Watched it last night. Officially EXCELLENT ! ! ! Laughed, cried, etc.
Favorite quote: "You better act like the sunshine's out of his ass and you have a Vitamin D deficiency!"
Alex Claremont-Diaz, first son of the U.S., and Prince Henry of Britain.
Nicholas Galitzine & Taylor Zakhar Perez
www.primevideo.com/detail/Red-White-Royal-Blue/0G09O3U0SEXYXD3GGQIDZEH32I
The ‘Red, White & Royal Blue’ Sex Scenes Capture the Beautiful, Awkward, Realistic Side of Intimacy
Anyone who’s read Casey McQuiston’s best-selling 2019 romance knows that Red, White & Royal Blue sex scenes are crucial. The moments of physical intimacy between First Son Alex Claremont-Diaz and His Royal Highness Prince Henry are steamy and explicit, yes (and, no doubt, a major reason McQuiston’s debut novel was so addicting). But those scenes are also key character moments that provide valuable insight into this relationship. Without sex, Red, White & Royal Blue would be an entirely different story. And that’s why it’s so gratifying that the Red, White & Royal Blue movie—which began streaming on Amazon Prime today—gets the sex scenes right.
The first time Alex (played by Taylor Zakhar Perez) and Henry (played by Nicholas Galitzine) hook up—after Henry lays a life-altering kiss on Alex on New Years’ Eve, and then ghosts him for months—it’s frantic, pushy, and clandestine. Henry comes to Alex’s room in the White House, where the two exchange barbed wit and blow-jobs, before agreeing to upgrade their relationship from “friendly rivals” to “friends with benefits.” You don’t see anything below the belt on screen, but director Matthew Lopez, who also adapted the script with co-writer Ted Malawer, leaves no room for doubt that these two men are giving each other orgasms. (Lopez told People that he was “surprised” by the film’s R-rating—he’d been hoping for PG-13 to reach a wider audience—which may explain the lack of R-rated nudity.)
After the initial White House hook-up, Henry invites Alex to watch him play polo. The montage that follows—close-ups of Spandex-clad thighs and bouncing buttocks atop horses, set to blaring bagpipes—is both hilarious and hot, and culminates in the book’s famed “tack room scene,” aka the scene where Alex sucks off Henry in the polo tack room. It’s brief in the movie, yes, but it exists, and that feels like nothing short of a miracle. But it’s the night that Alex and Henry spend in a Parisian hotel room that truly stands out.
Henry, a man who’s known he’s gay for his entire adult life, proposes to Alex that they “make love” that night. Alex, a man who’s only just come to terms with the fact he’s bisexual, is understandably nervous. After a crack about Henry’s word choice (“Who says ‘make love’ these days? Are we going to listen to Lana Del Ray while we do it?”), all of Alex’s usual bravado falls away. He’s suddenly soft and unsure. “It’s just…” he says, hesitating. “Who’s gonna… do what? Because I’m— I’ve never— Oh my god, I’m so not playing this cool right now.”
“I went to an English boarding school, dear,” Henry quips. “Trust me, you’re in good hands.”
It’s humorous, sure, but it’s also tender, sweet, and yes, a little awkward. Sex—especially gay sex involving a man who thought he was straight for most of his life—requires communication. That can get awkward! But it’s beautiful, too, especially in the hands of these actors. Perez’s timid uncertainty and Galitzine’s gentle understanding make the scene feel all the more intimate. And this moment of refreshing authenticity carries us through the familiar close-ups of skin-on-skin, hands stroking backs, and faces of ecstasy. Without the lead-up conversation between Alex and Henry, it might have felt cliché. With it, it feels beautiful and real.
Director Matthew Lopez spoke to Decider in a previous interview about how he approached the scene, saying, “What happens to them that night is life-changing. Alex has penetrative sex with a man for the first time. Nick [Galitzine] and I decided together that, while Henry is more experienced in these matters than Alex, this is the first time that Henry is having sex with someone that he has real feelings for. For the two of them, in very different ways, they’re having a life-changing experience during this scene.”
He added, “By the time we get to that scene in Paris, Alex is way out of his comfort and experience zone. He’s so vulnerable. And I think the way Taylor plays that scene is so beautiful.”
The Red, White & Royal Blue movie may not include every sex scene from the book, but it does deliver on the novel’s spirit. As Lopez told Decider, “If I could make the audience feel the same way at the end of the film as they did at the end of the book, then no matter how differently I may have gotten there, I will have felt that I had succeeded.”
2 comments:
I loved it!
Best thing since "Heartstopper" and on another level.
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