Sex Scene Criticism: The Jacket, Starring Adrien Brody and Keira Knightley

Michael Sullivan
Michael Sullivan, Yahoo! Contributor Network
Jun 2, 2008 "Share your voice on Yahoo! websites. Start Here."
Last night I watched a film called The Jacket, which was produced by George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh and starred Academy Award winner Adrien Brody.

It was pretty terrible. It was a lot like watching The Butterfly Effect, except that everyone involved with this production was taking it very seriously. At least the Ashton Kutcher film had some comic relief. Also, Kris Kristofferson was the second male lead, and I haven't been able to take him seriously as an actor since he played Whistler in the Blade trilogy. Although, come to think of it, I'm not sure if I took him seriously before those came out. None of this is why I'm writing this article, though.

There was a sex scene between Adrien Brody and Keira Knightley. I was instantly annoyed because it was one of those "arty" sex scenes, where the director does like 20 quick-cut extreme close-ups of various body parts in a one-minute span. And you're sitting there thinking, "Was that a thigh? Is the guy or the girl on top right now?" I kind of understand it when the actress has a non-nudity clause, but Knightley appeared topless in at least two other scenes, and she's been naked in films that came out before (The Hole) and after (Domino) this one.

But then I realized that I couldn't actually tell the difference between Adrien Brody and Keira Knightley. Brody is apparently compeletely hairless from the chin down, and the two of them combined probably weigh about 205 pounds. There would be one of those ridiculous close-up shots of their torsos grinding together to the moody, atmospheric music -- it was just ribs on top of ribs. I just wanted to reach through the television, break up the love-making, and feed them a ham sandwich.

So I was greatly amused this morning when I read the trivia at the International Movie Database (IMDb) website(1) and came across this line:
"According to director John Maybury, the love scene between Adrien Brody and Keira Knightley was longer, but was cut because American test audiences did not like the scene, which included nudity."

Ha! I wonder how often an American test audience votes for less nudity in a movie? I say it's only happened in this film, About Schmidt, and Something's Gotta Give. Overall, I give this scene a D-minus.

(1) = http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0366627/trivia

Published by Michael Sullivan

http://gpoftallahassee.com I'm a mild-mannered accountant in northern Florida. I've been spouting nonsense about the NBA and popular culture to my friends for years now. I decided that I might as well p...  View profile

  • Adrien Brody is apparently compeletely hairless from the chin down.
  • Adrien Brody and Keira Knightley weigh a combined 205 pounds.
"According to director John Maybury, the love scene between Adrien Brody and Keira Knightley was longer, but was cut because American test audiences did not like the scene, which included nudity."

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