20 Great Films About Sex Work: ‘Belle de Jour,’ ‘Tangerine,’ and More

It’s the world’s oldest profession, but it’s also the world’s most stigmatized profession. Sex work, be it prostitution or erotic dancing or pornographic acting, is a reality of the world, an umbrella of occupations that have never gone away or been snuffed out no matter what laws or restrictions society has tried to impose against it. Far from it: as the world has lurched forward into the online era, sex work has fully gone online, with subscription platforms and websites allowing for new ways for those in the field to make their bucks.

While people who do sex work come in all shapes and sizes, on film, sex workers tend to be painted with a reductive, dehumanizing lens. Often, they’re not really characters at all, but window-dressing in crime movies or — most appallingly — dead bodies in films about killers that don’t particularly provide them with much backstory. Or, they’re punished for their profession in ways that feel leering and cruel, like the trauma Elisabeth Shue’s prostitute suffers in “Leaving Las Vegas.” Films that don’t treat sex workers as disposable often overly glamorize their labor: just take a look at “Pretty Woman,” a love story that’s more fairy tale than genuine look at the realities of prostitution.

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Still, look past the more cliché “hooker with a heart of gold” stories, and you’ll find a rich history of movies that have found a way to portray the humanity of sex workers, and look at the occupation’s realities with nuance and empathy. Movies starring sex workers as main characters dates back to Pre-Code Hollywood, including movies like “Shanghai Express.” While prostitution became taboo in the days of the Hays Code in American cinema (you could still find plenty of portrayals abroad), movies like “Midnight Cowboy” and “Klute” helped to center the perspective of sex workers on film. At their most interesting, movies about sex work double as a look at the realities of life within capitalism, where desire and base human instincts are commodified and sold like any other product.

In recent years, one of the prime surveyors of sex work in film has become Sean Baker, the filmmaker behind movies like “Tangerine,” “The Florida Project,” and “Red Rocket,” all of which focus in some way on people within the field. Baker’s movies have been acclaimed for their unsentimental but humanizing look at sex work in America. His latest, “Anora,” is one of his best, a “Pretty Woman” riff about an exotic dancer who marries the son of a Russian oligarch that’s at turns hilarious and bitter, and features a terrific Mikey Madison in the lead role.

With “Anora” now in theaters, IndieWire is taking a look at the films across the history of cinema that have most sensitively handled sex work, portraying the occupation not with leering cruelty but by emphasizing that those within it are, above all else, human. This list includes films that center around prostitution, stripping, pornographic acting, and other professions that fall under the loose umbrella of sex work. Read on to find 20 great films about sex work.

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