Sex. Sexy, sexy sex. That's what we look for when listing the best sex scenes in movies: those movie moments that capture intimacy in a fascinating, alluring way.

After all, sex is what's keeping the human race alive. But it also serves a non-procreative purpose, we're reliably informed.

Hollywood thrives on it. If characters in movies aren't getting it, they're searching for it, begging for it, or are in despair at the lack of it. Yet many of the most famous sex scenes out there aren't actually that sexy.

Eyes Wide Shut? Daft. Any Bond film? Gross with an underlying aftertaste of misogyny (Pussy Galore you say? Sure…) Fifty Shades of Grey? Don't make us laugh. Actually, it does make us laugh.

But every now and then they get it oh-so-right, making the act of getting down to it as alluring as Keanu in that wetsuit in Point Break.

Here, then, are 12 sex scenes in movies that'll get you all hot under the collar every time.

1. Don't Look Now

julie christiepinterest
British Lion Films

This one is, if you'll pardon the expression, the crème de la crème of movie sex, stunning in its intimacy and realism, as grieving parents Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland find comfort in their marriage.

Such is the honesty, affection and passion on display, everyone involved has spent the last 47 years denying that the pair were going at it for real.

2. Atonement

keira knightley, james mcavoy, atonement
Universal

Sex up against the bookshelves would get you thrown out of your local library, but that's not a problem for Keira Knightley and James McAvoy, who send sparks flying in Joe Wright's stunning drama.

From Knightley's initial come-on, to the first lightning-bolt kiss, to satin slipping from bodies, the whole thing is so infused with unbridled lust, it makes the consequences it unleashes all the more tragic.

3. My Beautiful Launderette

my beautiful laundrette, daniel day lewis, gordon warnecke
Moviestore/Shutterstock

What's glorious about Hanif Kureishi's coming-of-age drama is that, even though it's set against Thatcher-era racism and homophobia, the romance between young British-Pakistani man Omar (Gordon Warnecke) and former fascist punk Johnny (Daniel Day-Lewis) seems entirely matter-of-fact, culminating in a tryst in the backroom of Omar's glamorous suds-palace on its opening night.

Funny, sweet, moving and thought-provoking, this scene was a major step forward for audiences – particularly young, gay audiences – in mainstream British cinema.

4. Ghost

ghost with patrick swayze and demi moore
Paramount

Parodied so regularly over the last 30 years, it's easy to forget how dang sexy it was in the first place – Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze were surely directly responsible for a spike in the sales of pottery wheels.

There's nothing remotely subtle about Moore squeezing her clay into a phallic column, while Swayze wraps his biceps around her to get good and dirty too, but that's why it stands up as one of the steamiest moments of the 1990s.

5. Mulholland Drive

mulholland drive kiss naomi watts laura harringpinterest
Universal

Sing hosannah, it's a movie in which lesbian sex is there as an integral part of the story rather than just lame titillation for the boys.

Naomi Watts and Laura Elena Harring are femme-fatale beautiful, and their blossoming love, leading to a soft and sensual physical connection in the aftermath of a gruesome discovery, is a gorgeous moment of clarity in an otherwise mind-bending plot.

6. Blue Valentine

blue valentine,sex scene, ryan gosling, michelle williamspinterest
StudioCanal UK

There are blow jobs galore in mainstream Hollywood movies, but the guys in the films rarely return the favour, which is, frankly, just a bit selfish.

Blue Valentine was perfection in its raw honesty, from the blissful early days of a relationship to its disintegration and upsettingly messy end, but the moment that stands out is when Ryan Gosling goes down on Michelle Williams.

The censors clutched their pearls and gave it an NC-17 rating – the rest of us suddenly felt all tingly.

7. 9 1/2 Weeks

9 12 weeks, food sex scene, kim basinger, mickey rourkepinterest
MGM

Like Ghost, the famous sex scene in 9 1/2 Weeks has been parodied to death, but your weekly grocery shop has never looked this exciting, as Mickey Rourke feeds Kim Basinger all the sticky, slurpy, sweet, and ultimately messy foodstuffs in the fridge.

It's sex as play and food as sex, but while they make rolling around in a vat of honey look erotic as hell, you wouldn't want to be the one to clean it up.

8. Ecstasy

hedy lamarr, ecstasy
Getty Images

Blue Valentine wasn't the first film to celebrate cunnilingus – that accolade goes to Ecstasy, way back in 1933, in which a maritally unsatisfied Hedy Lamarr's frustrations are eased thanks to a sexy and willing mechanic.

