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Gregg Araki Returns With Provocative Rom-Com I Want Your Sex

Critical response highlights strong lead performances alongside ethical questions about the film’s explicit domme/sub workplace romance.

Overview

  • I Want Your Sex, Araki’s first feature in about 12 years, was developed from a Karley Sciortino script that was gender-swapped after #MeToo and opened in U.S. theaters at the end of July.
  • The film centers on a workplace domme/sub relationship between Olivia Wilde’s performance artist Erika Tracy and Cooper Hoffman’s much-younger assistant, featuring explicit BDSM set pieces that reviewers identify as central to the movie.
  • Critics across recent reviews praise Wilde and Hoffman for their performances and Araki’s provocative tone but frequently flag a rushed third act and uneven structure that blunt the film’s impact.
  • Production coverage and interviews confirm a compressed shoot (reported at 17 days) and the use of an intimacy coordinator, with Araki and cast saying those safeguards guided the staging of intimate scenes.
  • Seen as both an auteur return and a deliberate provocation about generational sexual politics, the film channels Araki’s New Queer Cinema roots while prompting conversations about consent, power imbalance and on-set safety practices.