TODAY'S NUGGET: Don't Look Now (1973) - The "Infamous" Sex Scene - On the Page vs. How It Was Executed

[Quick Summary: A restorer and his wife are in Venice, Italy to repair a church, but are haunted by visions of their recently drowned 7 yr. old daughter.]

I've heard a couple of things about Nicholas Roeg directed films.  The first is that you'll either love them, or really, really hate them.*

The second is that the sex scene in this film often gets cited, both negatively (too graphic and unflattering) and positively:

...probably for the first time since Christine’s death, the Baxters make love. This scene is celebrated for its passion and truthfulness, but its full emotional impact comes through the editing: The lovemaking is intercut with shots of John and Laura dressing afterwards, so that they are at once together and apart, now and later, passionate and preoccupied. There is a poignancy here beyond all reason; in a movie concerned with time, this is the sequence that insists that our future is contained in our present--that everything passes, even ecstasy.

However, on the page, this "infamous" scene is quite tame (see below).  

So, writers, remember: Film is a collaborative medium, i.e., what you write is the beginning, not the end, and relies on others' acting, execution, and editing.

INT. BEDROOM. DAY.

...The MAID bobs and leaves.

JOHN pours the drinks.

LAURA: She was pretty.

She comes and puts her arms round his neck.

LAURA: But not off duty. It's been a long time.

JOHN: Have a drink.

LAURA: Why. Lie down. You're all wet.

She takes another towel and spreads it on the bed. He look at her for a moment, then stretches out on the bed. She takes a towel and starts drying him.
She dries his ears, his throat, his chest. It is a very sensuous process.
She drops her own towel, and lies beside him, her fingers running through his hair.
He looks at her.
She kisses him slowly.
He slides over on top of her.

LAURA: Welcome home.

                                                                            FADE OVER:

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: This is a reminder to me that the writer can't take all the credit and can't take all the blame either.  Films are the sum efforts of a group.

Don't Look Now (1973)
by Allan Scott and Chris Bryant
Based on the novel by Daphne Du Maurier

*Roger Ebert was a fan:

I’ve been though the film a shot at a time, paying close attention to the use of red as a marker in the visual scheme. It is a masterpiece of physical filmmaking, in the way the photography evokes mood and the editing underlines it with uncertainty.