Luis Buñuel, France, 1967, 100 min

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Catherine Deneuve’s porcelain perfection hides a cracked interior in one of the actress’s most iconic roles: Séverine, a Paris housewife who begins secretly spending her after­noon hours working in a bordello. This surreal and erotic late-sixties daydream from provocateur for the ages Luis Buñuel is an examination of desire and fetishistic pleasure (its characters’ and its viewers’), as well as a gently absurdist take on contemporary social mores and class divisions. Fantasy and reality commingle in this burst of cinematic transgression, which was one of Buñuel’s biggest hits.

Catherine Breillat, France/Portugal, 2004, 77 min

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After attempting suicide, a young woman (Amira Casar) makes a startling proposition to the man (Rocco Siffredi) who rescued her: she will pay him to watch her naked body over the course of four nights as long as he provides “impartial” commentary about what he sees. Thus ensues ANATOMY OF HELL, one of the most controversial films of Catherine Breillat’s career—a singularly daring meditation on the pleasures and horrors of the flesh.

Nagisa Oshima Japan, 1976, 102 min

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Still censored in its own country, In the Realm of the Senses (Ai no corrida), by Japanese director Nagisa Oshima, remains one of the most controversial films of all time. A graphic portrayal of insatiable sexual desire, Oshima’s film, set in 1936 and based on a true incident, depicts a man and a woman (Tatsuya Fuji and Eiko Matsuda) consumed by a transcendent, destructive love while living in an era of ever escalating imperialism and governmental control. Less a work of pornography than of politics, In the Realm of the Senses is a brave, taboo-breaking milestone. WARNING: THIS FILM IS SEXUALLY EXPLICIT

Cleo Uebelmann, 1986, Switzerland & Italy, 53 min

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A lesbian art film by the Swiss filmmaker Cleo Übelmann. In black and white, Mano Destra (Italian for “right hand”) is a study of erotic objectification which depicts one woman tying up another woman in a lengthy act of consensual bondage.

Nikos Nikolaidis, Greece, 1990, 111 min

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On a dark and stormy night, Mother and Daughter, a wealthy pair of psychopathic killers with a penchant for murdering their servants, happen upon a badly injured man laying dying in the mud. Bringing him back to their opulent villa, they begin nursing him back to health before subjecting him to every manner of torture imaginable. But as each of the twisted duo develops their own unique interest in their mysterious victim, a perverse love triangle begins to unfold that will lead to shocking revelations. As staggeringly beautiful as it is notorious, Nikos Nikolaidis' acclaimed SINGAPORE SLING is a grotesque, sensual, and altogether unforgettable genre cinema gem from one of Greece's key arthouse auteurs. New 4K restoration from Vinegar Syndrome!