As she gasped with pleasure, Lamarr became the first woman to depict the female orgasm on screen, causing a scandal at the time and breaking an important taboo for the future. It still crackles with sexual energy today.

Fun fact: a self-taught inventor, Lamarr also invented the frequency-hopping radio technology that prefigured wi-fi. Beat that, Gosling.

9. Y Tu Mamá También

y tu mama tambien
IFC Films

Gael Garcia Bernal's Julio and Diego Luna's Tenoch are two cocky teens who think they know all there is to know about love and sex, until they go on a road trip with the older, wiser Luisa – who has a big secret.

In the movie's, ah, climactic scene, they top off a perfect night of friendship with a perfect night of lovemaking, the two laaads even crossing their own boundaries and discovering a mutual desire.

That this leads to no change in the boys' lives – in fact it's pretty much the end of their friendship – only adds to the poignancy.

10. Munich

munich 2005
Universal

Notable for three reasons: first, it's a Spielberg sex scene. They don't happen often. Second, it depicts sex between a married couple (urgh! That's like your parents!) and third, one of the participants (Daphna Kaufman, played by Ayelet Zurer) is pregnant – without that being a subject of creepy fetishisation.

The couple are reunited after a period of extreme danger and separation, leading to a tender reconciliation. Then, unfortunately, Avner (Eric Bana) starts to imagine the acts of terror that kickstarted the plot and sexytime is over for the audience.

11. Don Jon

don jon sex scene
Relativity Media

Another rarity: this time, it's an older woman (Julianne Moore, then 53) with a younger man (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, then 32). It's also a mostly silent scene, with both actors mostly clothed.

That's not just prudishness on the part of the filmmakers or the actors' reticence: the whole scene is a rejection of lead character Jon's previous understanding of sex. The eye contact, non-pornographic behaviour and lack of – frankly – banging is what grants this scene its intensity.

12. Brokeback Mountain

brokeback mountain, jake gyllenhaal, heath ledger, 2005
Focus Features

Brokeback Mountain was quite revolutionary when it was released in the early 2000s, a mainstream Oscar-winner and box-office darling drama focusing on the love story between two men.

In Ang Lee's movie, based on Annie Proulx's work, Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal play two cowboys as they embark in a forbidden relationship in the Wyoming hills. One scene in particular sees them sharing a very intimate moment inside the tent, and it's a very sexy moment.

13. Antichrist

charlotte gainsbourg willem dafoe antichrist
Zentropa Ents/Kobal/Shutterstock

Danish director Lars von Trier knows a thing or two about portraying sex on screen, just have a look at Nymphomaniac. However, we're here to highlight one of the best sex scenes he's ever filmed: the black-and-white introduction to Antichrist.

Starring Charlotte Gainsbourg and Willem Dafoe, this opening scene shows the couple at the centre of the story having sex in the shower. It's all wet, sexy and highly explicit, at least before the tragedy strikes.

If you were wondering how did they make it look so real, it's because it is real: Gainsbourg and Dafoe's simulated sex was mixed in the editing room with real sex performed by porn actors on set.

14. Body Heat

body heat
WBITV (Warner Brothers International Television Distribution)

Released in 1981, Body Heat might not look too explicit for modern audiences, but Lawrence Kasdan's movie is still as sexy as ever.

Set in a very, very hot summer in South Florida, the plot follows lawyer Ned Racine (played by William Hurt) as he becomes obsessed with a married woman, Matty Walker (played by Kathleen Turner). In one iconic scene, Matty lures him into her home. She tells him: "You're not too smart, are you? I like that in a man." Channeling his macho self, Ned smashes a window to get to her as they start a night-long sex marathon.

Inspired by noir classics like Double Indemnity and pioneer in the erotic thriller genre that would boom in the nineties, Body Heat still makes us sweat.

15. Blue Is the Warmest Color

blue is the warmest colour, lea seydoux, adèle exarchopoulos
Wild Bunch

Palme D'Or winner at Cannes Film Festival, Blue Is The Warmest Color has one of the most real-looking sex scenes in this list: a six-minute sequence packed with kissing, licking, sucking, slapping and more.

French actresses Adèle Exarchopoulos and Léa Seydoux are extraordinary as two women falling in love in this adaptation of Jul Maroh's graphic novel of the same name.

The sex scenes are incredibly explicit, but there was no real sex involved. "We had fake pussies on. You have something to protect and tape it under. I don't make love on screen. We can fake these things, you can't fake feelings, but you can fake body language," said Seydoux in an interview with The Independent back in 2013.