Can A Film Be More Intimate Than Porn?

Can a film be more intimate than pornography?

Can a film be more intimate than pornography? In Truly Naked (2026), BAFTA-nominated writer-director Muriel D’Ansembourg tells the story of Alec — a teenager raised by two parents in the adult industry, who’s seen everything about sex except real intimacy. A school project on porn addiction, and a feminist classmate, force him to confront how his generation actually encounters sex.

Laura Gommans sits down with Muriel to ask what cinema still knows about intimacy that the erotic industry has given up on: close-ups, the gaze, the longing for touch. And whether a film that stages intimacy so precisely is any less manipulative than pornography.

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