Modern cinema isn’t shy about scandalous movie scenes. In fact, it’s been very brave lately. Sometimes these scenes are in the movie not just for the shock value, they serve a purpose, revealing obsession, power, or shame. Other times they just make you pause what you’re watching to stare at a wall for a minute and think, “What the hell did I just watch?” Either way, let’s get to it.
Nicole Kidman Drinking Milk From A Plate In Babygirl
This is an awkward scene to explain if someone walks in in the middle of the movie. You may have gathered from the trailer or poster that Nicole Kidman is involved with a younger man in Babygirl, but witnessing her get on all fours and drink milk from a plate on the floor is an entirely different experience. It’s weird, it’s kind of funny, it’s a power play, there’s embarrassment and submission and just so much emotional unraveling.
Sydney Sweeney Saying “Woof” In Euphoria
Euphoria isn’t a subtle show. The show is intense and emotionally impactful. This show guarantees emotional damage. But this moment, when Sydney Sweeney’s character dresses as a dog, was both absurd and awkward and just honestly uncomfortable to watch. This moment is also very telling in the show, because Sydney’s character is already known for being quite desperate to be loved, and this just brings it up to a point of ridiculousness.
Isabella Crawling Like A Dog In The New Wuthering Heights
So you know how in Wuthering Heights with every page you keep thinking everyone is in desperate need of touching grass and a hefty amount of therapy? Yeah, well, the new movie adaptation took even more risks and turned the emotional power play into a very obvious spectacle by having Isabella crawl like a dog. Yes, seriously.
The Dance And Obedience Scenes In Kinds Of Kindness
Yorgos Lanthimos has built an entire career out of making human behavior look like it was assembled incorrectly in a lab. So naturally, Kinds of Kindness presents us several moments where people obey strange commands, perform bizarre rituals, and act with the emotional warmth of a broken customer service chatbot.
The dance scene is one of the film’s most memorable moments because it is so awkwardly committed. It is not glamorous or seductive in the usual Hollywood way. It feels strange, mechanical, funny, and uncomfortable all at once, which is basically Lanthimos’ signature recipe.
Then there are the obedience scenes, where characters follow orders that become increasingly unsettling. The film’s world, where control, devotion, and humiliation intertwine, perfectly fits these moments. Everyone behaves like they’ve signed a contract they probably should have read more carefully.
The Bathtub Scene In Saltburn
Saltburn is a very batshit-crazy movie. But the bathtub scene has to be one of the most deeply shocking and unsettling moments in the film. It makes you want to look away because you just can’t believe what’s happening. And what’s even stranger is that it’s not just there to shock you, it actually moves the narrative along, it shows the character’s progressing obsession.
The Grave Scene In Saltburn
Yes, Saltburn gets another scene on the list because this one is even more outrageous. It’s almost like they shot the bathtub scene and thought, actually, we can go further and make it more disturbing, why not?” And to think this scene was improvised because Barry Keoghan wanted to see where it would take him as this character. Deeply uncomfortable.
The Gala Performance In The Square
The dinner performance in The Square is perfect in the way it captured social awkwardness. The setting is a fancy museum gala. The audience is sophisticated people. And the performer starts acting like an actual ape. And the more aggressive he becomes, the more awkward this polite society gets.
Bella’s Dance Scene In Poor Things
Bella Baxter’s dance in Poor Things is so refreshingly weird. If you think about it, whenever you see a woman dance in a movie, it’s usually elegant, or seductive, or graceful. But Bella has no interest in that. She’s just enjoying being alive, and her dance looks chaotic and like someone is just figuring out how to control their body for the first time.
The Animal Premise In The Lobster
The whole premise of The Lobster is very strange and kind of funny. The bizarre idea is that you must find a partner or be turned into an animal. Somehow this weird and wonderful movie manages to explore the themes of romantic expectations, emotional repression, and social pressure, but it does so in such an absurd way that it’s hard not to laugh. You will hear and see the most absurd and ridiculous things, but everyone does it with a straight face. You start questioning whether it’s a comedy or not.
