or could only be found on porn sites suggests that even the internet has an aversion to alternative sex. Nevertheless, here are the best fetish scenes in cinema.

One of the most successful fetish films of all-time, Steven Shainberg’s The Secretary stars James Spader as (the original) Mr. Grey, a powerful lawyer who hires Maggie Gyllenhaal to be his secretary and can’t quite contain how aroused he is is by having someone sort his mail. This spanking scene could’ve sparked any number of “office romances” and paved the way for a thousand porn videos.

Enter the strange and twisted world of J.G. Ballard’s Crash via David Cronenberg’s 1996 movie. Thriving on the sexual energy and adrenaline delivered by being involved, watching or orchestrating high speed car accidents, James Spader and Holly Hunter revitalise a sexless marriage. Niche.

David Lynch’s classic Blue Velvet is not short of fetish-laden sex. Given that there’s no name for whatever Dennis Hopper’s character is doing with that oxygen mask, Kyle Mclachlan’s voyeauristic moment steals it. Who doesn’t enjoy watching sex from inside a wardrobe? Just ask R.Kelly.

Larry Clark’s Ken Park follows a bunch of teenage skateboarders with some pretty niche sexual interests. The movie was banned in the US over music rights, banned in the UK because Clark punched the distributor and banned in Australia because of the scene above. We would include a video, but the only clips you can find are on porn sites. Filth.

OK so feet are definitely a Tarantino fascination (remember what happened to the guy who gave Marsellus Wallace’ wife a foot rub? And remember the close ups of feet in almost all of his movies?). This scene from Jackie Brown nails it, with Robert de Niro missing out on listening to the all important plan, whilst being seriously distracted by Bridget Fonda’s toes.

Roman Polanski’s cruise-ship based exploration of sadomasochism stars Hugh Grant. But don’t let that put you off. French actress Emmanuelle Seigner stars as the dominatrix wife, Mimi, to a paraplegic husband, Oscar who seduces Grant’s character, curious Englishman Nigel, after he sees her dancing alone in the ship’s bar.

words
Elliot Watson