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WeirdThe Best BDSM Scenes of All-Time
By Claire Spellberg
@c_spellberg
Published
April 26, 2019, 9:00 p.m. ET
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Can't tie me love.
Photo: HBO; Illustration: Dillen Phelps
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Bonding
Rightor Doyle's BDSM comedy is like nothing else on Netflix. Bonding tells the story of Tiff, a dominatrix-cum-grad student, and her gay best friend turned assistant Pete, and as you can imagine, it features lots of BDSM. In the very first episode, viewers are given a taste of what's to come when Tiff ties up a client and engages in some Flintstones role playing. Yes, you read that correctly.
[Stream Bonding on Netflix]
Rightor Doyle's BDSM comedy is like nothing else on Netflix. Bonding tells the story of Tiff, a dominatrix-cum-grad student, and her gay best friend turned assistant Pete, and as you can imagine, it features lots of BDSM. In the very first episode, viewers are given a taste of what's to come when Tiff ties up a client and engages in some Flintstones role playing. Yes, you read that correctly.
[Stream Bonding on Netflix]
Photo: Netflix
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Basic Instinct
Is there a more infamous bondage scene than the one that kicks off Basic Instinct? In the film's first minutes, a romantic tryst goes horribly wrong when a retired rock star is brutally stabbed to death by his partner, who has tied him to the bedpost with a white silk scarf. The aforementioned scarf becomes a pivotal part of the film, and later, it makes another appearance when Michael Douglas' detective is bound while having sex with a potential suspect, Catherine (Sharon Stone).
[Where to Stream Basic Instinct]
Is there a more infamous bondage scene than the one that kicks off Basic Instinct? In the film's first minutes, a romantic tryst goes horribly wrong when a retired rock star is brutally stabbed to death by his partner, who has tied him to the bedpost with a white silk scarf. The aforementioned scarf becomes a pivotal part of the film, and later, it makes another appearance when Michael Douglas' detective is bound while having sex with a potential suspect, Catherine (Sharon Stone).
[Where to Stream Basic Instinct]
Photo: Amazon Prime Video
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Bound
Not to be confused with the 1996 film of the same name (which is also a great BDSM flick), 2015 erotic thriller Bound follows a real estate broker, Michelle (Buffy's Charisma Carpenter), who becomes submissive to a much younger man named Ryan. At first, Michelle enjoys being Ryan's submissive, but she soon learns that there's something much more sinister than a BDSM preference lurking beneath the surface. Yes, Bound is essentially a Fifty Shades ripoff, but it still holds its own as a sexy thriller with plenty of drama.
[Where to Stream Bound]
Not to be confused with the 1996 film of the same name (which is also a great BDSM flick), 2015 erotic thriller Bound follows a real estate broker, Michelle (Buffy's Charisma Carpenter), who becomes submissive to a much younger man named Ryan. At first, Michelle enjoys being Ryan's submissive, but she soon learns that there's something much more sinister than a BDSM preference lurking beneath the surface. Yes, Bound is essentially a Fifty Shades ripoff, but it still holds its own as a sexy thriller with plenty of drama.
[Where to Stream Bound]
Photo: Hulu
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Secret Diary of a Call Girl
British drama Secret Diary of a Call Girl is filled with kinks of all kinds, so it shouldn't surprise you to know that there's plenty of bondage in the show's four seasons (Seasons 3 and 4 are available to stream on Showtime). The drama follows high-end call girl Hannah, who goes under the pseudonym Belle, as she attempts to balance her clients with her everyday life -- no easy task. While Hannah (Billie Piper) is the star of the show, this particular bondage moment belongs to Cheri Lunghi's Madam Stephanie, who straps herself to a board during a sex party and asks a little person to penetrate her with a massive dildo. Catch the spicy scene in Season 3, Episode 2.
[Stream Secret Diary of a Call Girl on Showtime]
British drama Secret Diary of a Call Girl is filled with kinks of all kinds, so it shouldn't surprise you to know that there's plenty of bondage in the show's four seasons (Seasons 3 and 4 are available to stream on Showtime). The drama follows high-end call girl Hannah, who goes under the pseudonym Belle, as she attempts to balance her clients with her everyday life -- no easy task. While Hannah (Billie Piper) is the star of the show, this particular bondage moment belongs to Cheri Lunghi's Madam Stephanie, who straps herself to a board during a sex party and asks a little person to penetrate her with a massive dildo. Catch the spicy scene in Season 3, Episode 2.
[Stream Secret Diary of a Call Girl on Showtime]
Photo: Showtime
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Fifty Shades Freed
Every film in the Fifty Shades franchise deserves a spot on this list, but we have a soft spot for this post-marital moment from Fifty Shades Freed, the third and final installment. After returning from their honeymoon, Ana (Dakota Johnson) and Christian (Jamie Dornan) venture into the Red Room, where Christian blindfolds his new wife and ties her up... and then goes to town with a vibrator. Who says domestic bliss has to be boring?
[Where to Stream Fifty Shades Darker]
Every film in the Fifty Shades franchise deserves a spot on this list, but we have a soft spot for this post-marital moment from Fifty Shades Freed, the third and final installment. After returning from their honeymoon, Ana (Dakota Johnson) and Christian (Jamie Dornan) venture into the Red Room, where Christian blindfolds his new wife and ties her up... and then goes to town with a vibrator. Who says domestic bliss has to be boring?
