Real Sex In The Movies

Ali Catterall investigates the history of cinematic sex. Is it real or are they faking?

Last Tango In Paris

According to Mighty Aphrodite star Mira Sorvino, "It rarely happens that actors have proper sex in films. But it does, though, now and again. One actress told me she had made love during a very popular film. These people would not lie about their experiences."

Or would they? Ewan McGregor 's angry denials that he and Nicole Kidman had indulged in a little ooh-la-la during the filming of Moulin Rouge sound convincing enough ("It's shite. I haven't fucked Nicole"), but sex on and off camera is as old as Hollywood itself.

On one legendary occasion, producer Harry Joe Brown disturbed serial-seducer Bette Davis with her Dangerous co-star Franchet Tone, who was then attached to Joan Crawford. As author Andrea Love describes in 'Secret Sex Lives of the Rich & Famous', on opening the unlocked trailer door "the producer apologised, the actor laughed, and Davis returning to action, said 'Close the door as you go out.'"

As Sorvino suggests, actual rumpy in movies is rare - but not unknown. Ai No Corrida, Baise-Moi and The Idiots all feature genuine sexual acts. As does Romance, Battle In Heaven and 9 Songs. However, in many cases, as with Last Tango In Paris, it's all just smoke, mirrors and margarine. Even Mick Jagger and Anita Pallenberg's notorious knee-trembler in Nicolas Roeg and Donald Cammell's Performance has been revealed as something of an anti-climax. According to producer Sandy Lieberson, who owns the outtakes, although Jagger's not actually in flagrante, "he's up and ready". More noteworthy was the action happening off-set, with Cammell, Jagger, Pallenberg and her lover, Keith Richards, reputedly enmeshed in a real love quadrangle throughout the shoot.

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