For the longest time, HBO has been home to movies, shows, and documentary series that push the boundaries and see just how much a premium cable can get away with on TV. A Max subscription no longer grants you access to classics like Real Sex, Taxicab Confessions, Cathouse: The Series, and other after-dark shows that the network offered in the past, but the streaming service does offer some rather risqué and explicit material if you don’t mind searching around.
If you are short on time and don’t want to spend hours searching through the thousands of titles on one of the best streaming services but still want to check some of the more “adult” offerings, don’t worry, because we have you more than covered. Below is a list of just 14 of the more intense, sexually explicit movies on Max, including steamy erotic thrillers, X-rated romantic comedies, and cult classics from the 21st century.
Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
Mike Figgis’ Leaving Las Vegas is a movie about two strangers trying to pick up the broken pieces of their lives and put them back together before they become casualties in the City of Sin. Leaving Las Vegas follows screenwriter Ben Sanderson (Nicolas Cage in an Oscar-winning performance) as he is fired from his Hollywood job and decides to hit the Vegas Strip to drink himself to death. After a series of unfortunate events, Ben strikes up a tense and complicated relationship with Sera (Elisabeth Shue), a street-smart sex-worker.
In addition to being one of the best Las Vegas movies, this decorated ‘90s movie is also one of the most explicit depictions of the gambling capital of the world and features multiple sex scenes and all kinds of nudity before everything is said and done. Though extreme, it never comes off as over-sensationalized or cheap.
Stream Leaving Las Vegas on Max.
Le Bonheur (1965)
Agnès Varda’s 1965 drama, Le Bonheur (Happiness), was released in the latter years of the French New Wave, and tells the story of François (Jean-Claude Drouot), a happily married father of two who has everything going for him in life and an endless amount of happiness. But, when he meets and falls for a young postal worker named Émilie Savignac (Marie-France Boyer), he is left wanting more.
Beautifully written and directed, Le Bonheur features tremendous performances from its cast, who participate in some artfully shot sex scenes. While there is nudity throughout most of these sequences, it is done with a certain eye and careful nature that makes it more like art than straight-up pornography.
Desert Hearts (1985)
Loosely based on Jane Rule’s Desert of the Heart, Donna Deitch’s 1985 romantic drama, Desert Hearts, centers on a love affair shared by two women at a ranch just outside of Reno, Nevada. Traveling to the desert to file for divorce, college professor Vivian Bell (Helen Shaver) is swept off her feet by the free-spirited and exciting Cay Rivers (Patricia Charbonneau), who exposes her to a life and kind of love she never knew existed.
This celebrated LGBTQ+ romance story is full of passion, new beginnings, incredible dialogue, and beautifully and tastefully shot scenes of romance that push the envelope while not being over-the-top. This magical film about finding what it means to love and to be loved is a gem.
Happy Together (1997)
Wong Kar-wai’s 1997 romantic drama, Happy Together, follows Ho Po-Wing (Leslie Cheung) and Lai Yiu-Fai (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai), a gay couple who embark upon a disastrous trip to Argentina, where their relationship and lives begin to fall apart. The pair take two different directions after spending all their money and becoming stuck in Buenos Aires, which leads to some intense scenes, both in terms of drama and sexuality.
Bouncing between hope and hopelessness, this intense drama about broken people trying to endure a terrible situation (and toxic relationships) is a fascinating watch and explores the human experience.
Je Tu Il Elle (1975)
Je tu il Elle (or, I You He She), follows a young woman named Julie (Chantal Akerman, who also directs) as she sets out to understand the world around her and her own place within it. Through encounters with both male and female lovers, solitary moments rearranging her small and meager apartment, and traversing the French countryside, Julie’s journey of self-discovery is full of passionate and explicit moments.
Though an early sexual encounter is largely obscured by camera angles and low lighting, a nearly 10-minute sex scene involving Julie and her ex-lover (played by Claire Wauthion) leaves very little to the imagination.
Under The Skin (2013)
One of the best A24 horror movies, and its sexiest, Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin follows an interdimensional being masquerading as a woman (played by Scarlett Johansson) as she travels from town to town to find men. Seducing and trapping them, the mysterious figure catches man after man in her web before sending them to another reality where unimaginable horrors await.
Due to the nature of the film, it should be no surprise that Under the Skin features a lot of nudity and sexually explicit situations. The movie pushes the R-rating to its limit, and, surprisingly, it wasn’t released with the NC-17 designation or with no rating at all. This is not for the light of heart or more prudish moviegoers.
Killing Me Softly (2002)
Released in 2002, Chen Kaige’s erotic thriller, Killing Me Softly, follows Alice Tallis (Heather Graham) as she discovers that everything isn’t as it seems with her husband, Adam (Joseph Fiennes), after learning about his past and previous relationships soon after they tie the knot.
Like other sexy thrillers over the years, Killing Me Softly combines crime, violence, and an intricate plot with racy sex scenes that don’t hold back. Expect nudity, scenes of passion, moments of bliss, and all kinds of intrigue before the credits roll.
