Nudity in Movies

does nudity in a movie make it better, or ruin the credibility of the movie and actor's/actresses?

Based on all the movies I've watched that deliberately feature nudity, i can conclude that nudity almost never makes a movie any better than if it was left out.

UNLESS these are films that depict certain original types of living, eg. Ten Canoes, Moolaade.

I have no specifics to give you, but some of the best filme ever made have nudity. Some don't. I know which movies I like, but nudity doesn't really seem to overly factor into it for me.

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The only movies that I know that use nudity to make the movie better and also add to the prestige of actor or actress are Adult movies.
There certainly are regular movies that could be considered more erotic even though there is not too much nudity ( such as The Postman Rings Twice or Monster Ball ). I guess it would depend on the individual performer but a little bit of nudity sure did jump start Sharon Stone's career.

This is an interesting position to take to me. Let me ask a question, are you ever naked in real life? Are the people close to you or around you ever naked in real life?

I think most nudity in films happens realistically there's nothing wrong with it because it feels like it belongs. Even in films where it's gratuitous like the Friday the 13th films. The characters are usually engaged in sexual acts or taking showers, and I don't know about you, but I don't do those things with clothes on.

I actually think it takes me out of the film when people do stupid crap like leave their clothes on during these acts or when women cover themselves with a sheet in a post sexual situation. You just had sex with that person and now you're covering your breasts? Really? Or my personal favorite "takes me completely out of the movie moment" is in Knocked up when Seth Rogan and Katherine Heigl are having sex and she is wearing a bra... If you're not willing to take off your bra and play the part like a real human being then don't take the damn role, Heigl.

I'd be interested in hearing examples of films with nudity where the film would be better without it.

EDIT: I just want to say that I'm naked all the time. I often run to or from the bathroom after/before a shower without clothes because I like to get dressed in the bedroom (mostly to keep all that shower moisture off my clothes). When i take a shower in our basement bathroom that's a very long run! Sometimes I'll even stop to watch the TV for a second or talk to my wife. If someone made a movie of my life it'd have full frontal, not to be titillating but because that's just what I do. I promise there'd be a scene with me running from the bathroom and stopping to tell my wife something important in the buff. And, for the record, no one would enjoy it, not even my wife!

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Actually some women do cover themselves after sex - was reading interviews with women on body image and quite a lot said they were uncomfortable in their bodies in the morning when there is light/or around bright lights that show off every inch(even around husbands) - unlike say at night/lower lighting atmosphere.

And to be honest, I think it's a bit different for women compared to men when letting it all hang out. A lot of women are self conscience even if the lover thinks they have the most beautiful body ever.

Kramer vs. Kramer would be an example, I think, and while the nudity doesn't necessarily factor into the story per se, it does give the scene an extra dimension.

The main problem as i see it with nudity in films often is that the wrong people are naked.

Take Fatal Attraction for example. Anne Archer was a hottie, and yet we were subjected to Glenn Close' pancakes.

ugg. no fair.

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I remember seeing Michael Douglas' butt in that. That wasn't bad.

Nudity doesn't matter at all. Whether it's there or not is of no consequence to the movie. Despite that, I think Drew Barrymore should be nude in each and every film she's made for the last 20 years and every film to come.

I think it completely just depends on the type of movie, like comedy movies especially college frat movies or movies such as American Pie, or Road Trip, both bad movies IMO but I did get to see Shannon Elizabeth and Amy Smart nude.
Nudity does not really matter to me, if you really want nudity go watch porn, but I think that a lot of my fellow Americans are a bit more up tight than me and nudity does bother them, so to sum this up who the hell cares.

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Kathy Bates went naked in a film called About Schmidt and she was in her 60s at the time I think and she doesn't exactly have the 'hot' body you normally associate with Hollywood - didn't do her any harm...

Good for her.

Exactly the point of nudity in movies. Seeing people you fancy, naked.

Exactly. If nudity really does bother you, then maybe you should leave it to the grown ups.

Thank God I've never met these women. My wife is self conscience about herself and she doesn't cover up. I understand what you're saying, I just don't think it should happen in every single film ever. Maybe it should only happen if the character fits that sort of behavior. But how many directors would take the time to decide how self conscience their female characters are? Especially with how poorly women are treated in films in general.

Definitely not every film.

^ You should see the 'uproar' an episode of Sherlock got here in Britain just because there was a naked woman in the episode and there was actually a point to it - she did have her breasts and bottom half hidden though due to camera angles/how she sat and so on.

I've not seen that uproar and I am in Britain. There again, I've just had a very bad week and not really seen anything. Also, seeing the word "Sherlock" in a headline is often enough for me not to read the rest of the headline, let alone the article beneath it. I'd also point out that it was on terrestrial tv and not in a film.

I've just had a look at a couple of articles about this (as I said, I wasn't aware of it) and it appears that this scene was before the watershed. So, was this all that was seen?




If so, while I'd have no problem with it (and let's be honest, you can see 'more' than that on tv ads during the afternoon) but, as it is before the watershed, it's obvious they knew what they were getting into and, probably, welcomed the attention. Had it been after the watershed, then it wouldn't have raised an eyebrow in all but the most prudish and even they would've thought twice about complaining, seeing as it would've been aired after 9pm.

Actually all the actresses are not ready for this,Somany actresses are using body double.i red that mila kunis used body double in friends with benefits.

Some actors undress if the script requires it.Some actors is very dedicated to their work,for example oliver reed acted naked in women in love.

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It was before the watershed by about half an hour, but it's not actually a 'family friendly' series for really young children imo. But that's all that was seen yes(all parents had to do was explain that one reason she was naked was so Sherlock had difficulty reading her), and one scene when she was introduced had her in an almost see through dressing gown but nothing bad and then heading into a bedroom with a woman tied up on a bed, you saw from another room the view of a foot tied - I think it's the dominatrix aspect that the complainers couldn't take actually.

I really really don't see the problem, if your children are watching Sherlock they obviously have some intelligence to understand what is going on and therefore the parents can explain it to them why she is naked, why she has someone tied up and what it has to do with the story and so on.



But then nearly all the complaints came from Daily Mail readers, no surprise then that all the rubbish comes from that target audience.

yeah it makes the movie exciting...

It's a fine line. You can't have nudity w/o a great story behind it. Especially if you're doing documentaries covering very famous people who have had very famous relationships.