Hollywood loves to titillate us with sexy films that also pose intriguing questions about life. And the characters, while trying to answer such questions, are willing to undergo mysterious new things to “further their education” in sex. Somehow, that’s what happened to the character Ana Steele in the film Fifty Shades of Grey.
Released in 2015, Ana meets a young and dapper billionaire named Christian Grey. She develops a small crush on him, and he suddenly appears in her life from time to time. Soon, the two spend some interesting times together, until Ana discovered that Christian is not into sex that much – well, at least the vanilla kind!
Yep, this film is clearly about the starting point of S&M type of sexual pleasure. Ana is shocked that a seemingly corporate type would be into some sadistic sex play. The challenge is, would she be willing to join in the masochistic set-up?
You can find a lot of movies like Fifty Shades of Grey. But the treasure trove here is not exclusive to Hollywood. There are movies that garnered international acclaim like it did, but they were produced by other countries. Check out the mix in our list!
1. 9 ½ Weeks
One of the earliest movies like Fifty Shades of Grey is the controversial 9 ½ weeks. Since the topic of unconventional sex isn’t talked about much in mainstream media, this one stands out for its story at that time. And that time is 1986, so imagine the buzz about this one!
The film stars Kim Basinger as an art gallery worker named Elizabeth, a lovely woman in her early thirties who meets a Wall Street worker about her age. And guess what: the name of the guy is John Gray. Imagine that!
In this film, John introduces the concepts of various sexual pleasures to Elizabeth. Pretty much like how Ana Steele and the other Mr. Grey did it, right? Only this time, our Mr. Gray slowly plays out his various sexual fantasies with a reluctant Elizabeth. But soon, she also gets lured in.
Now the question here is, how far could Elizabeth handle these sexual plays, without being emotionally bruised by it? Watch and find out!
2. Body of Evidence
Would you believe that pop music goddess Madonna also had her own sexy movie? It’s called Body of Evidence, where she plays a woman named Rebecca. She is currently a murder suspect because the older man she had erotic sex with died in the process.
Enter her defense attorney named Frank Dulaney, played by Willem Dafoe. It’s his job to assess whether Rebecca indeed played the older man for his riches, or if they were just into that sort of unconventional sex. Well, this isn’t in the list of movies like Fifty Shades of Grey for nothing, right?
Soon enough, the lawyer-client privilege gets overstepped, as the boundaries of eroticism ensue for both parties involved. Frank gets to witness – and experience – firsthand what Rebecca is capable of, in bed, and with props! Watch the flick to find out!
3. Eyes Wide Shut
Even former Hollywood powerhouse couple Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman tried their hand at a project that centers on secretive sexual orgies and eclectic eroticism. That film is called Eyes Wide Shut, and is directed by the great Stanley Kubrick.
This 1999 film is one of those movies like Fifty Shades of Grey because of the discovery of kinky sex. In particular, the young couple Dr. Bill and Alice run into some acquaintances, and these run-ins later give them access to a special party.
This special party seems to be a period dress-up ball, where people wear decorative masks. It turns out that this kind of party holds secret sexual orgies, and is a kind of secret society. At first, the doctor is intrigued. His interest goes beyond the shared enthusiasm he had with his wife at first, when this concept was introduced to them.
Soon, the man finds himself deeply into this secret, which is way over his head. Watch this greatly directed film to find out more.
4. Secretary
What do you know, the next film on our list also has a male character named Grey. And this Grey here is also into BDSM type of sexual encounters. And yes, he also initiates a young girl into this sexual lifestyle. But the girl she seduces into this world seems to have some sort of command over him. This is what the film Secretary is all about.
The 2002 film stars Maggie Gyllenhaal as Lee, the young girl who is recuperating from having an episode of self-harming. To help her recovery, she tries to learn new skills. Eventually, she ends up taking a job as the secretary for an intriguing attorney character named E. Edward Grey, played by James Spader.
That name alone should qualify this film as one of those movies like Fifty Shades of Grey. But of course, there’s more! At first, the boss-secretary relationship that Lee and Edward has is typical. Since she is new to being a secretary, she commits many mistakes, and is chastised by the lawyer.
As Lee improves on being a secretary, Edward notices that she becomes very submissive and obedient whenever she is chastised. This makes Edward feel some kind of sexual attraction towards her. So of course, the dominant found a new submissive.
Care to see their kind of role play? Go watch this one and see how “tame” Fifty Shades might be, compared to this one!
5. Shortbus
If you’re looking for unconventional sexcapades of an all-gender party level, then the go-to movie for that is the intriguing independently made Shortbus.
The 2006 film follows the life of Asian-American protagonist Sofia, a sex therapist who is also stuck in a nearly sexless marriage. Also, she suffers from an inability to achieve orgasm. Now that’s such a downer, right?