Stream Killing Me Softly on Max.
Spring Breakers (2013)
Though some of the biggest Disney Channel stars of all time anchor its cast, Spring Breakers is far from being a family-friendly comedy about a group of college students going to Florida to let loose for a week of fun and sun. Written and directed by Harmony Korine, the twisted filmmaker behind movies like Kids, Gummo, and Julien Donkey-Boy, follows characters played by Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson, and Rachel Korine as they descend into the shadier side of life in the Sunshine State.
The vulgar language, extreme violence, rampant drug and alcohol abuse, and James Franco’s over-the-top performance as rapper/drug runner/arms dealer Allen is enough to earn this movie a spot on any list of wild movies, but it’s the countless instances of nudity, explicit sexuality, and intense situations that do the trick here. This movie is something else…
Stream Spring Breakers on Max.
Working Girls (1986)
Not to be confused with the 1988 movie with a similar title starring Melanie Griffith and Harrison Ford, Lizzie Borden’s 1986 drama, Working Girls follows a group of sex workers in a New York City brothel over the course of a single day. One of the workers, Molly (Louise Smith) is a Yale graduate trying to raise enough money to get her own business off the ground through any means necessary.
The movie is full of nudity, sex scenes, and all other kinds of risque behavior that pushes the envelope and the boundaries as to what’s acceptable in a movie. This is one of those movies you definitely wouldn’t want your parents walking in on you watching on some late-night HBO showing back in the day.
The Fifty Shades Movies (2015 - 2018)
From 2015 to 2018 the Fifty Shades film trilogy took E.L. James’ unfathomably popular erotic novels, and turned them into three highly successful and sexy-as-all-hell movies starring Dakota Johnson as Anastasia Steele and Jamie Dornan as the mysterious Christian Grey. From the couple’s early days as a college student and a billionaire exploring the limits of their relationship in the world of BDSM to their days as husband and wife, the trilogy features all manner of sex scenes along the way.
Though a lot of camera tricks and quick editing prevents a lot of the nudity from being shown throughout the trilogy, the movies still feature their fair share of exposed skin in many of the more heated scenes. That, combined with the use of BDSM toys and techniques, more than earns this movie a spot on the list.
Stream Fifty Shades of Grey on Max.
Stream Fifty Shades Darker on Max.
Stream Fifty Shades Freed on Max.
Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down (1990)
Some of the best Antonio Banderas movies are those directed by Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar, including the 1990 dark romantic comedy, Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!. The movie follows a recently released psychiatric patient named Ricky (Banderas) who tries to find actress and former pornstar Marina Osorio (Victoria Abril) and convince her to fall in love with him, though the way in which he goes about this is far from romantic.
There’s an incredibly passionate, and explicit, sex scene near the end of the movie that leaves little to the imagination and displays exactly why the MPAA gave it an X rating before replacing it with the NC-17 distinction.
Stream Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! On Max.
Gia (1998)
One year before giving one of her most iconic performances in Girl, Interrupted, Angelina Jolie starred in the 1998 HBO original movie, Gia, in which she portrayed the ill-fated supermodel Gia Marie Carangi. The biographical drama, which doesn’t hold back when it comes to the depictions of the model’s battle with drug abuse, AIDS, and her sexuality, also features some incredibly sexual scenes.
One scene in particular that sticks out is the passionate encounter between Gia and make-up artist Linda (Elizabeth Mitchell), with whom she is having an affair. What starts out as a photoshoot turns into something more, creating one of the most sexual moments in Jolie’s filmography.
The Piano Teacher (2001)
Michael Haneke, the Austrian filmmaker behind titles like Funny Games and Amore, directed The Piano Teacher in 2001, and brought to the screen the story of Erika Kohut (Isabelle Huppert in her second appearance on this list), a closed-off woman whose sexual release comes in the form of voyeurism and masochism until a chance encounter with a student at her prestigious music conservatory.
In addition to a couple of intense sexual scenes involving Huppert’s character, there is a scene near the halfway point where she watches a couple have sex in their car at a drive-in, at one point leaning against the car while they make love inside.
Stream The Piano Teacher on Max.
Behind The Candelabra (2013)
In 2013, Michael Douglas portrayed the late Liberace in Steven Soderbergh’s HBO original movie, Behind the Candelabra, which detailed the pianist’s relationship with Scott Thorson (Matt Damon) throughout the later part of his life.
The movie, which really hones in on the excess that fueled Liberace’s life off-stage, as well as his attempts to preserve his public image, also has more than a few explicit sex scenes. One in particular (an oral sex scene) doesn’t feature any nudity, but the sound design and acting by Damon fills in all the blanks.
Stream Behind the Candelabra on Max.
While they focus on different situations and characters, each of these sexually explicit movies on Max share a commonality thanks to their risqué nature. If you are looking for a slightly tamer way to kill a few hours, there are a lot of non-sexual great movies on Max worth checking out. But if steamy movies are your thing, then check out some of the sexually explicit Netflix movies streaming right now, as well as the adult movies on Hulu as well.
