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Overview:
The rankings from top to bottom don't mean much. I
tried to include the most meritorious performances and I tried to
restrict the list to major actresses (eliminating
obscure films and performers like Margo Stiller in 9 Songs), so I felt pretty good
about the choices on the list. Once I had the items collected, however, I had no idea how to sequence them,
because it's all so subjective. You could probably reverse the order
in each category and have just as good a list ...
... but it doesn't really
matter, does it? It's all about finding some more beauty to admire.
Here are some choices I could have included
for one category or another:
Several performances could easily have made the list
but were edged out by other performances by the same actress: Emily
Mortimer in Young Adam, Salma
Hayek in Ask the Dust, Gretchen Mol in Forever Mine, Heather Graham in Adrift
in Manhattan, Maggie Gyllenhaal in Strip Search and pretty much every
other Kate Winslet movie, especially Iris.
Victoria Abril in Pour Elle, or Bryce Howard in
Manderlay might have been the "most
explicit" winner, but Chloe Sevigny was impossible to beat because she
didn't use any doubles for her oral sex scene.
Charlotte Rampling, or maybe Diane Keaton in Something's Gotta Give, might have won
the GILF award, but there was just no competing with Mimi's prolonged frontal and rear
nudity in good light.
If I had made a deeper depth chart for the cable
queens, it would have included Mary-Louise Parker in Angels in America
and Sonya Walger on Tell Me You Love Me
Other honorable mentions have to go to: Ludivine Sagnier in
La Petite Lili, Chloe Hunter in Spun (a sure top finisher with a more
famous actress), Alexis Dziena in Broken Flowers, Valeria Golino in Il
Sole Nero, Asia Argento in The Last Mistress, Daneel Harris in Ten Inch
Hero, Charlotte Gainsbourg in Antichrist, Paz de la Huerta in The Limits
of Control, and Betsy Rue in My Bloody Valentine.
For comparison or further study, you may want to
consider the following list, which summarizes all of our polls for the
decade. Take note: the summaries for the years
before 2006 do not include links to film clips.
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Flavor of a day gone by
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Katie Holmes in The Gift
(6.7 at IMDb)
Looking back on this scene without knowing the
context, you would never guess that it was the single most popular scene
in the history of our site. Unlike most of the scenes on this page, it
does not feature sex or full-frontal nudity. It's just a brief nighttime topless scene
from a woman who is no longer especially popular. But
in the year 2000, Katie Holmes was America's dream date and she had never
taken off her top on camera. When she finally did so, her chest was so
perfect that we were absolutely dazzled. |
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Cable Queens
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3 |
Polly Walker in Rome
season 1, various episodes
(9.2 on IMDb)
She was an established actress of some reputation.
She has a spectacular mature figure, and she showed it all from every
angle in good light. It was a highly acclaimed series in its first year.
'Nuff said. |
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2
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Alice Henley in Rome
season 2, episode 9
(9.2 on IMDb)
At the time it was aired it was the most explicit TV
sex scene ever created for a non-exploitation production. It did not
hold the crown long. Tell Me You Love Me came along a few months later
and changed the rules completely.
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1 |
Michelle Borth in Tell Me You Love Me
(7.2 at IMDb)
The scene to the right was and still remains the most
explicit TV scene ever shot for a mainstream production. Michelle got
naked many other times in the run of the series as well, and my guess is
that her sex scenes were not faked. If they were, it was an impressive
impersonation.
Whether the sex was real or just a convincing
simulation, Tell Me You Love Me definitely raised the bar for adult
content in legitimate cable dramas. |
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Broadcast TV
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Charlotte Ross in NYPD Blue
season 10, episode 16
(7.4 at IMDb)
There's really no competition in this category. Not
only is this the best nude scene in the history of network TV, and by a
wide margin, but it is
likely to remain so for many years, based upon the prevailing attitudes.
In fact, the current climate is so puritanical that it seems hard to
believe this could have happened on ABC in 2003. Or at all.
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GILF
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Mimi Rogers in The Door in the Floor
(6.8 at IMDb)
There were other sexy women of granny age, like Diane
Keaton and Charlotte Rampling, who gave it all up for art or
entertainment, but nobody showed it like Mimi, and nobody had as much to
show.
