Movies with BM/WW Couples

And even further he rarely colors outside the racial lines when it comes to his love interests.

 

Nothing prepared for how much I surprisingly really enjoyed this movie. I know its been mentioned on this site somewhere before. I've known of its existence since the 2021 Cannes Film Festival but I was not certain it would ever reach a theater in my neck of the woods. Yet it did make it to one of my arthouse theaters and I caught it yesterday.

This is a beautiful film, shot almost exclusively in black-and-white by a highly regarded director. Its inhabited by complicated, charismatic characters with both great attributes and deep flaws. Its sexy and provocative in a way that French and other European movies tend to be, and American films hardly ever are. Its upfront with sexuality in a manner that American film shies away from because America is inherently puritanical. Its both a love triangle and ultimately a love story. Its unpredictable in the roads it takes which makes its final destination all the more rewarding.

And if it were simply just all those above things alone that would be reason enough for me to recommend this. But I am taking time to shout its praises because its use of the black male character is something sort of miraculous.

The black male is named Camille and he is played by Makita Samba. He is not only the primary male character he is pretty much the only male character of note. And he is in the mix of this love triangle between himself and two women (Emilie and Nora). And its not like the typical Hollywood studio love triangles, this one is not as straight forward because it takes all sort of clever detours. And in some ways you could describe it as a love story between four people because there is another semi-lead character. But Camille is the only man in these relationships.

Anyway the two actresses (Lucie Zhang and Noemie Merlant) whom share the screen with him are both beautiful and have tremendously sexy bodies. There is a lot of nakedness going on(especially with the women) and Camille is in the mix for almost all of those scenes. Yes, the black man gets hot love scenes. This guy may have more sex on screen in this one film than Denzel and Will have had in their combined careers. Hell, this guy is allowed to exude more healthy sexuality than all black actors in American films in total during the 2000s! And what this underlines is how this is not a film that could be made in America.

We correctly discuss the lack of pairing of black men with white women in film on this site, but we rarely go further than that to delve into how black male sexuality is kept under wraps in general in Hollywood. The reason why I wrote that this film could not be made in America is because America has historically been terrified about black male sexuality; its cooked into the DNA of this nation. Black men are rarely presented to be sexually desired in such stories, even when black filmmakers are at the helm. A Michael B Jordan may take off his shirt but its not like he is having sex onscreen. Nope, black men are essentially castrated in the sense that they are not portrayed as sexual beings, they are instead repeatedly directed towards the Sidney Poitier non-threatening (sexually) approach. But not in this movie. Camille, the black male lead, not only has sexual relations with his two leading ladies (and a third woman too who has a short runtime in the movie), but he is physically desired by women in the story. And not just by the ladies he sleep with but by supporting characters who have no relationship with him but who comment positively on his physical traits.

It is so rare for a black guy to get such a treatment in cinema. By the way it wasn't over the top; it was natural and felt organic. It is also rare for a HETERO black man to be part of an actual love triangle in which he alone is the only male. When was the last time we have seen that in film? Typically when a black man is part of a love triangle he is either one of two black men pursuing a black woman or he has a white male counterpart going after a black woman or non-black woman. But a story in which the black guy is a man drawn to two different ladies is so damn rare. Add on to the fact that in this case NEITHER of the two ladies are black and its pretty much groundbreaking in my opinion. Black American films can make a movie in which the black male romantic lead is at least desired as much as the black female lead but NEVER more desired than that black female lead. American filmmakers of any stripe can make a film in which a black guy is one or two men vying for the attentions of a women all the while making certain to not make the sexuality of that black guy overt. This film though fucking shatters the glass ceiling of what a black male romantic lead can be, how varied his options can be, how complicated and intelligent he can be. There are times he seems less interested in one character, there may be one woman who may not seem to want him as much as the other woman, there may be times it appears he is not going to end up with either one. However the story keeps unfolding in unpredictable ways.

Paris, 13th District puts all the films discussed in this thread to shame as far as I am concerned. Its not perfect. I give it about an 8 or an 8.5 out of 10. But oh it is soooo satisfying for so many different reasons.

 

@JamalSpunky I do want to watch this movie just haven't found a good source to watch it on...i only have netflix and amazon.
And haven't seed a torrent or such site I trust to try to download it on

Glad you liked it though and recommend it.

 

I saw this film awhile ago. It was terrific! I was not into it as you but the points you made about the depth of character with the black male love interest and IR sexuality in the film are spot on. But there are other films that have lived up to the billing of what is rare with black male characters and IR(bm/ww) in movies and TV shows.

 

Yeah, I can't keep up with streaming services and whether films are hitting them at the same time they are being released in theaters Luckily for me I had an actual opportunity to see it on the big screen like it was meant to be.

 

Maybe there are TV examples but when it comes to films I can't think of any others that checked off on all the key important points like this. This movie treated the black male like a white guy if you get my drift. The only other movie I can think of which put a black guy at the center of such an intelligent drama that was not focused on race and had the black male desired by his co-lead was Dirty Pretty Things, unsurprisingly another non-American movie.



Only problem with DPT is that the relationship between the two was never consummated. Actually they never had a real romantic relationship, never became a couple, because of the circumstances going on in their lives. She was in love with him though, he was still stuck on his deceased wife.

 

I mean there probably are other movies...given the sheer number of movies that exist. But nothing recent stands out

 

The Mountain Between Us
Focus
One Night Stand

Are some of the films I can think of right now.

 

Me too. I hope Ms.Roberts would have a love scene with Denzel.

 

I really liked Focus. It was a big step forward imo. But its not the same. Perhaps its better at giving us what we want in some ways but it in the end an above average Hollywood studio popcorn film. It does not take the same type of narrative risks as Paris, 13th District in terms of its storytelling approach. Same could be said of The Mountain Between Us. They're different films and they aren't centered around a quasi love triangle. One Night Stand is closer but you see one of the relationships between the husband and wife on its downside, so I'm not sure it qualifies from that standpoint. Maybe I just have forgotten, its been awhile. I certainly don't remember it being as good a movie as Paris.

 

I don't know if this was ever mentioned here, but in a few days Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is going to come out. I've read the leaks and apparently there's a small BMWF element in the movie. Apparently doctor strange's ex-girlfriend is marrying a black man in the movie and that's how the movie starts with Strange at the wedding. This was shown in a trailer so I don't know if I could that as a spoiler honestly.



Normally I wouldn't care this much but this is probably the first any BMWF representation in MCU. Some stuff might have happened on netflix shows but I wouldn't really count that. When it comes to the mcu films this might be the first one.

 

And another brotha loses out in another love triangle. Man I hate those things lol

 

I KNEW ABOUT THIS. But didn´t talked cause I still want to at least see their kiss, finally Rachel McAdams with a brotha.

 

DOUBT IT.

Spoiler

I kinda read there will show up another version of McAdams and she will date Strange, not the original character.

Yet, waiting to see BM/WW on DCU

 

HOLLYWOOD STARGIRL Trailer (2022) Uma Thurman, Grace VanderWaal Movie

 

I´m gladly surprised to see a main character white woman with black boyfriend on a Disney movie. Still waiting seeing this on animated movies, but yet cool on live action.

 

Well this is progress and not a White boy in sight.

 

I'll find out for myself later tonight!

 

Isn't that the dude from Falcon and the Winter Soldier? Isn't he supposed to end up playing Patriot in the Young Avengers?

 

Tell me if there is a kiss.