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Shame - Brandon recovers from his most intimate encounter

Few films have used the act of sex to tell their story as well as Shame did. I am sure that Shame will be remembered along with Leaving Las Vegas and Requiem for a Dream as an incredibly well-told and brutally honest story about someone powerless in the face of their addiction. Watching Brandon destroy his life is heartbreaking, and turns what should be an erotic and beautiful act (as it is in Weekend) into a painful and sad moment of a junkie getting his fix. Yes, there were many powerful sex scenes in Shame, some of them sexy, some of them just depressing. But looking back, there is one act of fornication that stands out above all of the others in my memory, and is one of the most memorable scenes in the film.

Brandon has taken one of his coworkers back to his apartment to have sex, the only woman that we see Brandon have an actual conversation with before getting her into bed. This is new territory for Brandon, because he actually has an emotional connection with her, something more than just lust is between them. Which is why it is so heartbreaking to see him unable to get an erection. Actually knowing somebody takes away Brandon's ability to have meaningless sex, and the thought of actually caring about somebody scares him so much that he can't have sex with her. But in the next scene we see Brandon with a prostitute, in the exact same room where he just was, having sex up against a window.

The scene is almost comical, because we see Brandon and this woman right up against a window, staring out at the world, and it is likely that a few surprised pedestrians are staring back. But the dichotomy between Brandon's physical position and his emotional one is clear: this is a man who can fuck a stranger in broad daylight where anyone can see him, but who is so emotionally closed off that he can't let anyone in to see the real him. Unlike Otto Gross, Brandon does not express himself through his sexuality; instead, he hides behind sex, which is why he can never get close to anybody, not even his sister.

Martha Marcy May Marlene

Remember when I said that not every sex scene on this list would be sexy? Well, this one wasn't even consensual. Martha Marcy May Marlene is a disturbing and mesmerizing film about a young girl who gets brought into a cult and later tries to escape. Much like another painfully depressing film released this year, We Need to Talk about Kevin, Martha Marcy May Marlene doles out information about its protagonist's journey in bits and pieces, leaving us intrigued and a little confused for much of the film, not understanding exactly what is going on.

The most fascinating character in the film Patrick, the leader of the cult, played with a perfect combination of charm and creepiness by John Hawkes. The way Patrick talks to Martha, whom he renames Marcy May, has a seductive quality to it, and we understand the appeal of the group even as we sense a dark undertone to it. But when Martha wakes up while being raped by Patrick it completely changes our perspective of what is going on. We see the beginnings of Martha being brainwashed, but this scene takes it so much deeper. What is even more disturbing than the scene is the way the other members of the group react to it. They see being raped by Patrick as a rite of passage, cementing Martha's status as an insider. Watching Martha's psychological journey both inside of the group and back in society with her sister is painful, and no moment is more horrifying than that one.

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