Kylie Jenner is right to ‘ban’ Timothee Chalamet from sex scenes

Kylie Jenner reportedly doesn’t want her actor boyfriend in any more sex scenes (Picture: Getty/Metro.co.uk)

Kylie Jenner apparently doesn’t want her boyfriend Timothee Chalamet acting in sex scenes – and I think she’s right.

While I don’t condone one partner telling another what to do with their career, I do support her plea for no more sex scenes. 

Because, in my opinion, them being so commonplace is boring, problematic, and often adds very little to a film or TV show. 

It was reported that Kylie expressed discomfort when it comes to her boyfriend’s intimate acting after his Marty Supreme co-star Gwyneth Paltrow emphasised how many sex scenes there are in the upcoming movie. 

It’s since been rumoured that Kylie has asked her beau not to film any more. 

I think a simple solution to mine and Kylie’s problems (although I do stress she has no right to tell Chalamet what to do) would be to give these clips the boot entirely. 

The couple has been together since 2023 (Picture: The Grosby Group / BACKGRID)

This might sound prudish, and don’t get me wrong, I was just as enthralled by Bridgerton’s raunchy plot in 2020 as the next person, but something has shifted over time.

Watching actors strip off and simulate sex on screen – especially when it’s totally arbitrary – feels a bit like a hangover from a different time, and a little bit seedy and lazy.

And I’m talking all sex scenes – clothed, partially covered, and full frontal nudity. Why are they necessary? 

One that always sticks out at me as being entirely redundant is that between Harry Styles and Florence Pugh, moments into Don’t Worry Darling. 

The actors played a love-struck couple in the film (Picture: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures)

Both fully clothed, Styles simulates oral sex on Pugh (so really it’s just him moving his head around between her thighs while she writhed around on a table), and I still don’t know for what reason. 

The scene is supposed to highlight how in love the couple is at the start of the film, but to me it felt gratuitous and placed simply to excite the popstar’s fanbase with the chance to see the heartthrob in the throes of passion.

Anyone But You is another example of a unwanted romp, this time between Hollywood heartthrobs Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney.

The moment was supposed to highlight a change in their characters’ feelings for one another as their fake relationship developed into something real, but their steamy shower scene just felt like a way to get the actors in the buff because Powell and Sweeney are both considered desirable to audiences, and sex sells.

Powell and Sweeney have both been praised for their good looks (Picture: Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

I think there were a number of intimate and sweet moments within Anyone But You that showed intimacy between the main characters in a far better way (for example when she burns her tongue and he blows on it, weird but it works) and showing the couple waking up in bed together would have done the same narrative job as the sex scene.

The more gratuitous snippets just feel like cop outs from producers who want to spice up their films and sell their movies, but with no tangible reasoning. 

There are far more creative ways to show attraction and longing in cinema, which is why some of the most romantic moments have nothing to do with sex.

The Pride and Prejudice adaptation was released in 2005 (Picture: Universal Pictures) 20 years later, the moment is still lauded by fans (Picture: Universal Pictures)

In 2005, Matthew Macfadyen’s Mr Darcy’s hand flex after helping Keira Knightley’s Elizabeth Bennett out of a carriage had the world in a chokehold. To be honest, 20 years later, it still does.

The scene is considered immeasurably romantic and shows so much more longing, confusion, and conflicting emotions than a sex scene has since.

The same goes for the moment Peeta touches Katniss’s plait in The Hunger Games as they count down to eating poison. That small gesture showed a lot more desire and intimacy than many of the intimate scenes on screen on a daily basis.

Peeta touching Katniss’s hair in The Hunger Games was a huge moment for fans (Picture: Lionsgate)

‘But sex scenes aren’t just about love,’ I hear you cry. 

And of course, you’re right. But I would still argue that you don’t need to show a pair in the act to get across desire, lust, tension, or whatever other emotion. 

Showing Barry Keoghan slurp Jacob Elordi’s semen filled bathtub water in Saltburn had a far greater impact than a sex scene ever could.

The writers could have easily filmed a sex scene between the pair and had it play out as a fantasy of Keoghan’s character, but they chose to show his longing to consume Elordi’s character in a much cleverer way.

Making his character basically neck on with the drain hole made for much more compelling viewing in my humble opinion. 

The bathtub scene was pivotal for Keoghan’s character Oliver (Picture: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/Amazon MGM Studios/Warner Bros)

Even in the raunchy film Babygirl, fans were mostly left talking about Nicole Kidman drinking a glass of milk in the movie, arguably the least ‘sexy’ part of the film.

The moment managed to highlight her character’s willingness to be sexually dominated, without the scene requiring actual sex.

This isn’t to say that films about sex don’t have a purpose, and can be moving, important pieces of art.

Nicole Kidman was praised for her appearance in the kinky film, particularly for a scene revolving around milk (Picture: A24. All Rights Reserved)

Good Luck To You, Leo Grande, is a movie about sex and self-discovery that handles intimacy and sexual scenes perfectly.

Nothing about it felt gratuitous or exploitative, and the film used these intimate scenes to share a compelling story about love and loss.

Similarly, the new series Dying For Sex on Disney portrays various sex scenes and shows how important sex is for the main character’s journey of self-discovery.

None of the intimate scenes are superfluous, and all of them are perfectly utilised to tell a story.

What I am fed up with is sex scenes just for the sake of sex scenes. Sex scenes as a result of lazy filmmaking and a lack of creativity. 

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If people want to watch pornography, they can do so incredibly easily. I think cinema should be making use of every storytelling tool in their arsenal and finding a way to portray the same level of intimacy on screen that’s original and exciting.

Sex scenes were once considered scandalous or artistic, but wedging one into a film to appeal to audiences who want to gawp at a hot actor just doesn’t really sit well with me anymore.

I’m not going to stop watching films or TV shows with sex scenes or shield my eyes when they come on, but I’d love to see something more than simulated sex on screen – give me a hand flex any day. 

And like Kylie Jenner, I don’t want to see Timothee Chalamet in the act. 

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