Sartaj Singh
Exploring uncomfortable themes and challenging societal norms, films featuring taboo subjects force audiences to think beyond mainstream barriers and often spark controversy and debate as a result. Such works of cinema become vehicles for the discovery of certain realities like infidelity and forbidden relationships, taking a raw and unflinching look at the provocative subject matter by humanizing its characters. For those looking for a compelling glimpse into the darker and more controversial aspects of society or something off the beaten path, these taboo movies on HBO Max will linger in your mind long after the credits have rolled.
10. The Night Porter (1974)
Liliana Cavani’s ‘The Night Porter’ explores the sadomasochistic “love” relationship between a female Holocaust survivor (Charlotte Rampling) and a former Nazi officer (Dirk Bogarde) who had also raped her and offered her protection during her time at a concentration camp. With an upfront and unflinching take on Nazisploitation, the film was appreciated for breaking taboos and showcases one of the oldest portrayals of Stockholm syndrome in film. Nominated for two Nastro d’Argento awards, ‘The Night Porter’ is a path-breaking and taboo-defying war drama that is a must-watch. It can be streamed here.
9. Coup de Torchon (1981)
‘Coup de Torchon,’ or ‘Clean Slate,’ is a darkly satirical crime drama that transports us to a French colonial outpost in West Africa overseen by a complacent police chief, Lucien Cordier. Cordier is unwilling and unassertive when it comes to law and order, allowing pimps to taunt him and the head of a timber company to insult him. He suffers great humiliation in his personal life as well, as his wife stays with her lover openly.
When an instance of mockery pushes him over the edge, Cordier begins his reign of terror in the town, gunning for everyone who has wronged him. Directed by Bertrand Tavernier, the French film can be divisive with the subject of its catharsis through Cordier’s actions that represent corruption, misuse of power, and the dehumanizing effects of colonialism. Yet it retains its comical nature throughout, making for a surreal and unconventional viewing experience. You can stream the movie here.
8. Le Bonheur (1965)
‘Le Bonheur,’ or ‘Happiness’ is a strikingly unconventional drama that unsettles the viewers with the contrast created by its bright pastel color palette and calming classical music against the darker themes lying beneath the surface. François, a handsome carpenter, leads a blissful life with his beautiful wife, Thérèse, and their two children. When he seeks to add to his existing happiness by beginning an affair with a young woman at work, things take an unexpected turn.
Directed by Agnès Varda, the French film subtly delves into the possible tragedies that can result as one naively chases one’s desires in the illusory pursuit of happiness. Through François’ actions, we are forced to consider the consequences of infidelity, with the camera becoming a neutral observer, capturing the unfortunate series of events and letting us draw our own conclusions. The movie can be watched here.
7. The Piano Teacher (2001)
Erika Kohut is a sexually repressed and authoritarian piano teacher at a Vienna conservatory. When she begins an affair with a younger student, Walter, who is attracted to her, Erika allows him into her world of taboo fantasies. Her sadomasochistic desires and Walter’s interaction and reaction to them lead to many shocking sequences of perversion and derangement. The provocative French erotic thriller directed by Michael Haneke is based on Elfriede Jelinek’s eponymous 1983 novel and offers a profound and unsettling examination of sexuality, drawing parallels with societal repression. You can watch the movie here.
6. American Honey (2016)
Helmed by Andrea Arnold, ‘American Honey’ follows a young woman who leaves her life of poverty behind to join a group of young magazine sellers traveling across the American Midwest. Star (Sasha Lane), a teenager who escapes her troubled dumpster diving family, finds a sense of belonging with a group of hard-partying magazine sellers. The film addresses themes of displacement, teen rebellion, drug use, hippie culture, and the deterioration of the American dream. The struggles of the marginalized youth are portrayed through a lens of gritty realism, with their aspirations seeming further and further away each day. Unsettling realities like suffering sexual abuse at the hands of a parent and resorting to self-deprecating behavior to make sales are also touched upon. The movie can be watched here.
5. Belle de Jour (1967)
In the directorial hands of Luis Buñuel, ‘Belle de Jour’ is a masterfully depicted French erotic thriller following a bourgeois housewife who begins living a double life as a high-class sex worker. Despite loving her doctor husband and living a seemingly perfect life, Severine is unable to have physical intimacy with him. Her latent sexual desires instead manifest for a more adventurous existence in the afternoons at the brothel.
The film is subtle but powerful in its eroticism, forgoing explicit sex scenes in favor of tying sexuality to the imagination and treating us to surreal visions, complicating the distinguishing of reality from fantasy. Despite her masochistic desires, Severine’s journey becomes one tied to second-wave feminism as she becomes the master of her own sensual humiliation. The movie can be streamed here.
4. Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1989)
Originally titled ‘Átame!,’ the darkly comedic Pedro Almodóvar directorial revolves around a psychiatric patient imprisoning a former porn star to get her to marry him. The nature of coercive relationships and explicit scenes in the film led to the MPAA creating the NC-17 rating category to address its controversy at the time. When Ricky (Antonio Banderas) is released from the psychiatric hospital, he approaches Marina (Victoria Abril), an adult actress he once slept with, and plans to ask her to be his wife. When she dismisses him, he ties her up in her apartment. Despite her telling him that she will never love him, Ricky is determined to make her fall for him. The Spanish-language film pushes boundaries with its provocative premise and romance fueled by a healthy dose of Stockholm syndrome. You can watch the movie here.
3. Notes on a Scandal (2006)
With Richard Eyre at the helm, ‘Notes on a Scandal’ is an intensely dramatic dark romance that centers on a young high school art teacher as her world falls apart when her affair with a minor student is uncovered. Barbara Covett (Judi Dench) is a despised old teacher who befriends Sheba Hart (Cate Blanchett), a new art teacher married to a much older man who was her former professor.
As Barbara begins fixating on her new friend, she realizes that she is having an affair with a fifteen-year-old student, Steven Connolly. The conservative older woman sets up an elaborate reveal of Sheba’s secret, creating a huge scandal. With outstanding performances by the leading cast, the film explores the taboo of a grown woman dating a minor student–a subject of relative social-moral uncertainty–and Barbara’s sadistic pleasure in her friend’s suffering. You can stream the movie here.
2. The Ice Storm (1997)
Set on Thanksgiving weekend in 1973 Connecticut, Ang Lee’s ‘The Ice Storm’ focuses on two upper-class dysfunctional families that spiral into an existentialist void. As the Hoods family and the Carver family take to moral deterioration as a recreation, including drug use, adultery, and sexual experimentation, the line of authority that separates the elders from the young ones begins to fade. Once the ice storm hits, reality hits, too, and the members of both families realize the consequences of their impulsive actions. Starring Sigourney Weaver, Kevin Kline, Christina Ricci, and Tobey Maguire, ‘The Ice Storm’ showcases the social changes of suburban America during the 1970s in a compelling manner. Based on Rick Moody’s 1994 novel, the film can be streamed here.
1. La Ciénaga (2001)
Lucrecia Martel’s directorial debut, ‘La Ciénaga,’ or ‘The Swamp,’ is a critically acclaimed work considered among the greatest of Argentinian cinema. Starring an ensemble cast, the unsettling drama portrays the disintegration of a wealthy family during a sweltering summer in a decaying provincial town. Mecha (Maria Onetto), a middle-aged woman, takes her many children to their crumbling countryside estate, where she is frequently visited by her cousin and her children, who are escaping their own congested household. When Mecha is injured and confined to her bed, the children are left to their own devices, and a high-tension environment is created as they begin to descend into depravity and give in to dark impulses.
There are gradually creeping scenes of lesbianism with a maid, teens abusing firearms, and residents leaning toward incest. The stifling heat and tropical landscapes become a character in their own right, driving the family to the extreme as adults partake in ice and red wine, remaining in a stupor for the most part and leaving the children unwatched. Martel pours depth and symbolism into the narrative, tying the family’s decay with the state of Argentine society and creating characters that seem too real. You can watch the movie here.
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