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Most explicit
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Chloe Sevigny in The Brown Bunny
(4.9 at IMDb)
Oral sex performed on camera in real time in
mainstream films by non-porn actresses is one of the rarest sights in
the cinema. It has happened fewer than a dozen times in film history,
and I can't name another instance with an American actress.
Chloe made history in this film.
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Big budget blockbusters and wannabes
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4 |
Angelina Jolie in Original Sin
(5.6 at IMDb)
Well, they thought Original Sin might be a
blockbuster. It starred Angelina Jolie and Antonio Banderas. Tom Jane
played the villain. It was a remake of a Truffaut classic starring
Belmondo and Catherine DeNeuve. It was distributed to about 2200
theaters ...
... where it was a micro-bomb. ($16m)
Apparently not that many people were interested in
watching beautiful superstars perform in soft-core porn scenes within a
corny erotic thriller filled with gaping plot holes. Be that
as it may, this remains probably the most explicit action ever
filmed between two A-listers. |
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3 |
Rebecca Romijn in Femme Fatale
(6.3 at IMDb)
Brian DePalma directed. Banderas starred. It appeared
on 1000 screens. It was barely noticed ($6m gross.) Banderas in another
flop!
Was it a good idea?
It is always a good idea to
have Rebecca Romijn running around stark naked.
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Carla Gugino in Sin City
(8.4 at IMDb)
Here's a would-be blockbuster that actually pulled it
off. Not only did it rake in $158m worldwide, but it is rated among the
top 100 films of all time at IMDb.
That rating may be a bit exaggerated, but there's no
question that Robert Rodriguez brought a comic book to life virtually
unchanged, that Mickey Rourke scored an incredible comeback as Marv, and
that Carla Gugino dazzled us with a bold scene that kept very
little hidden.
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Rosario Dawson in Alexander
(5.4 at IMDb)
Beautiful woman naked, great body, interesting scene
... my kind of "sword and sandals" action. Of course the movie itself was a mega-bomb. Created at a cost of $155
million, it grossed only $34m stateside and was ridiculed by critics on
both sides of the Atlantic. But I didn't hear anybody
say that Rosario Dawson looked bad naked. |
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Favorite foreign films
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3
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Laetitia Casta in Le Grand Appartement
(5.6 at IMDb)
Her body was used as the model for the woman who
symbolizes the French Republic. Vive la France!
To be honest, her nude scene isn't even the best one
in this film. But, dude, she's Laetitia Casta!
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2
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Monica Bellucci in Irreversible
(7.3 at IMDb)
Monica Bellucci in Malena
(7.4 at IMDb)
Irreversible's 7.3 at IMDb is misleading. It's
effective enough, but it's a multi-lingual art film
told in reverse, and an unpleasant one at that, so
99 viewers of 100 will find to be utterly unwatchable.
Except of course for the fact that Monica Bellucci is
stark naked (top right). If you want to see her take
off her clothes in a more traditional and accessible type of movie, watch Malena (bottom right), which is
one of the best from the superb craftsman Giuseppe Tornatore. |
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Paz Vega in Sex and Lucia
(7.4 at IMDb)
Writer/director Julio Medem said: "After the loss of her long-time
boyfriend, she seeks refuge on a quiet, secluded Mediterranean island.
There, bathed in an atmosphere of fresh air and dazzling sun, Lucía
begins to discover the dark corners of her past relationship, as if they
were forbidden passages of a novel which the author now, from afar,
allows her to read."
If he says so ... I had no idea what was goin' on.
But Paz looked great, even on digital video. |
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Actresses nominated for major awards
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5 |
Laura Linney in Maze
(6.4 at IMDb)
Linney didn't get an Oscar nomination for this
particular film, but she has been nominated for three Oscars in other
films, so she
definitely belongs in this group. And the nudity here
absolutely rates among the best of the decade, perhaps the best in the
Ginger League. |
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4 |
Salma Hayek in Frida
(7.4 at IMDb)
Nominated as Best Actress for this very film.
Her nudity in this film also earned her second place
in our 2002 poll for the best nude performance. Salma has finished
second twice, and in each of those years she narrowly lost to one of my
top four of the decade (Heather Graham in Killing Me Softly and Gretchen
Mol in The Notorious Bettie Page). If Frida and Ask the Dust had been
released in different years, Salma might well be a two-time champion! |
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3
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Kate Winslet in The Reader
(7.7 at IMDb)
Nudity in the film. Even more left on the cutting
room floor! (But presented on the DVD.)
