Pillion: The BDSM Rom-Com with a Subversive Lens on Sexuality

Some filmmakers use his early works to process their creative experiences. Harry Lighton He took the opposite approach: with his first short films, he was exploring on screen what he was not yet brave enough to try in real life. “On some level, I started making films because I wanted to explore my own sexuality,” the 33-year-old writer-director tells me. “In my early twenties, I would essentially soft launch my sexuality through my shorts, and then go and do it myself.” If that’s still Lighton’s filmmaking MO, her sex life is going to be quite interesting with the release of her first film, back seat,

Adapted from Adam Mars-Jones’s 2020 novel Box Hill, Pillion follows the salty-sweet relationship that forms between Colin (Harry Melling), a mild-mannered traffic warden, and Ray (Alexander Skarsgård), a strapping dom biker who is looking for a sub, and believes that the inexperienced but eager to please Colin might fit the bill. Few of us would turn down the chance to wrestle in spandex with someone who looks like Skarsgård, but many might take offense at Ray’s other shortcomings, which include turning Colin into a domestic servant and forcing him to sleep alone on the bedroom floor like he’s an obedient dog. However, Colin has an “aptitude for devotion” and is happy to carry out his duties – at least initially.

Pillion has been described as a sub-dom rom-com, and indeed, if you ignore the boot licking, butt plugs and biker orgies, its tone sometimes resembles a Richard Curtis flick. At times, it’s hard to tell whether we’re meant to root for these crazy, kinky kids, or become horrified as Colin spirals toward outrageousness. “I wanted to ask this question and not lean too heavily on one side or the other,” explains Lighton. “It’s been interesting to see people from all walks of life, all demographics react to the movie. Some people say, ‘Well, I hated Ray.’ And some are like, ‘It really made me think about what I really want from sex and romance.'”

One thing’s for sure: Pillion has some of the funniest and sexiest sex scenes in recent cinema history. And like all of cinema’s best sex, these erotic acts express not only their characters’ sexual appetites, but also their deepest desires. Lighton remembers getting her initial exposure to the possibilities of sex on screen when she watched Andrew Haigh’s Weekend. “I remember watching that movie and thinking, ‘Oh, a lot can be done with a broader approach to sex,’ and I think that’s something I took with both my shorts and Pillion: the idea that sex doesn’t need to just be a quick, climactic point for a sequence. It can also be an emotional set piece.”

However, it was not the copious descriptions of kink-tinged sex that got Lighton interested in adapting Box Hill. What kept them engaged was the book’s unsettling tone. Told in the first person, the story suggests a BDSM spin on Alan Bennett’s monologue, much of whose humor comes from the strong clash between the extreme details of Colin and Ray’s relationship and Colin’s matter-of-fact, almost grotesque description. “It reminded me somewhat of Badlands,” suggests Lighton, “when Sissy Spacek’s character is watching a boy commit essentially murderous violence, but she’s treating it like it’s straight out of the pages of a teen romance magazine. Adam’s book which had a similar incongruity.”

Despite making several changes to the story, Lighton does a fantastic job of replicating this twisted tone. Most notably, the time setting has moved from the 1970s to the present day, and Colin is now a shy man in his thirties rather than the timid 18-year-old he is in the book when he meets the hunky older biker. One result of bringing Colin closer to Ray’s age was that it allowed Lightening to cast Harry Potter alumnus Harry Melling, who is extremely charming as this sensitive young man whose emotions constantly oscillate between joy and heartbreak. “Harry’s face is so expressive,” agrees Lighton. “That’s one of the reasons I was so desperate to get him. We’re watching Harry learn about this world, and he manages to be expressive without overacting. That’s a rare quality in an actor.”

Skarsgård’s performance is hard to read. What attracted Leighton to Sweden? “I knew the guy playing Ray needed to be able to do amazing things with status, rather than just being hot. Alex is obviously hot, but I remember seeing him in Succession as Lucas Matson, and I was so impressed by the way he exerts his influence and his power over Roy’s kids in surprising, subtle ways that don’t just depend on him being a hunk. That’s what I wanted for Ray: I wanted his superficial Let the hotness give way to something more complex.”

Skarsgård is charming on screen, but he’s also making a splash off-screen during the press cycle for Pillion. A few hours after my conversation with Lighton, the esteemed actor arrived on the red carpet for the UK premiere of Pillion at the London Film Festival wearing a backless shirt and tight leather trousers equipped with a studded, lace-up fly, and accompanied by a squad of leather-clad gay bikers. Unlike many straight actors who play LGBTQ+ roles, he seems incredibly comfortable celebrating Pillion’s queerness. “Well, Alex is Swedish, and he’s Stellan Skarsgård’s son, so he has a pretty comfortable perspective,” says Lighton. “He doesn’t really care what people think about him or his sexuality. I think that’s a great quality, and refreshing for someone who is a straight male pin-up.”

Pillion is out in UK cinemas now.