One of the couples that she encounters in her profession is the gay couple who introduces her to a concept that’s intriguing and at the same time helpful. Apparently, there’s a Brooklyn happening salon called Shortbus. It’s like a down-low club hosted by a drag queen, and attended by bohemians of all types, artists, and eccentric New York characters.
Shortbus is labeled as a sexual salon, where the attendees/visitors engage in open-minded experimentation of any sexual nature. You can be queer here, even if you’re not. You can experiment, you can do everyone, and everyone can do you. Now how’s that for a ride!
Because of this kind of sexual experimentations, the film earns its rightful place in our list of movies like Fifty Shades of Grey. Easy to see why! Go see for yourself!
6. Caligula
Perhaps we can call Caligula as a crazy classic, because some critics have already labeled this one as just purely pornographic. Not so! There are reasons why it earns its place here in the list of movies like Fifty Shades of Grey – the crazily sadistic sexual encounters by a Roman emperor named Caligula.
Yes, this 1979 film remains one of the most controversial films of all time, and it’s somewhat based on real-life characters. Caligula is depicted here as a controversial emperor who also had eccentricities. And those eccentricities involve having various kinds of unconventional sexual experiences.
Even though the film has high porn content, the storyline is a formidable one, as we see just how mad this emperor was. Plus, the film had many big stars in it. So this is one quirky film you might want to watch when there’s no child or older person around…
7. A Dangerous Method
What could be more unconventional than making a film about the psychoanalysts who pioneered the championing of unconventional sex? That would be the 2011 film A Dangerous Method, featuring Michael Fassbender as Carl Jung and Viggo Mortensen as Sigmund Freud. Keira Knightley co-stars as Sabina Spielrein, the first woman who joined these two distinguished gentlemen in their psychoanalytical field.
If you’re looking for unconventional sex, then you’re in the right place. This film features the men who studied it! The narrative unfolds when Jung meets up with Spielrein, who was then a patient at a Swiss psychiatric hospital because of her hysteria. Jung gets assigned to be her doctor, who manages to help her with some issues.
Soon, Jung and Spielrein also involve themselves in some unconventional sex. For one, he is married and she is not, so in the 1900s, that’s a huge taboo. She is also a patient of his, yet another taboo in having sexual relations. And there’s also some spanking involved here, too, which connects to sexual arousal. Therefore, this film is indeed one of those movies like Fifty Shades of Grey. Watch it!
8. Exit to Eden
Want a more comedic approach on the BDSM culture? Then try watching this film called Exit to Eden directed by Pretty Woman filmmaker Garry Marshall.
The 1994 film features an interesting tropical island adventure called “Eden” where vacationers go to have fun. But it’s a different kind of fun, because the island is an open space for BDSM practitioners of all types and levels.
So in this island, there are many kinds of BDSM displays, making anyone with the same sexual fantasies feel at home. This is why an Australian photographer tried to come here, because he wanted to stop feeling queasy about his BDSM tendencies.
But before going to the island, the photographer was able to take an accidental photo of a jewel thief. When the thief and his partner learn about the photo, they follow the photographer to the Eden island. Two police detectives also arrive there, in the hopes of catching the jewel thieves based on a tip that they’ll be there.
This is just too funny to tell you. It’s better to see it. You won’t regret it!
9. Shame
The 2011 film Shame, starring Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan, features a very intriguing story that will challenge you. The challenge is, why is this film one of those movies like Fifty Shades of Grey?
First of all, the lead character, Brandon, can’t seem to have or maintain “normal” or more regular type of sexual relationships. He is heavily into porn, and keeps a lot of pornographic materials in his computer. He is also a sex addict, but he somewhat refuses to see this fact.
Brandon always masturbates in many places, multiple times a day. He also engages in rough sex with prostitutes, sometimes two at a time. When he tried his hand at dating first then trying to have sex with his date, he couldn’t feel any erotic arousal. However, when it’s with the prostitutes, he doesn’t suffer from any problem down there at all.
Go watch this very intriguing movie and see for yourself how Fassbender does the role some justice.
10. Sleeping Beauty
The Australian film Sleeping Beauty should be here in this list of movies like Fifty Shades of Grey because of its very erotically intriguing content. Imagine a very young and nubile woman, played by Emily Browning, sleeping naked on a bed, while men curl up in bed to sleep with her, too.
While the film might not have so much sex or quirky sexual encounters of the taboo kind like Fifty Shades, this film earns its spot here because of the sheer eroticism of its dramaturgy. The director was able to handle the material quite expertly, since the film has that air of mystery of mystique, at the same time.
But please don’t mistake this 2011 film as an adaptation of an Anne Rice-penned novel with the same title. That might be on top of the mind of Rice fans, since the Sleeping Beauty title is a tale about deep BDSM eroticism. But this film should make you happy and intrigued at the same time, so go watch it!