20 Of The Sexiest Movies To Watch On Valentine's Day

Set against the majestic landscape of early-20th century Montana, Alfred, Tristan, and Samuel are as close as any brothers could be. But that changes with the coming of World War I and Susannah, youngest brother Samuel’s fiancée. This sweeping epic explores unrequited love, the power of family, and features both Julia Ormond and Brad Pitt as beautiful as they’ve ever been in the throes of a tragically passionate love affair.

Stream Legends of the Fall on Netflix.

Based on the (somewhat more problematic) Dangerous Liaisons, this ‘90s teen thriller is a perennial favorite among Millennials that brings the story from the 18th century French court to the end of the 20th century New York City. After writing an article for Seventeen magazine about how she plans to remain a virgin until marriage, Annette finds herself a pawn in a wager of sexual conquest between Sebastian and Kathryn . But it turns out Sebastian is the more deceived when his attempts to woo Anette into his bed lead her into his heart.

Stream Cruel Intentions on Amazon Prime.

Monica and Quincy were childhood friends who bonded over their shared love of basketball and shared dream: to play the sport professional. But whereas Quincy’s athletic prowess is encouraged and celebrated, Monica is mocked and urged to find a new dream. Romantic feelings between the pair have been simmering just below the surface until their senior year of high school, when they both reveal acceptance to USC on basketball scholarships. Over the years, their relationship and their athletic careers are roller coasters of ups and downs. Nevertheless, their passion for one another, and basketball, never wavers.

Stream Love and Basketball on Amazon Prime.

Teenaged Elio Perlman has joined his family for a summer in their 17th-century Tuscan villa. There he meets Oliver, a charismatic medical student working with Elio’s father. Something awakens in each of the young men in a summer that will change both their lives.

Stream Call Me By Your Name on Netflix.

After a sexually unfulfilling marriage, Nancy is a widow. Two years after the death of her priggish husband, she decides to take her pleasure in her own hands and hires a sex worker, Leo, to help her achieve her first orgasm. Erotic and sweet, this movie is an exploration of overcoming our hangups to come to a place of self-love.

Stream Good Luck To You Leo Grande on Hulu.

At the beginning of the film, Adèle is an introverted high schooler who discovers her sexuality the instant she spots blue-haired free-spirit Emma. The two begin a relationship, with all the tenuousness and intensity of first love. Over the years, the pair remain together, but tensions rise as Emma, determined to make it in the competitive and insular art world, begins spending more and more time with Lise. Hailed as a masterpiece, Blue Is The Warmest Colour explores sexuality, young relationships, ambition, jealousy, and what happens to love when a partnership ends.

Stream Blue Is The Warmest Colour on Amazon Prime.

Lee is a sensitive, socially awkward young woman who has just been released from a mental hospital following a serious incident of self-harm. She gains employment as a secretary for the eccentric lawyer, Mr. Grey. Before long, the two engage in a relationship… but it’s not your standard office romance. Lee is the (overjoyed) submissive to Mr. Grey’s dominant. The movie is rated R, so the BDSM shown is relatively tame, and yet the deep emotional connection they form as a result of their unorthodox lifestyle is truly touching. Somehow, this movie makes touching pinkies sexy!

Stream Secretary on Amazon Prime.

Julio and Tenoch, being 17-year-old boys, are full of big dreams and bigger hormones. Feeling restless, they leave their high school girlfriends behind and plan to spend the summer backpacking Europe… that is until they meet Tenoch’s cousin’s wife, Luisa, at a wedding. Change of plans: they’re going to spend the summer taking a best-friends cross-country trip together with Luisa to bring her to the most beautiful beach in all of Mexico: Boca del cielo. The fact that the beach is completely fictional is but a small detail in this sexy coming of age story.

Stream Y Tu Mamá También on Amazon Prime.

As young women, Ronit and Esti were shunned by their Orthodox Jewish community for their obvious attraction to one another, prompting Ronit to head to New York to become a photographer and Esti into an unhappy marriage with a beloved Rabbi’s son. When Ronit returns home following the death of her father, the two reunite and reignite their passion for one another.

Stream Disobedience on Starz or Apple TV+.

William Shakespeare has lost his gift. It’s been weeks since he could eke out a single line and, with debt collectors beating down the door of The Rose theater, his writer’s block is a matter of life or death. But when he meets the wealthy Viola, he’s suddenly inspired to write his greatest work yet: Romeo and Juliet. Disguised as a boy (women aren’t allowed on the stage in Elizabethan England, much less upper class women), Viola plays the role of Romeo, and the two engage in a three-week romance before she must marry the Earl of Wessex.

Stream Shakespeare in Love on Max.

Anastasia never intended to meet Christian Grey, but as soon as she does she finds himself instantly pulled into his orbit. But will Christian’s particular proclivities — mixing pleasure and pain — push the inexperienced Ana away?

(Of course not.)

Let’s be honest: if we didn’t put this movie on the list, you’d all say “Hey! What about Fifty Shades of Grey? That movie is very sexy!” And… yes! You’re right. In fact, being sexy is kind of the whole point of this film. Is it Shakespeare? No. Is it even Shakespeare in Love? Also no. But it features very pretty people doing erotic things and sometimes that’s what you need.