[Where to Stream Fifty Shades Darker]
Photo: HBO
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A Dangerous Method
Part academic drama, part erotic romance, A Dangerous Method is an expereince moviegoers won't soon forget. David Cronenberg's 2011 film dramatizes the real-life relationship of Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender), Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen), and Sabrina Spielrein (Keira Knightly), a patient of Jung's who later became his mistress. Jung and Spielrein's relationship quickly develops, and their "sessions" soon come to include spanking and bondage, which Jung believes to be therapeutic. But things get complicated when Spielrein begins studying to be a physician herself, a challenge that is only made more difficult by her conflicting feelings for her mentor.
[Where to Stream A Dangerous Method]
Part academic drama, part erotic romance, A Dangerous Method is an expereince moviegoers won't soon forget. David Cronenberg's 2011 film dramatizes the real-life relationship of Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender), Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen), and Sabrina Spielrein (Keira Knightly), a patient of Jung's who later became his mistress. Jung and Spielrein's relationship quickly develops, and their "sessions" soon come to include spanking and bondage, which Jung believes to be therapeutic. But things get complicated when Spielrein begins studying to be a physician herself, a challenge that is only made more difficult by her conflicting feelings for her mentor.
[Where to Stream A Dangerous Method]
Photo: Sony Pictures Classics
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Transparent
Amy Landecker's Sarah Pfefferman has gone through plenty of transformations during Transparent's four-season run, but none were more surprising than her Season 3 turn towards the BDSM world. In the first half of the season, Sarah begins exploring her sexuality with a dominatrix named Pony, who ultimately ends up quitting because Sarah is such a difficult client. While this particular scene (from Season 3, Episode 2) is more funny than sexy, it's still a pivotal moment for Sarah's character development, and for that, it deserves a spot on our list.
[Stream Transparent on Amazon Prime Video]
Amy Landecker's Sarah Pfefferman has gone through plenty of transformations during Transparent's four-season run, but none were more surprising than her Season 3 turn towards the BDSM world. In the first half of the season, Sarah begins exploring her sexuality with a dominatrix named Pony, who ultimately ends up quitting because Sarah is such a difficult client. While this particular scene (from Season 3, Episode 2) is more funny than sexy, it's still a pivotal moment for Sarah's character development, and for that, it deserves a spot on our list.
[Stream Transparent on Amazon Prime Video]
Photo: Amazon Prime Video
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Mr. and Mrs. Smith
Mr. and Mrs. Smith may be famous for being the film where Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie first met, but it deserves some serious props for its bondage-turned-murder sequence. Both Jolie and Pitt play experienced assassins, and in one scene, Jolie puts her skills to good use when she seduces a mark and ties him up. Clad in a black leather getup, Jolie lightly spanks him with a whip -- and then snaps his neck, instantly killing him. Maybe director Doug Liman got some inspiration from Basic Instinct?
[Where to Stream Mr. and Mrs. Smith]
Mr. and Mrs. Smith may be famous for being the film where Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie first met, but it deserves some serious props for its bondage-turned-murder sequence. Both Jolie and Pitt play experienced assassins, and in one scene, Jolie puts her skills to good use when she seduces a mark and ties him up. Clad in a black leather getup, Jolie lightly spanks him with a whip -- and then snaps his neck, instantly killing him. Maybe director Doug Liman got some inspiration from Basic Instinct?
[Where to Stream Mr. and Mrs. Smith]
Photo: Everett Collection
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Billions
Like Bondage, Showtime drama Billions kicks things off with a bang -- literally. In the first few seconds of the pilot, Paul Giamatti's character is revealed to be bound (very tightly, might we ad) on the floor underneath some kind of dominatrix. Despite the serious knot situation going on, the tryst is totally consensual -- and it's later revealed that the mysterious woman is Chuck's wife, Wendy (Maggie Siff). Chuck and Wendy continue their BDSM relationship throughout Billions, but no scene, no matter how sexy, has ever been (or will be) as shocking as this kinky opening moment.
[Stream Billions on Showtime]
Like Bondage, Showtime drama Billions kicks things off with a bang -- literally. In the first few seconds of the pilot, Paul Giamatti's character is revealed to be bound (very tightly, might we ad) on the floor underneath some kind of dominatrix. Despite the serious knot situation going on, the tryst is totally consensual -- and it's later revealed that the mysterious woman is Chuck's wife, Wendy (Maggie Siff). Chuck and Wendy continue their BDSM relationship throughout Billions, but no scene, no matter how sexy, has ever been (or will be) as shocking as this kinky opening moment.
[Stream Billions on Showtime]
Photo: Showtime
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9 1/2 Weeks
Man, they really knew how to roll out a sexy thriller in the '80s. Adrian Lyne's 1986 drama stars Kim Basinger as Elizabeth McGraw, an art gallery worker who begins a torrid affair with a mysterious Wall Street broker named John (Mickey Rourke). As the affair intensifies, John pushes Elizabeth to submit to him, and she soon becomes a full-blown sub to his overpowering dom. While bondage, blindfolding, and food-filled sex are fun at first, Elizabeth quickly begins to spiral toward an emotional breakdown as she realizes the full extent of John's control over her.
[Where to Stream 9 1/2 Weeks]
Man, they really knew how to roll out a sexy thriller in the '80s. Adrian Lyne's 1986 drama stars Kim Basinger as Elizabeth McGraw, an art gallery worker who begins a torrid affair with a mysterious Wall Street broker named John (Mickey Rourke). As the affair intensifies, John pushes Elizabeth to submit to him, and she soon becomes a full-blown sub to his overpowering dom. While bondage, blindfolding, and food-filled sex are fun at first, Elizabeth quickly begins to spiral toward an emotional breakdown as she realizes the full extent of John's control over her.
[Where to Stream 9 1/2 Weeks]
Photo: Everett Collection
