Overview
- Harry Lighton’s British debut reaches German cinemas as critics highlight a romance built on desire and control within a consensual BDSM setting, meaning a relationship that plays with agreed power roles.
- Coverage stresses the film’s sparse dialogue and dry, deadpan tone, likening it to a rom‑com without sentiment and noting it treats a niche scene without turning it into a spectacle.
- Alexander Skarsgård is singled out for a stoic, commanding Ray, while Harry Melling draws praise for a tender, submissive Colin, with reviewers pointing to expressive, often wordless performances.
- The film premiered in Cannes in the Un Certain Regard strand and won that section’s screenplay prize, according to dpa reporting carried by Tagesspiegel.
- German releases keep the English title, and “pillion” means the motorcycle’s passenger seat, a fitting metaphor for a story preoccupied with who leads and who follows.