If you’ve read anything about Emma Stone’s latest film Poor Things, you’ll know the big takeaway: there’s lots and lots of sex.
Stone plays Bella Baxter, a woman who was pregnant before she died, only for a scientist to bring her back to life and replace her brain with that of the still-living baby. (Yes, you read that correctly). Bella has the mind of an infant, but the needs of a young woman discovering what life is all about.
The story of a Frankenstein-inspired sex-obsessive might sound too bizarre to work, but the film has been universally praised by critics and is already winning awards – Stone was named best actress at the Golden Globes at the weekend. And it’s not the only movie currently making headlines for its NSFW sex scenes (or not suitable for watching with your parents, as many found out the hard way over Christmas).
Image: Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal star in All Of Us Strangers. Pic: Parisa Taghizadeh/Searchlight Pictures
Filmmaker Emerald Fennell‘s class satire Saltburn features full-frontal nudity, graphic sex, and a bathwater scene that will leave you speechless, while also out this month is Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal’s All Of Us Strangers, a film that is both tender and explicit.
But is all this a turn-off for younger audiences? Age classification – the desire for a film to be seen by as many eyes possible – and changing cinematic tastes have made sex on screen something of a rarity nowadays.
Image: Emma Stone stars as Bella Baxter in Poor Things. Pic: Yorgos Lanthimos/Searchlight Pictures
Poor Things has certainly left wide-eyed critics questioning their own prurient curiosity over the sheer amount of times Stone’s character goes at it.
“I’m a producer on the film, so we definitely talked a lot about all of it,” the Oscar-winning star told Sky News. “It was very clear to me from the beginning that it was necessary because [Bella’s] not ashamed of what’s going on with her. So why would WE be?”
Sex is just one element of Bella’s experience, Stone says. “She’s soaking in everything for the first time: food, politics, philosophy, dancing, travel and, yes, sex. She’s just exploring everything and seeing what works for her… to me, it just furthers what she’s learning.”
Image: ‘She’s soaking in everything for the first time’. Pic: Yorgos Lanthimos/Searchlight Pictures/20th Century Studios
From today’s cultural perspective, movies such as Basic Instinct or Fatal Attraction – filmed by men and centred on the desires of men – haven’t exactly aged well. And you only need to look at the ever-declining levels of nudity throughout each season of Game Of Thrones to see how attitudes towards sex, particularly women and sex, have changed even since that first series in 2011.
Stone’s co-star Mark Ruffalo, who plays Baxter’s love (or sex) interest, says sex on screen is less gratuitous than it used to be – but argues the sex scenes in Poor Things are necessary.
“That’s a big part of our lives,” he says. “You don’t see it a lot anymore. It feels a little Victorian, in a way.”
Image: Mark Ruffalo plays the sex interest alongside Stone. Pic: Atsushi Nishijima/Searchlight Pictures
And in the last 12 months, sex on screen has made a bit of a comeback. Notably, Christopher Nolan wrote his first-ever sex scene into Oppenheimer, feeling the story necessitated it.
Saltburn, meanwhile, has divided critics, with some saying the graphic sex scenes do not make up for holes in the plot.
The bathwater scene in particular has prompted heated arguments online from those, mostly younger viewers, who argue sex on screen is inherently problematic – triggering to those who don’t want to watch it, exploitative to those made to act it out.
A recent UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) Gen Z study found nearly half of the respondents felt sex wasn’t needed for the plot in most TV shows and films, while more than half wanted to see more platonic storylines.
Image: Don’t watch it with your parents: Barry Keoghan has some graphic scenes in Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn. Pic: MGM/Amazon Studios
Speaking to Sky News last year, Fennell disagreed with those findings: “I think that that has been blown out of proportion… I think that was quite a small study and, well, I’m not sure that it’s true.”
“It certainly feels like a post-COVID world,” said Fennell. “That the things of the body were not allowed to be touched. The more I think about it, the more I understand that’s where it comes from.”
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Rather than gratuitous nudity for the sake of it, as a filmmaker Fennell believes it’s about using sex to widen the lens of what she can say with her stories.
“Rarely you see anything like below the shoulder blades [in Saltburn], so the sex scenes in this film are all actually our own imagination.”
If sex on screen leaves you hot under the collar, it’s time to compose yourself – because film in 2024 is getting full-on.
Poor Things is showing in cinemas, All Of Us Strangers from 26 January. Saltburn is streaming on Amazon Prime Video
The 1975 and Olivia Rodrigo will be among the stars headlining Glastonbury Festival this year, it has been announced.
Glastonbury organisers have revealed the line-up for this summer’s event, taking place between 25 June and 29 June, after months of speculation.
The 1975 will take to the iconic Pyramid Stage on the Friday to headline, then Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young will perform on Saturday and Olivia Rodrigo on the Sunday.
Other big names performing include British pop sensation Charli XCX, rapper Loyle Carner electronic group The Prodigy.
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Young’s announcement in January came amid some confusion, as he had days before told fans he was pulling out of the festival because the BBC’s involvement was a “corporate turn-off”.
The Canadian singer-songwriter later said this decision was down to “an error in the information I received”.
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The 1975 will be headlining for the first time, having made their Glastonbury debut in 2014.
The Cheshire band, known for hits such as Somebody Else and Chocolate, have regularly made headlines due to the antics of frontman Matty Healy.
Glastonbury, which takes place at Worthy Farm in Somerset in the summer, has worked closely with the BBC – its exclusive broadcast partner – since 1997.
