These films were promoted as erotic and artistic, rather than pornographic, but in 1911, Saturn was dissolved by the censorship authorities and its films destroyed. Schwarzer formed his Saturn-Film production company, which between 19 produced 52 erotic productions, each of which contained young local women fully nude, to be shown at men-only theatre nights (called Herrenabende). In Austria, Johann Schwarzer sought to break the dominance of French-produced erotic films being distributed by the Pathé brothers. Īfter the Ball (1897) is the earliest known film to show nudity. Other French filmmakers considered that profits could be made from risqué films that showed women disrobing. The 1899 short film Le Coucher de la Mariée starred Louise Willy performing a bathroom striptease. Kirchner (under the pseudonym "Léar") directed films for Pirou. Two of the earliest pioneers of erotica were French producer Eugène Pirou and director Albert Kirchner. The earliest film containing a simulated nude scene is thought to be the 1897 After the Ball by French director George Méliès, in which the director's future wife wears a bodystocking to simulate nudity. Production of such films commenced almost immediately after the invention of the motion picture. The first films containing nudity were early erotic films. Many of Muybridge's photographic sessions using the zoopraxiscope had anonymous nude models, both female and male. Sometimes the same sequence would be filmed using several cameras. The photos would then be played one after the other, giving the illusion of movement.
In the 1880s, Eadweard Muybridge used a device he called a zoopraxiscope to project a series of successive still photographs. These nude sessions were not meant for public viewing but for the encouraging of theatrical employers or personal guests. At least one topless photograph of Bernhardt from 1873 survives. She is nevertheless seen with her top covered in surviving stills of these sessions. Įarly in her career, French actress Sarah Bernhardt posed topless on several occasions for photographer Felix Nadar. Īmerican actress Adah Isaacs Menken created controversy in 1861 when she wore a flesh-colored bodystocking in the play Mazeppa, based on Byron's Mazeppa, in which she played a Polish man who was tied nude to the back of a wild horse by his enemies. Devices used included flesh-colored bodystockings to simulate nudity or long hair as a cover for vital parts for roles such as Lady Godiva. Nudity has almost universally not been permitted on stage, but sheer or simulated nudity may have been. Many directors and producers apply self-censorship, limiting nudity (and other content) in their films to avoid censorship or a strict rating. Nudity in film may be subject to censorship or rating regimes that control the content of films. These standards vary by culture and depend on the type of nudity, who is exposed, which parts of the body are exposed, the duration of the exposure, the pose, the context, or other aspects. Nude scenes are considered controversial in some cultures because they may challenge the community's standards of modesty. Nudity in a sexual context is common in pornographic films or erotic films. A film on naturism or about people for whom nudity is common may contain non-sexual nudity, and some non-pornographic films contain brief nude scenes. Nudity in film should be distinguished from sex in film. Since the birth of film, depictions of any form of sexuality have been controversial, and in the case of most nude scenes, had to be justified as part of the story. In film, nudity may be either explicit or suggestive, such as when a person is seemingly naked but covered by a sheet.
Robert De Niro, Stefania Casini and Gérard Depardieu in Bernardo Bertolucci's 1900 (1976)