10 sexiest films of all time, as Richard Armitage’s Obsession lands on our screens

Obsession, a new erotic drama series starring Richard Armitage and Charlie Murphy is about to make the nation hot under the collar.

The Netflix show, which premieres on Thursday evening, has already caused a buzz across the internet, with articles describing its deeply erotic content, and BDSM connotations – made in such a way that it’s appropriate for mainstream TV.

But Obsession comes in a long line of incredibly sexy dramas released over the years: including TV shows such as Outlander and Bridgerton series one – which were basically 50 per cent bonking – and series like Normal People which, while still racy, was way more subtle.

There have been shows like Sex/Life that focus on sex, and then shows like The Affair, starring Dominic West and Ruth Wilson, which focus on the post-coital fallout. Nevertheless, many of the best dramas to have really explored the subject, and that have lingered in our minds, have been films.

So, in anticipation of Obsession, here’s our selection of the sexiest, or most erotic, films of all time.

In the Realm of the Senses (1976)

Nagisa Ōshima’s In the Realm of the Senses is arguably the sexiest film of all time. It tells the story of an obsessional love affair between a hotel owner and a maid who works for him, which culminates in a crime of passion (and which is based on a true story). Although the film was quite hard to get hold of, the Criterion Collection has now re-released it, and copies can be bought on Amazon and on the film’s website. For some, it’s worth it: in 2009, the Guardian said, “This uncompromising film has not dated one iota, perhaps because films that are really about sex are still such a rarity... Oshima’s film widens and deepens the sensual realm.”

Basic Instinct (1992)

Basic Instinct was controversial long before it was released, and then became, as the New York Times put it, “the hot topic around water coolers and in newspaper editorials”, grossing a whopping $352 million worldwide. Three decades later, the film is still regarded as one of the sexiest of all time.

The erotic thriller, with sex very much at the centre of the story, was directed by Paul Verhoeven. It stars Sharon Stone stars as Catherine Tramell, a wealthy author who is suspected of murder when her lover is killed in the exact same way as a murder in one of her novels. Detective Nick Curran (Michael Douglas) investigates the case, but starts falling for Catherine and her mind games.

Lust, Caution (2007)

The title of Ang Lee’s unforgettable erotic espionage film describes the narrative in a nutshell. Set in the late Thirties and early Forties, the story is about a group of Chinese students who plan to assassinate collaborating police chief Yee, (Tony Leung) during Japan’s occupation of China. Wong Chia Chi (Tang Wei) is selected to seduce him. “The conditions are in place for a love affair of intense eroticism, obsession and betrayal,” said the Guardian, adding, “The sex scenes have a glorious impact, all the more so for the long, burning fuse that precedes their detonation.”

Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

This erotic mystery from Stanley Kubrick tells the story of husband and wife Bill Hartford’s (Tom Cruise) and Alice (Nicole Kidman) whose sexual fantasies start to have real-life consequences. Bill ends up being drawn into an underground sex cult after Alice admits she has been feeling unfulfilled by their love life. Although the clandestine party makes for a thrilling watch, it’s the private moments between Bill and Alice at home that are truly sexy.

Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001)

Alfonso Cuarón’s Y Tu Mamá También, is also widely regarded as one of the sexiest of all time, but for very different reasons than Basic Instinct. The film, which tells the story of two Mexican teenage boys who take a road trip from Mexico City to a beach in Oaxaca with a Spanish woman in her late twenties, has become known for the open way it depicted sex.

“Watching Alfonso Cuarón’s Y tu mamá también is something like how it must have been to read Henry Miller in the Thirties – the shock and the exhilaration, and the turn-on,” said the Criterion Collection, which adds the film, “remains one of the rare happy erotic movies.”

Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)

This stunningly shot story from Céline Sciamma tells the story of painter Marianne (Noémie Merlant) who has been hired by the mother of aristocrat Héloïse (Adèle Haenel) to secretly paint a portrait of her daughter. Héloïse has been refusing to be painted because when her portrait is completed it will be sent to a Milanese nobleman she will then be married off to. As Marianne and Héloïse spend time together, they start to fall in love. Forbidden desire is this film’s undercurrent, which culminates in a memorable sex scene.

Moonlight (2016)

This gorgeous Oscar-winning film written and directed by Barry Jenkins follows a young man, Chiron, as he grapples with his sexuality and identity growing up in an impoverished neighbourhood of Miami. The film, which focuses on three key chapters of his life, does not have explicit sex scenes or nudity (though they are indicated) But still manages to be sexy. Tension is sky-high between Chiron and Kevin, the young man with whom he has an on-off love interest.

Love (2015)

Gaspar Noé is known for his outrageous, sometimes mind-blowing, sometimes horrible – but always interesting – films. So his explicit love story, Love, which has a number of unsimulated sex scenes (and 3D ejaculation sequence) was always going to divide critics. It’s a meditation on sexual love, following the story of young couple Murphy (Karl Glusman) and Electra (Aomi Muyock) in Paris as they go through relationship highs and lows.

Noé’s goal with the film was to depict sexual intimacy, in a way that is so rarely seen on screen. “When you’re madly in love with someone, you only think about having sex and kissing and hugging and taking a shower with the person,” he said to Time. “I wanted to be as close as possible to what love addictions are.”

The Dreamers (2003)

Set in Paris in the Sixties this film from cinema legend Bernardo Bertolucci launched the career of Eva Green and Louis Garrel. The story follows exchange student Matthew (Michael Pitt) who befriends twins Théo (Garrel) and Isabelle (Green). Their relationship is bizarrely intimate and he gets drawn into their world of fantasy.

Reviewing it back in 2003, the Guardian said: “Soon a passionate three-way romance is underway, with lashings of homoeroticism and incestuous fervour... Naturally, no self-respecting sophisticate admits to being affected by sex scenes, but I will only say that the full-throttle, full-frontal moments in The Dreamers seemed to enforce a cathedral hush in the London screening I attended.”

Body Heat (1981)

This erotic thriller from director and writer Lawrence Kasdan, who co-wrote The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), tells the story of a woman (Kathleen Turner) who persuades her lover (William Hurt) to murder her husband.

Set in a coastal Miami town in the middle of a heatwave, the steamy film is an intelligent and thrilling exploration of lust and greed. The Eighties hair, music and directing still very much work, and in fact add to, rather than detract from, the tension. The trailer does a fantastic job of setting the tone.

Obsession airs on Netflix on April 13