I don't think that any other actress in history has
combined acting awards and nudity like Kate. Kate won the Best Actress Oscar for this very
performance, and has also been nominated for five other acting Oscars.
She also received an Oscar nomination for Iris, which also could have
made this list.
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2 |
Halle Berry in Monster's Ball
(7.2 at IMDb)
Halle is the only actress to win Best Actress and
Best Nude Scene in the same year. What's more, she also had the second
best nude scene that same year!
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Maggie Gyllenhaal in Secretary
(7.1 at IMDb)
This is one kinky film! Not many other mainstream
actresses would even have considered taking this role.
Maggie didn't get an Oscar nomination for this role,
but her characterization did earn her a Golden Globe nomination, one of two she has
merited in her career.
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Best of the millennium
8 real actresses doing full frontal nudity |
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8
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Alexandra Kingston in Essex Boys
(5.9 at IMDb)
If you've watched ER and wondered what Dr. Corday
looks like naked, here's your answer: fantastic.
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7
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Emily Mortimer in Lovely and Amazing
(6.8 at IMDb)
There is something very special, very vulnerable
about Emily's nudity in this film. She plays an insecure aspiring
actress and at one point she stands naked in the light and asks a more
experienced performer to critique her body. He managed to find plenty of
flaws, but I like her just fine the way she is.
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6
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Ashley Judd in Bug
(6.0 at IMDb)
Ashley is no stranger to nudity, and had even done
full-frontal scenes before this film, but there was nothing in her
mainstream career that led us to predict that she, age 38 and safely
elevated to stardom, would do scenes like this in a movie like this.
It's the kind of weird, low-budget arthouse film that David Lynch might
find "a little out there." Surprisingly, it was directed by 70-year-old William Friedkin, who was nominated for two "Best Director" Oscars back in the
early 70s, winning one for The French Connection.
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5
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Wei Tang in Lust, Caution
(7.7 at IMDb)
I have to love it when a director who is truly
great at visual imagery decides to load up a film with female nudity. Ang Lee can compete with anyone when it comes to the visual poetry of
his films, and Wei Tang is one of his greatest sonnets.
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4 |
Heather Graham in Killing Me Softly
(5.2 at IMDb)
... or as I called it at the time, "Shakespeare in
Lust," since it featured Shakespeare and Rollergirl goin' at it
constantly. Our panel voted this the top nude scene of 2002.
The British critics ripped this film apart so
mercilessly that it was never released in North American theaters. To
this day it remains one of the few films rated a perfect zero at Rotten
Tomatoes. Zero? For a film with Heather Graham naked constantly? Does
the SAT exam for film critic school require an 800 in
gayness?
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3
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Caroline Dhavernas in The Tulse Luper Suitcases
(6.7 at IMDb)
The other three performances in my top four were the
top nude scenes of their years, but this was not. Yet it nearly matches the
top two in every important way: degree of explicitness, duration of
nudity, good lighting, beauty of the actress. The only thing that kept this from being
a number one finisher is that a TV show named Wonderfalls did not become
a hit despite lavish critical praise for its scripts and its fresh-faced
star, Ms Dhavernas. If she had been a big star as of December 2004, this nudity would have
won going away. Of course if she had been a big star, she might not have
done such scenes, not even for the eccentric genius Peter Greenaway.
But I like to think she would have.
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Gretchen Mol in The Notorious Bettie Page
(6.7 at IMDb)
A biopic featuring the magnificent Gretchen Mol as
nude model Bettie Page? Cut me a slice of that! The Vanity Fair editor who called Gretchen
"the next big thing" back in 1998 should have been right. She should
have been a superstar. And for those of us who love beautiful film
nudity, she already is.
Our panel chose this as the #1 nude scene of 2006 in
a neck-and-neck race with Salma Hayek in Ask the Dust.
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1
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Eva Green in The Dreamers
(7.1 at IMDb)
She was young and had never done a nude scene before.
She was part of a famous acting family. She has an incredible body, and
showed every inch of it in good light. She was naked for a good portion
of the film's running time. The nudity was both erotic and creative. And
the whole thing was filmed by the masterful Bertolucci.
The result: this was the runaway winner for the best nude performance of
2004, and it's my choice as the nude performance of the decade. |
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