Quentin Tarantino, for one, finds sex scenes unnecessary in his own work

Depictions of sex on screen are still a hot-button issue decades after the dissolution of the Hays Code. It can be a difficult line to walk between prudishness and objectification. Does physical intimacy cheapen visual media, or can it enhance what’s being seen? Does a sex scene elucidate something about a character, or does it reduce them? Is a sex scene ever really “necessary” to the plot, or does that even matter? For Quentin Tarantino, at least, it does matter.

“It’s true, sex is not part of my vision of cinema,” the filmmaker told Spain’s Diari ARA (via Variety). “And the truth is that, in real life, it’s a pain to shoot sex scenes, everyone is very tense. And if it was already a bit problematic to do it before, now it is even more so. If there had ever been a sex scene that was essential to the story, I would have, but so far it hasn’t been necessary.”

It’s a treacherous time to wade into sex scene discourse, but let’s highlight the most salient point first: It is absolutely the right of the auteur who is writing and directing the film to decide what’s essential to the story, sex scene or otherwise. If, as a director, he feels shooting intimate scenes are more trouble than they’re worth, that’s his prerogative.

As for sex scenes being “problematic” to shoot, it’s true that some actors have spoken up about unsafe work environments surrounding intimate scenes. A new rise of intimacy coordinators on set will hopefully improve upon this issue, rather than make it “even more so” problematic. Tarantino has been criticized in the past for his handling of stunts, particularly with Uma Thurman on Kill Bill, so a hesitance to tread into that territory might be expected.

That said, Tarantino’s films are not devoid of sexuality, or sexualized violence. Then there’s the whole foot fetish thing, which has been noted by everyone ranging from the audience to his own stars. The Oscar winner himself alleges that the prevalence of bare feet in his oeuvre is not a sexual quirk, however. “There’s a lot of feet in a lot of good directors’ movies,” he argued to GQ. “That’s just good direction. Like, before me, the person foot fetishism was defined by was Luis Buñuel, another film director. And Hitchcock was accused of it, and Sofia Coppola has been accused of it.” If you say so!