America 1987

Chapter 47 Type 68 Liberation

"Perhaps he sensed your reluctance when he touched you?"

"Maybe so, but strangely, he stopped touching me before I even felt that way."

Nicole continued, "I believe he might hope that I would take the initiative once or twice occasionally. I would, but I have never had that need."

Only a few times did I feel desire, when I was home alone.

If only the first half of the narrative is included, the speaker is likely to be aloof. But with the second half added, the person suddenly becomes different.

Medically speaking, frigidity refers to a persistent lack of interest or desire for sexual activity, not caused by a specific situation or temporary circumstances, and causing distress to the individual—regardless of who the partner is or what the situation is, there is no sexual interest, including when alone, and it is considered a physiological disorder.

The female protagonist, Ann, clearly suffers from situational sexual repression, meaning that the desire itself exists, but is suppressed by specific conditions.

It perfectly echoes the word "sex" in the movie title.

But the main event is yet to come.

"Have you done anything?" the psychologist asked, following up on her answer.

Nicole smacked her lips to ease the awkwardness that might follow, and asked, "What do you mean?"

"Have you ever masturbated?" the psychologist asked this startling question in a very calm manner.

Nicole turned her head slightly, her lips slightly parted, preparing to follow the script, but she inadvertently noticed that almost everyone else in the crew was staring at her, and the male actor playing the psychologist was looking at her very seriously.

"Oh," Nicole quickly covered her face with her hands, but couldn't help laughing, "Hehehe..."

She had barely chuckled a few times when she quickly pressed her hands to her cheeks to stop herself.

"Oh," she lowered her hand, "Oh, God, no."

Nicole had to lower her head, take a deep breath, and emphasize again, "No."

However, when she shook her head in denial, she kept turning her head to the side and dared not look directly at the other person. She had been holding back her laughter so hard that half of her face and neck had turned red.

"Judging from your reaction, you never masturbate."

The actor playing the psychologist saw that the other actor was laughing but the director didn't yell "cut," so he had no choice but to continue reciting his lines, which were anything but serious, with a straight face.

After some adjustment, Nicole finally calmed down, shook her head, a slight smile playing on her lips, glanced at David standing off-camera, and then turned to the actor she was acting with, "I tried it once."

But as soon as he finished speaking, his gaze drifted away, a look of reminiscence on his face. "It feels so silly, hahaha..."

Nicole, who was just about to look the other person in the eye and finish her last line, couldn't help but laugh and rub her forehead, "I don't know, it felt like I was doing something really stupid."

Then I start to worry that my deceased grandfather might be watching me.

The actress playing the psychologist, who had been looking at her with a serious expression, couldn't help but lower her head and chuckle, though without making a sound. It seems she is indeed a professional, with impeccable professionalism, much better than the two policemen in "The Mermaid."

"That's really silly, especially when you don't know how to dispose of the trash."

"So you only recently started trying this?"

Nicole finally composed herself, and the two resumed their planned dialogue.

"It's been recently, but not that close," Nicole said, fidgeting with her arm awkwardly and sighing. "I'm just not used to having guests at home."

……

Why were these lines designed?

Catherine rested her head on David's shoulder, David lay flat on his back, and Catherine lay on her side with her face against his chest.

Both of them were lying in bed wearing pajamas.

However, she was not asleep; she looked up at David, fully awake, and asked him the question.

Which sentence?

"Play dumb," Catherine pinched the soft flesh of the other's waist lightly, "I don't believe you don't know what I'm asking."

David knew exactly what the other person was asking.

In the movie, the inclusion of a dialogue asking the female lead if she has masturbated would certainly seem somewhat shocking in the context of contemporary America.

The United States is not France, and it is not yet able to be as open about the sexual process.

In 80s Hollywood, although underground films explored the liberating potential of masturbation, mainstream commercial films generally avoided this topic.

In 1994, U.S. Surgeon General Joycelyn Elder was dismissed for advocating that masturbation be taught in school sex education, demonstrating that masturbation was still a taboo topic in American culture at that time.

In the original timeline, Soderbergh was naturally aware of the sensitivity of this plot point.

So he skirted the issue by placing the topic within the context of psychotherapy, which gave it "legitimacy."

Because the professional identity of a psychologist can make the questions seem "legitimate," the protagonist Ann's reaction of not accepting the questions readily but being so ashamed that she couldn't even speak clearly also upholds social taboos and caters to the expectations of mainstream public opinion, which is very politically correct.

This approach challenges taboo topics without excessively offending mainstream audiences, achieving the best of both worlds—a very clever filming method.

Catherine wasn't a director, after all, and didn't know the ups and downs and numerous reviews a film had to go through before it was released. Naturally, she needed David's guidance to understand this kind of clever filming strategy.

"Oh, I see," Catherine said thoughtfully, but quickly asked again, "But I'm asking what your purpose was in designing this conversation, not how to circumvent censorship."

He reached out and gently touched her two breasts, smiling slightly. "Cathy, do you know what the French Post-68 style of sexual liberation is?"

The post-1968 French liberation of desire refers to a cultural trend that emerged after the "May 68 events," in which French intellectuals and the left-wing movement deeply integrated sexual liberation with political revolution.

This movement brought about a tremendous change in the sexual attitudes of French society as a whole.

It was after this movement that French cinema began to openly challenge traditional moral standards, presenting taboo topics such as sex and desire without any concealment. This was considered an inevitable part of human life and worthy of discussion and portrayal.

As a French film festival, Cannes has naturally begun to favor films that embrace sexual liberation and openly confront human desires.

They even favored it a little too much.

In 1973, two erotic films, "Behind the Green Door" and "That Happened in Hollywood," premiered in Cannes, kicking off the film festival's erotic sensibilities.

In 1974, Cannes even started an "Erotic Film Festival," and since then, directors from all over the world have brought their erotic films to the festival every year.

Its scale is comparable to that of Japanese and Korean adult films.

Moreover, compared to the low-quality, cheap films made by two or three people and one camera in Japan and South Korea.

The films that were able to participate in the Cannes Film Festival far surpassed the former in terms of cinematography, composition techniques, and the actors' looks and acting skills.

It can be said that it has both a plot and action, making it well worth collecting and watching repeatedly for adult men.

Hollywood filmmakers, who consider the Oscars to be invincible, have always looked down on the three major European film festivals, so no one has yet risked criticism from mainstream American public opinion to make this style of film.