Was Oppenheimer's Steamiest Scene As Raunchy As The Media Said?
Contains spoilers for "Oppenheimer"
There were many questions leading up to the release of Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer" when it came to geopolitical ramifications and where the film's sympathies would lay when it came to questions regarding the United States' use of atomic weaponry against Japan. Surreally, one question that came up repeatedly on social media was, "How much nudity will be in this thing?"
The Guardian mentioned how there would be "prolonged nudity" within sex scenes between Cillian Murphy and Florence Pugh, who play Oppenheimer and Jean Tatlock, respectively. There was even a meme going around social media suggesting the sex scene would be 15 minutes in length. It seems as though this was in jest, but many people took it seriously. "Oppenheimer" represented the first time Nolan had to film sex scenes for a movie, but this is all exaggeration.
There are a few scenes featuring nudity, but nothing even comes close to lasting 15 minutes. The first instance shows Oppenheimer and Tatlock engaging in intercourse before breaking momentarily so that Tatlock can go through a book featuring Sanskrit, which Oppenheimer knows how to read. He reads her a passage as they have more sex. The scenes that follow don't exactly live up to the social media hype either.
Oppenheimer's sex scenes are earned, but it's probably nothing you haven't seen before
In another scene, Oppenheimer and Jean Tatlock sit facing each other while naked. Plus, there's a more psychological sex scene where Oppenheimer is at a hearing where his affair with Tatlock comes up, and his wife, Kitty (Emily Blunt), envisions her naked husband sitting there while a naked Tatlock rides up against him. It's more sex than people may be accustomed to with a Christopher Nolan movie, but honestly, it's fairly tame.
The online hype appears to come from people misunderstanding the situation and being excited about Nolan going whole-hog to film some sex scenes. Additionally, nothing ever comes across as gratuitously raunchy. It may be uncomfortable if you're watching the scenes with your parents, but "Belle de Jour" this is not. This may cause one to wonder why the sex scenes are there in the first place. While "Oppenheimer" mostly focuses on the titular character's involvement in the development of the atomic bomb, it also presents him as a multifaceted person with an interest in socialist ideas and a bit of a womanizer.
Oppenheimer cheated on Tatlock with Kitty, and after he and Kitty got together, he had an affair on her with Tatlock. Both women played important roles in his life, and he was clearly a sexual being. The hype surrounding the scenes prior to the film's release likely had more to do with Nolan avoiding such moments previously in his filmography. It probably wasn't worth an entire media cycle in the end, but if it gets people in the seats, that may be all that matters.
"Oppenheimer" is playing in theaters now.