7 Best NC-17 Romance Movies of All Time

The NC-17 rating is given to movies released in the U.S. that are deemed appropriate only for adults, and it’s a rating set apart from the R-rating because NC-17 means “No One 17 and Under Admitted” (the R rating is “Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian”). That probably sounds a bit clunky, but there is a wild history of clunkiness to the NC-17 rating, and it would take a while to unpack everything.

Basically, it replaced the X rating, but it’s also become a bit pointless, as a rating, in more recent decades, since films can be released unrated, and lots of movies that would be NC-17 (if rated) go unrated instead. There aren’t as many officially NC-17 rated movies as you might expect, as a result, but the ones below are some of the best that technically fit within the romance genre (not always entirely, but at least partially).

7

‘Henry & June’ (1990)

Image via Universal Pictures

Philip Kaufman followed up 1988’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being with Henry & June, with the former getting by with an R rating, and the latter… well, obviously not, since it’s here. Henry & June almost feels like a spiritual sequel, but not as good, with both more or less revolving around a complicated dynamic between one man and two women.

Unlike The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Henry & June is biographical, with the source material being written by Anaïs Nin, who’s the person who gets between the titular Henry and June Miller. Henry & June is notable here, as well, for being the first movie officially rated NC-17, while other movies that came out earlier that’ll appear in a bit were technically rated X first, and then that X rating was amended to NC-17 when the latter rating started being used.

6

‘Showgirls’ (1995)

Image via MGM/UA Distribution Co.

People have re-evaluated Showgirls quite a bit, in more recent years, or maybe even just in the 21st century, since the notion of it being one of those “Hang on, this isn’t bad and people didn’t really get it at the time” movies isn’t exactly new. It wouldn’t be the only Paul Verhoeven movie that’s happened to, since Starship Troopers is now appreciated a little more, compared to how it was received in 1997.

Still, Starship Troopers never had quite the reputation Showgirls had. Even now, it’s a bit harder to say that Showgirls is definitely a masterpiece, yet there are arguments for both sides; reasons to call it terrible, and reasons to say it’s clever and misunderstood. And saying all that’s not really addressing how the “romance” side of Showgirls is minimal, because it’s not a “romantic” sort of movie or anything, but it is about relationships and – as you might be able to tell from the title – sexually charged.

5

‘In the Realm of the Senses’ (1976)

Image via Argos Films

As mentioned before, when talking about Henry & June, some previously X-rated movies were “reclassified” to NC-17, when that new rating was implemented, even if none of the content was changed. In the Realm of the Senses was one of the movies that happened for, and even if you might expect it not to feel as full-on nowadays, since it came out half a century ago, it is still pretty shocking by today’s standards.

Without getting too graphic, it’s about a very unusual relationship between a man and a woman, with it also being inspired by an infamous criminal case from the 1930s. In the Realm of the Senses is a lot, is the main thing. It’s also a good film and has merit for what it’s trying to say and explore, so it doesn’t feel shocking for the sake of being shocking. In any event, though, it is still quite shocking. And another sort of romance film that you’d struggle to call “romantic.”

4

‘The Dreamers’ (2003)

Image via Fox Searchlight

It was hard to know whether to include Last Tango in Paris, just because of how controversial it was and remains, so The Dreamers is going here instead. Both were directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, and both received NC-17 ratings, though Last Tango in Paris was another one of those initially X-rated movies that later got dubbed an NC-17 one. It’s also the more disturbing film of the two, for reasons that are pretty well known at this point.

The Dreamers is still emotionally intense at times, and definitely not shy with its content, hence the NC-17 rating. It’s about an American in Paris (not Gene Kelly, though) who meets a pair of siblings and spends time with them, initially bonding over a love of film, but then bonding because of… you know… other reasons. Things get a bit strange and heated and all that. It mostly works, even if it might also be a bit one-note, at a point.

3

‘Lust, Caution’ (2007)

Image via Focus Features

Lust, Caution is technically the highest-grossing NC-17 movie of all time, but it feels relevant to note that most of its worldwide gross came from outside the U.S., so that still suggests the NC-17 rating is quite the scarlet letter for a movie to be marked with. It’s a bit of a shame, because Lust, Caution is genuinely very well-made, and has a lot more on its mind than just being racy and provocative.

It’s about a plot by some students to take down a high-ranking official during World War II, with one woman part of the whole plot going to great lengths to make this official fall in love with her so he can be assassinated, in effect. Things get more complicated, as you might expect, building in a way that makes Lust, Caution easily one of the most intense spy/thriller films of the century so far (and also top-tier as far as NC-17-rated movies go).

2

‘Blue Is the Warmest Colour’ (2013)

If you wanted to, you could call Blue Is the Warmest Color a comic book movie, and you’d technically be correct, though there’s no action or adventure elements the way you’d get in a more standard comic book (well, a superhero-related comic book) movie. Instead, Blue is the Warmest Color is a coming-of-age movie based on the graphic novel of the same name, which was about the ups and downs of a romantic relationship that develops between two young women.

The film ends up being an epic of sorts, since it goes for three hours and the narrative ultimately covers a good many years. It’s not a perfect film, and it’s not hard to find out what some people take issue with here, yet the ambition is harder to deny, and Blue Is the Warmest Color does have two undeniably strong performances at its center (from Adèle Exarchopoulos and Léa Seydoux).

1

‘The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover’ (1989)

Image via Miramax

The thief referred to in the title of The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover is more of a gangster, and about the most despicable kind you could imagine. So, his wife gets sick of him mistreating her and everyone else he comes into contact with, so she strikes up an affair (gets a lover, in other words) with someone who frequents the same restaurant she and her thief/gangster husband go to. And what do you know? There’s a cook there. He’s important too, eventually.

The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover has a simple story yet still finds ways to go to some very surprising places, and all the while, it also stands out for being arguably one of the best-looking films ever made, just in terms of the colors, set design, and out-there costumes, among other things. It’s an intense watch in lots of ways, but stands as arguably the best NC-17 movie of all time (and definitely the best one that can sort of be called a romance film).