Alexander Skarsgård knows how to make an entrance — and an ovation. Dressed in leather trousers and biker boots, the Swedish heartthrob sealed a seven-minute standing ovation at Cannes with a cheeky kiss on Pedro Pascal, sending the audience (and queer Twitter) into a frenzy. The moment came during the premiere of Pillion, a leather-slicked gay BDSM romance that’s already being called one of the kinkiest — and most heartfelt — queer films in recent memory.
Based on Adam Mars-Jones’ 2019 novel Box Hill, the film tells the story of Colin (played by Harry Potter alum Harry Melling), a timid suburban nobody whose world is upended when he falls under the spell of Ray (Skarsgård), a sexually dominant leader of a queer motorbike gang. As Ray introduces Colin to a new life of rules, submission, and steamy power plays, the line between liberation and suffocation begins to blur.
Skarsgård plays Ray with a swagger that’s both menacing and magnetic — the type of gay fantasy you hope isn’t real but would absolutely swipe right on. Critics have praised his commitment to the role, calling him “fearless” in expressing Ray’s unapologetically dominant sexuality while keeping the emotional armor firmly in place. It’s a character as emotionally closed off as he is sexually uninhibited — a walking contradiction wrapped in leather and dominance.
Queer cinema gets kinky — and honest
But Pillion isn’t just a leather daddy fantasy. The film has been praised for portraying the complex emotional dynamics of power exchange, especially as Colin begins to question whether being someone’s submissive is truly his destiny or just another way to avoid himself. In many ways, it’s a coming-of-age story — just with a lot more lube.
And yes, the sex scenes are reportedly “graphic.” No suggestion, no fade to black — just unapologetically queer intimacy that refuses to shy away from its own gaze. And that’s what makes Pillion not just titillating, but important. It dares to show kink not as deviance, but as a valid — even beautiful — expression of queer love, trauma, and growth. It gives the leather scene its long-overdue cinematic respect, and it does so with style, sweat, and heart.
The LGBTQ community has often been reduced to sanitized, palatable narratives in mainstream cinema. Pillion breaks that mold wide open, leather boots and all. It’s messy. It’s sexy. It’s human. And that kiss between Skarsgård and Pascal? It was more than just a PR stunt — it was a reminder that queer joy can be as loud and proud as the roar of a Harley.
As Cannes continues to spotlight queer stories, Pillion proves that there’s room on the red carpet for love that doesn’t color within the lines — and that sometimes the most radical thing two men can do is kiss in front of a standing ovation.