The Rise of Full Frontal: How 'Saltburn' Is Ushering in a New Age of On-Screen Nudity

I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much of a stranger’s penis,' whispered my married friend as we left the cinema after watching Saltburn. 'It was just flapping around,' she added. 'So wild and free.'

If you’ve seen the film, you’ll know what she means. Spoiler alert: Emerald Fennell’s diabolically funny drama that is part Talented Mr Ripley, part Brideshead Revisited, concludes with an impressive dance sequence to Sophie Ellis Bexter’s Murder on the Dancefloor performed by lead actor Barry Keoghan. He is fully nude throughout, and yes, you do see everything.

At first, seeing full-frontal nudity on the big screen can feel jarring. It’s simply not a common sight, with the majority of films merely suggesting or gesturing towards the naked body. Well, all that is changing. Because in addition to Saltburn, there have been several major films throwing subtlety out the window when it comes to the humble birthday suit. Celebrating the human form in all its bare, wobbly glory, these scenes are rewriting the narrative that tells us our bodies are shameful and should be hidden.

Consider No Hard Feelings, Jennifer Lawrence’s latest comedy flick about a broke 32-year-old woman who agrees to date a wealthy couple's awkward 19-year-old son. In one scene, Lawrence’s character, Maddie, delivers a spectacularly funny performance as her character goes skinny dipping in a bid to seduce her teenage project, Percy.

Andrew Barth Feldman and Jennifer Lawrence in No Hard Feelings.

All is going well until their clothes get stolen, prompting Maddie to stomp through the sand completely naked, breasts swinging from side to side as she starts a fight with the clothes thieves, pulling some serious wrestling moves with every last bit of her body on full display.

It’s a major moment: breasts might be a more common fixture on our screens, but bushes certainly are not. Neither, for that matter, are penises, which might be one of the reasons why, when people talk about these films, they may struggle to do so without mentioning these two respective standout scenes — one recent Esquire headline reads: ‘Barry Keoghan's Naked Saltburn Dance Scene Is Taking Over the Internet’.

According to the British Board of Film Classification, nudity is classified differently depending on whether or not it’s sexual in context. For a 15, for example, there are no constraints on nudity in non-sexual scenes. But sexual nudity, while ‘permitted in strong detail’ is ‘likely to be brief’ or ‘presented in a comic context’.

The fun of choreographing Barry’s dance was making it so we saw different elements of his body in focus,' explains movement coach Polly Bennett, who, in addition to Saltburn, has worked on The Crown, Elvis, and Killing Eve among many other high-profile TV shows, theatre productions and films. 'The body is our greatest storyteller, so it makes sense that it's being used in all its forms, and not just for sex scenes or objectification of a character or an actor. It's a positive step if nudity enhances the storytelling; that it helps us understand someone, their state of mind and their relationship to themselves, their situation and the people around them.'

Of course, seeing full-frontal nudity in a sex scene carries a different degree of intensity for both the viewers and the actors. In a post-MeToo world, where intimacy coordinators are employed across the board to ensure safe and consensual environments for actors performing intimate scenes, it’s interesting to see how nudity is becoming more, and not less, prevalent on our screens. Think Zola, Good Luck To You Leo Grande, and Normal People. 'I’ve certainly noticed an increase in full-frontal nudity for male actors, and even more so an increased discussion of what that might mean,' says Adelaide Waldrop, an intimacy coordinator whose credits include Netflix’s YOU and Obsession.

'I think a lot of the increased interest in showing full-frontal male nudity is about trying to rebalance the scales in light of the historic bias of the male gaze in TV and film. Historically on screen, women have been expected to show much more skin, especially in a sexualized context, than men, while most male nudity has been relegated more to the realm of humour.'

The Saltburn poster hints at the film’s inclusion of nudity.

This is one of the reasons why both Keoghan and Lawrence’s nude scenes pack such a punch. Both are used within a framework that is surprising and unconventional, Lawrence because of how de-sexualised it is, and Keoghan’s because of how integral it is to his character as opposed to being used as mere toilet humour.

Of course, with more nudity comes more precautions to protect the actors on set. Generally, these scenes are filmed on closed sets, meaning there will be minimal crew present and restricted access to monitors. 'What’s important to keep in mind is that an actor is consenting to perform nude only within the specific context of the scene and story,’ explains Waldrop.

All this marks a significant change for the way we think about the naked body, not just on screen but off it too. 'Personally, I believe that human bodies are beautiful and the more we can do to normalise and de-politicize nude bodies of all types, the better we will all be for it,' says Waldrop.

Also, actors may enjoy it more than we might think. Lawrence, for example, told Variety that she didn’t have a 'second thought' about doing the nude scene. ‘It was hilarious to me,’ she said. Keoghan, it seems, felt similarly. 'As Barry's confidence grew with each take, he actually ended up filming playback and showing it to all the people who weren't allowed to watch the filming due to the closed set,’ says Bennett. 'So I'm pretty certain he felt good about it!'

With safety precautions increasing on sets alongside the compulsion to shock and subvert viewers’ expectations, it looks like we can expect to see a lot more of other people’s bodies on screen in the future. Bring it on.