Sayak Basu
What does it mean to fall in love? Is it to find what one’s heart desires and then get wrapped up by the warmth and passion which the person evokes in us? Or is it just a societal need to fulfill the presumed goal of adding numbers to the human race? If we agree with the former, we can also agree that for most of humanity’s existence, people who have not followed the line of heteronormative sexuality have been prosecuted, tortured, killed, and oppressed in various ways by the machinery called religion and society. It was only during the 20th century that people slowly began to accept that deviant sexual orientations are not abnormalities. Art has been expressing such beliefs for a long time, and naturally, the idea readily found a place in the art form which defined the 20th century – cinema. There have been thousands of movies made since the birth of the medium that have spoken about people belonging to the LGBTQ communities. The New Queer Cinema movement was also a bold step in this direction.
With the advent of Netflix, films of different kinds have found a place to co-exist and be readily viewed by the general public. Netflix, as we all know, is ruling the roost when it comes to streaming platforms, and this is just a testament to the fact that they have the widest range of content for fans to choose from. With all that said, here’s the list of really good movies with lesbian sex scenes on Netflix that are available to stream right now:
5. Anne+: The Film (2021)
‘Anne+: The Film’ is a Dutch movie that is the condensed version of the Dutch series of the same name. Showrunner Valerie Bisscheroux makes her directorial debut with the film. The plot revolves around the eponymous character, a writer in her 20s. She intends to move to Montreal, where her girlfriend Sara is. However, Anne faces a crisis when her publisher tells her that the manuscript she recently submitted lacks clarity. As Anne deals with that and her inherent aimlessness, she learns her girlfriend might be interested in someone else in Montreal. This is when she meets Lou, a non-binary individual who helps her deal with various issues in her life. The sex scenes in ‘Anne+: The Film’ may not be as wild and raunchy as they are in some of the other entries in this list, but they have a rare poeticness to them.
4. More the Merrier (2021)
Director Pablo Caballero’s ‘More the Merrier’ or ‘Donde caben dos’ is a sexy romantic comedy filled to the brim with steamy scenes of all varieties. The film tells five concurrent stories, with polyamory being the thread connecting them. One story revolves around two couples. The husbands are best friends. As they plan a wife-swap, their other halves fall in love with each other. Another story follows a woman who lost her engagement ring the night before and now tries to remember where she dropped it. One of these stories is about a couple trying to bring the old spark back to their marriage. They visit a swinger’s club for this purpose and discover the husband used to date the woman of the pair they end up selecting.
3. Ride or Die (2021)
A Ryuichi Hiroki (‘Kabukicho Love Hotel’) directorial venture, ‘Ride or Die’ is based on the screenplay by Nami Sakkawa, who developed it from Ching Nakamura’s manga series ‘Gunjō.’ The plot follows childhood friends Rei Nagasawa (Kiko Mizuhara) and Nanae Shinoda (Honami Satô). The former was in love with the latter when they were young, but Nanae didn’t reciprocate. Years later, she reaches out to Rei to ask whether she is still in love with her and, if she is, whether she can kill her abusive husband. Despite having a girlfriend, Rei kills Nanae’s husband, which forces her to go on the run with the other woman. There are not many sex scenes in ‘Ride or Die,’ but the ones that are there serve as ingrained parts of the plot, including one between the two main characters toward the end of the film.
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2. Elisa & Marcela (2019)
Written and directed by Isabel Coixet, ‘Elisa & Marcela’ or ‘Elisa y Marcela’ is reportedly based on a true story about two women who got married in Spain in 1901. Given same-sex marriages didn’t become legal in Spain until 2005, Elisa and Mercela’s actions were daring and brave. Their story begins in Chubut Province, Argentina. Although they are forcefully separated by Marcela’s traditional father, who sends Marcela to a boarding school, the two of them eventually reunite. Elisa and Marcela start living together, with the former assuming the identity of her dead cousin, Mario. ‘Elisa & Mercela’ is a poignant exploration of love, life, and sexuality, and the sex scenes in it feel more intimate than any other film in this list.
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1. Duck Butter (2018)
There is a sense of playfulness in the sex scenes in ‘Duck Butter,’ an indie film directed by Miguel Arteta, from a screenplay by Arteta and Alia Shawkat. The latter also portrays the main character in the movie, Naima or Nima. An actor, Nima struggles with connecting with the character she has been recently hired to play. Even speaking to the directors of the film doesn’t help. She meets a woman named Sergio at a gay bar. After they have sex, Sergio talks about fast-forwarding a relationship in which a couple spends 24 hours together while having sex per hour. After Nima is fired from the film, she convinces Sergio to test out her idea with her.
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