Image: Neil Young performing at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival last May. Pic: Amy Harris/Invision/AP
Appetite for the esteemed festival saw standard tickets sell out in 35 minutes in November.
They cost £373.50 plus a £5 booking fee, up £18.50 from the price from the 2024 festival, and were sold exclusively through the See Tickets website.
The date for the resale – where tickets not fully paid for are put back up for purchase – is set for some time in spring.
The headliners last summer on the iconic Pyramid Stage were Dua Lipa, SZA and Coldplay, who made history as the first act to headline the festival five times.
2026 is likely to be a year off for Glastonbury, with the festival traditionally taking place four out of every five years, and the fifth year reserved for rehabilitation of the land.
Ofcom received 825 complaints over the Brit Awards, with the majority relating to Sabrina Carpenter’s raunchy performance and Charli XCX’s outfit, the media watchdog says.
US pop star Carpenter, 25, sported a red sparkly military-style blazer dress for her performance at the awards show on Saturday night, paired with stockings and suspenders for a rendition of Espresso.
The song was mixed with a Rule Britannia mash-up, as dancers in military parade dress followed her.
She then switched to a red sparkly bra and shorts for her next song, Bad Chem, which she performed alongside dancers in bras and shorts while sitting suggestively on a large bed.
Image: Sabrina Carpenter performing her second song. Pic: Reuters
Carpenter later received the global success award at the ceremony, and was also nominated in the international artist and international song of the year categories.
But much of the buzz on social media surrounded her performance, which took place before the 9pm watershed.
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The singer addressed the concerns during her acceptance speech for artist of the year, saying: “I heard that ITV were complaining about my nipples. I feel like we’re in the era of ‘free the nipple’ though, right?”
Carpenter paid tribute to the UK in her acceptance speech, saying: “The Brits have given me this award, and this feels like such an insane honour in a very primarily tea-drinking country… you really understood my dry sense of humour because your sense of humour is so, so dry. So I love y’all more than you even understand.”
Actor Noel Clarke begins his High Court libel case against The Guardian’s publisher today.
Clarke, 49, is suing Guardian News and Media (GNM) over a series of articles it published about him in April 2021.
They were based on the claims of 20 women Clarke knew “in a professional capacity” who allege his behaviour towards them amounted to sexual misconduct.
Clarke, known for his roles in the Kidulthood trilogy and Dr Who, “vehemently” denies “any sexual misconduct or wrongdoing”.
What will the trial cover?
Clarke is suing GNM for libel, sometimes also referred to as defamation.
It’s a civil tort – not a criminal offence – defined as false written statements that have damaged the person’s reputation. This means Clarke can seek redress or damages but no one will face charges or prison.
Clarke claims the articles The Guardian published in 2021 altered public opinion of him, damaged his reputation, and lost him work.
He said after the allegations emerged: “In a 20-year career, I have put inclusivity and diversity at the forefront of my work and never had a complaint made against me.
“If anyone who has worked with me has ever felt uncomfortable or disrespected, I sincerely apologise. I vehemently deny any sexual misconduct or wrongdoing and intend to defend myself against these false allegations.”
The Guardian is defending the claim on the basis of truth and public interest.
It said in its statement: “Our reporting on Noel Clarke in 2021 was based on the accounts of 20 brave women. After we published our first article, more women came forward.
“At trial, 32 witnesses are set to testify against Mr Clarke under oath. We look forward to a judge hearing the evidence.”
The trial will only focus on liability – not the amount of damages to be paid if Clarke is successful.
The actor tried and failed to get the case struck out in January, with his legal team saying it had “overwhelming evidence” of “perversion of the course of justice”.
His lawyers told the High Court three of the journalists involved in the articles had “deliberately and permanently” deleted messages, which meant he could not get a fair trial.
Lawyers for GNM told the court there was “no adequate evidential basis” for Clarke’s application for a strike out and said it sought “to smear Guardian journalists and editors without any proper justification”.
The trial, which will be presided over by judge Mrs Justice Steyn, is expected to last between four and six weeks.
Image: In July 2015. Pic: PA
What has happened since the articles were published?
A month before the articles about him were published in April 2021, Clarke received BAFTA’s outstanding contribution to British cinema award.
However, once the allegations against him emerged, he was suspended by the organisation and the prize rescinded.
His management and production company 42M&P told Sky News they were no longer representing him and Sky cancelled its TV show Bulletproof, starring Clarke and Top Boy actor Ashley Walters as the lead roles.
ITV also decided to pull the finale of another of his dramas, Viewpoint, following the Guardian articles.
The Met Police looked into the allegations against Clarke for any potential criminal wrongdoing, but in March 2022 announced they “did not meet the threshold for criminal investigation”.
Clarke filed the libel claim the following month and has attended several of the preliminary hearings in person.
He says he has faced a “trial by media” – and that the ordeal has left him suicidal and in need of professional help.
Image: At the UK premiere of Kidulthood in London’s Leicester Square in 2006. Pic: PA
‘Rising star’
Clarke made his TV debut in a revived version of Auf Wiedersehen Pet in 2002.
Soon after he played Mickey Smith in Dr Who and Kwame in the six-part Channel 4 series Metrosexuality.
He wrote and starred in the film trilogy Kidulthood, Adulthood, and Brotherhood, which were based in west London, where he grew up, and explored the lives of a group of teenagers given time off school after a bullied classmate takes their own life.
It was a box office success and eventually saw Clarke given BAFTA’s rising star prize in 2009.
Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK.