MAKING LOVE? NOT IN THE MOVIES

            Bare bones sex—one, two, three. . .partners are there and done—has become the norm. Spin doctoring, sound bites, instant gratification are pushing closer to a need for Woody Allen’s symbolic prediction: the ultimate machine, the “orgasmatron” as seen in Sleeper (1973).  In fact, Internet sites guarantee that women and men could achieve simultaneous or individual orgasms within five minutes. Okay, if you’re under the age of forty, that’s not too outrageous. Many couples aren’t so fortunate. We don’t need Kinsey or Masters & Johnson to show us that foreplay has become unfashionable. The film industry will do. Movies, television, even soap operas have such time constraints that even in romantic films, the act of making love is a race against the clock.

            Think about the last romantic movie that had a sex scene longer than one minute. Now, I’ll confess that I loved The Notebook (2004) with Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams; still, though their chemistry was hot, their ultimate lovemaking fell short.  And then months ago, I watched a love scene from an older movie,  Frankie and Johnny (1991), with Michelle Pfeiffer and Al Pacino. Their passion, underscored by Debussy’s “Claire De Lune,” went on for so long I began to become shy, as if I were intruding in a private couple’s lovemaking. Then, I sat back and realized that I had missed that feeling as I viewed movies. Not to say I’m supporting being a voyeur. No, I’m arguing that foreplay and sensuality go hand in hand. And without the former, the latter doesn’t exist on film and in real life.

           Couples will argue, who has the time for extended foreplay when trying to make ends meet? Hurried sex isn’t new. In 1987, during an upswing in our economy, the comedy Baby Boom’s opening scenes included Diane Keaton and Harold Ramis having sex in record speed. Afterwards, neither appears sated, only politely calmed as they admit to one another. And now moviemakers seem happy to keep to a schedule, too. Of course, not all recent movies fall short, particularly independent films such as 2013’s Blue Is the Warmest Color, (per reviews) or Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012) which shows the intimacy and discomfort of young lovers. Foreign films continue to exalt the “climatic” build up while the majority of American mainstream films have sacrificed sexual tension and sensual foreplay.

      In contrast, we are forever inundated with long, extended violence in movie after movie. No argument that teenagers flock to action-packed, in-your-face gore-fests. But romance, mystery and desire are also marketable commodities. The Twilight series proved that. And yet, Hollywood still refuses to see women and more men appreciate long, sensuous, tension-building love scenes as seen in films such Officer and a Gentleman, Unbearable Lightness of Being, Bridges of Madison County, and most recently, Something’s Gotta Give. Those moments last more than a minute, or at least give that illusion.

                              Should the producers, writers and directors remember how popular the journey is versus the goal, moviegoers might actually take away a few pointers and return for more!