Stream Fifty Shades of Grey on Amazon Prime.

Elephant in the room: Angela Bassett and Taye Diggs are so impossibly attractive in this movie we really don’t need to sell you on why it’s sexy. This could be a movie about how the two of them entered a pudding eating contest and it would still be on a list of sexy Valentine’s Day movies. However, this film also has the added benefit of being sexy (and also quite fun).

When unlucky-in-love Stella goes to Jamaica with her bestie, she meets the (much younger) Winston and the two have a vacation fling… but find it develops into something more.

Stream How Stella Got Her Groove Back on Amazon Prime

Manu is a bodybuilder, and he is determined not to get married until he wins the title of G.O.A.T at an annual competition. Struggling in his personal life and as a trainer, things turn around when beautiful and charming Zumba instructor Maanvi begins working at the gym. The two begin a passionate and loving relationship, after which Maanvi reveals she is trans. While initially confused, Manu educates himself on what it means to be a trans woman, and all’s well that ends well.

The film basically follows all the beats of your standard romantic comedy, culminating in a sweet story of love and acceptance.

Stream Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui on Netflix.

After a chance encounter turns into a steamy affair, Connie grapples with conflicting feelings of guilt and excitement as she balances life in Westchester with her husband, Edward, and their young son in New York City with her lover, Paul. Tensions mount as her emotional involvement with Paul becomes deeper and deeper, rousing Edward’s suspicion and spurring him to jealousy and rage.

Unlike many infidelity plotlines in films, Connie’s actions aren’t prompted by unhappiness in her marriage, sexual repression, trauma, or angst: the affair is entirely capricious, driven, it seems, by animal instinct rather than psychologically understandable motivations. Ironically, this somehow makes it even more psychologically interesting (and, also, not going to lie, very sexy).

Stream Unfaithful on Amazon Prime

Normally, we take umbrage with the idea that a picture is worth a thousand words (we’re writers after all) but in this case... I mean... what can we say that’s going to top this 18-pack going on here? Are the movies literary masterpieces? No. But they’re steamy and full of beautiful people with lots of rippling muscles and sometimes you don’t need Shakespeare: you need Channing Tatum dancing erotically for an hour and 50 minutes. Which Magic Mike movie is right for you? Honey, that’s not something we can tell you: you must let the spirits guide you to the right gyrations for you.

Stream the Magic Mike series on Hulu.

This historical drama comes with a lot of trigger warnings — child abuse, self-harm, violence — but it also has some of the most explicitly erotic scenes you can seen in a feature film.

Set in Japanese-occupied Korea, a con man hatches a scheme to seduce the wealthy Lady Hideko and bilk her out of control of her fortune. To aid him in this task, he hires a pickpocket, Sook-hee, to become Hideko’s maid in order to sway the heiress. But what he doesn’t plan is the pair falling passionately in love.

Stream The Handmaiden on Amazon Prime.

In the 1660s, the most beautiful woman of the stage is a man named Ned Kynaston, an actor specifically trained in playing female roles and best known for his gracefully dying tragic heroines. But when his wardrobe designer, Maria, convinces the newly installed King Charles II to allow women to perform on stage, Kynaston finds himself adrift — unable to play leading men (and, moreover, uninterested in doing so).

This playful but profound exploration of gender and changing times is bawdy good fun, punctuated by poignant insight, stunning period costumes, and some very pretty sex scenes!

Stream Stage Beauty on Roku

This anthology film follows the stories of four people. In the first, Kalindi is a married college professor, who is encouraged by her husband to explore her sexuality, which she does via a one night stand with a student and dating a colleague. Next, Sudha and Ajit’s intense (and secret) sexual relationship is threatened when Ajit’s parents arrange a marriage for him. In the third tale, Reena and Sudhir face the revelation of their three-year love affair. The final story is a fun, raunchy comedy in which Megha struggles with sexual dissatisfaction with her new husband, the well-meaning but ultimately unskilled Paras. While she is pressured to have children, Megha is determined to have a fulfilling sex life as well and takes matters into her own hands.

Stream Lust Stories on Netflix

When wannabe rodeo star Jack Twist and ranch hand Ennis Del Mar take on seasonal work as sheep herders on Brokeback Mountain in Wyoming, neither man expects much from the experience but a paycheck. Over time, however, the two develop an attraction to one another. While this connection is taboo off the mountain (the movie begins in 1963), when the two are alone together they can express their love and attraction. Even after the men each marry women, every so often they will reunite on Brokeback, the one place where they can truly be themselves.

Stream Brokeback Mountain on Amazon Prime or Apple TV+.

Nima is working on her first film, but the directors feel that her inability to connect with the material is due to her inability to be vulnerable. The three take a break and go to a gay bar where Nima meets the uninhibited, free-spirited Sergio. The women spend the night together, after which Sergio suggests they spend the next 24 hours together, having sex every hour on the hour. Nima, insecure and uncomfortable, declines, but rushes back the next day to take her up on the offer. The two spend the next 24 hours interspersing sex with deep conversation, making art, and truly opening up to one another.

Stream Duck Butter on Netflix.