What's the point of erotic thriller films when anyone with an internet connection can watch far steamier things? This question has led some to announce the decline of the genre, but new examples keep appearing. The movies I discuss in a recent guest essay for Times Opinion — including "Babygirl," "The Voyeurs" and "Fair Play" — show why. They contain sex scenes, but what really drives them is the way they dramatize individual moral choices amid new and disorienting social realities. High moral stakes are what first drew me to the erotic thriller and the genre on which it is based, film noir. Whether it's Sydney Sweeney's character in "The Voyeurs," Michael Douglas's in "Fatal Attraction," or Fred MacMurray's in "Double Indemnity," the noir hero tries — and fails — to do the right thing. Importantly, most noirs and erotic thrillers have contemporary settings. They aren't trying to recall a picturesque past or imagine a more vivid future. Instead, they invite audiences to reflect on current social realities and the dilemmas they raise. Recent erotic thrillers have wrestled with the issues raised by #MeToo — above all, the wide-ranging phenomenon known as male toxicity. I argue that the attitude toward the toxic male found in these films — a mix of attraction and repulsion — recalls the way film noir approached the femme fatale. For when noir emerged in the 1940s, an economically ambitious and sexually independent woman invited censure, just as the toxic male does today. All these movies depict things that should be condemned, whether it's the deceit, theft and murder of the femme fatale or the violence, lies and infinite self-regard of the toxic male. But to the extent that they reflect broad social anxieties, they make me wonder whether men and women aren't more suspicious of one another than they ought to be. Perhaps the toxic male and the femme fatale should view each other with a little less mistrust and settle down to raise a family. Until then, I'm going to keep watching these films and asking what they reveal about the hidden fears and desires of our society.
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2025/02/19
Opinion Today: The toxic male is ready for his close-up
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Keep a civil tongue.