In post-9/11 New York City, an eclectic group of citizens find their lives entangled, personally, romantically, and sexually, at Shortbus, an underground Brooklyn salon infamous for its blend of art, music, politics, and carnality.
A boss and his subordinate are connected in an SM relationship...
Singapore Sling is chasing after Laura, a romantic memory from his past. One night he finds himself in a mysterious villa, watching two women bury a body. He falls into their trap and, in an atmosphere of isolation and decadence, the trio act out insane pleasure games and a ritual of blood and murder.
A look at the life of photographer Robert Mapplethorpe from his rise to fame in the 1970s to his untimely death in 1989.
After ending a six year relationship, a well-behaved, Jewish, OBGYN decides to turn her brain off and her body on by exploring BDSM; instances of which are popping up in the most unusual places.
Hedonist Frank Cotton finds a mysterious puzzle box that summons the Cenobites, who open the doors to a dominion where pain and pleasure are indivisible.
College buddies chip in and promise that the group's last unmarried man will collect a cash pot. Seven years later, the kitty is worth $500,000 -- money Michael needs to pay a gambling debt. Problem is, the only other single guy is a hopeless womanizer!
A small, seemingly innocuous plastic reel of film leads surveillance specialist Tom Welles down an increasingly dark and frightening path. With the help of the streetwise Max, he relentlessly follows a bizarre trail of evidence to determine the fate of a complete stranger. As his work turns into obsession, he drifts farther and farther away from his wife, family and simple life as a small-town PI.
Photographer Elliot Slater has inadvertently snapped the only existing photos of elusive jewel thief Omar. When Elliot leaves for a private vacation on an S&M island, he is followed by Omar, Omar's partner, Nina, and undercover police officers Fred and Sheila. Unaware of the number of people chasing him, Elliot enjoys his stay at the resort, and finds himself falling in love with head dominatrix Lisa.
A deranged doctor lives in an abandoned hospital together with his wheelchair-bound daughter. Frustrated by normal women's perceived imperfections, the doctor kidnaps them and subjects them to sadistic tortures to turn them into subservient women for his childlike daughter to play with.
A young woman, recently released from a mental hospital, gets a job as a secretary to a demanding lawyer, where their employer-employee relationship turns into a sexual, sadomasochistic one.
A submissive hooker goes about her trade, suffering abuse at the hands of Japanese salarymen and Yakuza types. She's unhappy about her work, and is apparently trying to find some sort of appeasement for the fact that her lover has married.
Bettie Page grew up in a conservative religious family in Tennessee and became a photo model sensation in 1950s New York. Bettie's legendary pin-up photos made her the target of a Senate investigation into pornography, and transformed her into an erotic icon who continues to enthrall fans to this day.
Eva, an upper-class housewife, frustratedly leaves her arrogant husband and decides to enter the call girl business. She lets Yvonne, a prostitute, teach her the basics and both set out for prey together, until Eva starts an affair with Chris, who turns out to be a call boy, as well. Consequently, she moves into his penthouse, large enough for both to offer their services separately.
Jesse Walsh moves with his family into the home of the lone survivor from a series of attacks by dream-stalking monster, Freddy Krueger. There, he is bedeviled by nightmares and inexplicably violent impulses.
A newly-single woman embarks on a quest to become more sexually adventurous and falls for a charming stranger.
Hisako was sold off by her husband to pay off his debts. She is covered in tattoos and, through the relentless torture of a bondage master, she gradually discovers the joys of bondage.
A girl is sold to a brothel. She is destined to become a prostitute, but because she is still a child, she is made to work as a maid there. Because she grew up in the countryside, she is careless in everything she does, and is constantly mocked by the landlady and the prostitutes who work there. One day, the girl takes the undergarment she was ordered to wear and heads to the room of a prostitute's older sister. As soon as she opens the sliding door, she is shocked. There she finds her older sister tied up with rope and being tortured by a male customer. The girl instinctively shouts "Stop it!", but is shocked to see that the older sister does not seem to mind, but rather seems to enjoy it. Before long, the girl is unable to get the scene out of her head, and begins to secretly tie ropes around herself in her room...
Published in Paris in 1954, Story of O was an immediate bestseller and literary scandal: an elegantly written S&M fantasy that had all the hallmarks of being an autobiographical account by the pseudonymous Pauline Réage. In 1994 Dominique Aury, a mild-mannered, dowdy editor for France’s prestigious Gallimard press, revealed her authorship. Pola Rapaport explores Aury's inspiration, recreating the world of '50s literary Paris and setting it against dramatic sequences that bring the infamous book to life. The author as well as various French intellectuals expound on the thorny relationship between sexuality and power, submission and freedom, liberation and non-being.