5. Cat People (1982)

Natasha Kinski was perfectly cast in this film. Not only is she stunningly beautiful, but she truly does have a feline quality about her. The basic premise of Cat People was that if you mated with Natasha Kinski she'd turn into a black leopard and eat you. Combine this element, a steamy New Orleans setting and hints of other taboos and you have one sexy film.

4. Swept Away (1974)

This one is not to be confused with the remake with Madonna. It presents essentially a male sexual fantasy: a man is stranded on a desert island with a beautiful, but spoiled woman. Whereas the woman ordered him around when in civilization, she is now submissive and utterly dependant on him. What is remarkable is that this film might likely be seen as pure sexism were it not made by one of the most renowned female directors ever, Lina Wertmuller. The love scenes are very passionate and seem to be between two people who truly love and need each other. It also contains one of the most beautifully composed single shots in all of cinema, when the lovers are on a windswept beach and the man cradles his woman in his arms to protect her from the wind as she clings to him.

3. Lies (2000)

As Oliver Wang of PopMatters.com put it "There are a few sure ways to pack in American audiences for a foreign film: 1) have it banned in its home country, thereby tempting those looking to be titillated, 2) pack it with gratuitous sex, or better yet, 3) do both." Let's see...this is a film about obsession and sadomasachism between an 18-year-old high school student and a married man. Some consider it a porno and others see it as a thoughtful and complex look on human emotion. You decide.

2. Sex and Lucia (2001)

Paz Vega (Spanglish) won a Goya award for this 2001 film. Sex and Lucia is a visually enthralling film with the perfect touch of eroticism. There is a bit of jumping around between past and present and fact and fiction but the basic plot is a woman moves to an island and discovers secrets of her past lover.

1. In the Realm of the Senses (1976)

This is one of the most sexually explicit films to play in mainstream movie theaters. It's a 1976 film out of Japan that is about a true story that occurred in the 1930s. A former prostitute meets the owner of the hotel she works at and the two have an intense sexual relationship that eventually ends in death. Intense!