What happens when a dom gives a sub an inch? That sounds like a dirty joke, but it’s essentially the theme of Pillion (now on HBO Max), a BDSM romantic dramedy starring Alexander Skarsgard and Harry Melling, and there’s no counterintuitive casting with regards to who’s top or bottom here. Writer/director Harry Lighton’s debut feature adapts Adam Mars-Jones’ novel Box Hill, and changes the title to a word defined as “a seat for a passenger behind a motorcyclist,” which certainly fits the core idea. The film earned near-universal good reviews since its 2025 Cannes debut, and we’re not about to deviate from that.
PILLION: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
The Gist: It’s not a meet-cute, it’s a meet-boot. On their first date, RAY (Skarsgard) – I want to call him ALL CAPS RAY at all times, but that might get tiresome; restraint it is then – dictates that Colin (Melling) meet him on Christmas Day, on the street. Ray hops off his motorcycle and leads Colin to a dim alley and orders Colin to lick his biker boots. Then Ray unzips his leather biker overalls and gives Colin something else to do. You know what that is. And it includes no please or thank you, just a shrug and a rev of the rockin’ crotch rocket and off he goes so Colin can wipe the corners of his mouth and go back home to his mum (Lesley Sharp) and dad (Douglas Hodge) and carols and eggnog. With a goofy smile of curious contentment on his face, he puts his feet up by the hearth, his knees filthy from the cobblestone. Mum doesn’t seem to notice, but Dad might, not that he mentions it.
Colin goes about his shite job as the guy who gives out parking tickets by day and his gig singing in his dad’s barbershop quartet by night. He texts Ray all friendly-like, but Ray doesn’t answer texts. That’s how this works. Ray leads, Colin follows: master with dog on leash. Ray finally calls and Colin drops everything to meet at Ray’s flat. Ray orders him to make dinner then eats on the couch with the dog next to him as Colin stands meekly and awkwardly behind them. Ray orders Colin to sleep on the rug in the bedroom or in the hallway. Colin awakes to an alarm and a list of chores. Then they don wrestling unitards — Colin’s renders him bare-assed — and considering Ray looks carved out of bronze and Colin is wispy where he’s not soft, there’s no question who’s going to get pinned while Tiffany’s “I Think We’re Alone Now” blares from the speakers. Perhaps it goes without saying that Colin quickly moves in with Ray.
As all couples inevitably do, Colin and Ray fall into a routine. It involves Colin being consistently humiliated, much to his delight. He shaves his head and gets measured for head-to-toe leather bikerwear and sports a length of heavy chain padlocked around his neck, the key the pendant on Ray’s necklace. They go for motorcycle rides, Colin on the back clinging to Ray. They meet Ray’s gay biker buddies for parties and a camping trip in which Colin and his fellow chain-around-the-neckers do all the work and then lay atop tables with their butts in the air and — well, this is where the movie scoots past an R rating and into the nether zone. Is All This sustainable for Colin? He seems happy for the most part. But as he reaches an inflection point, he says, “I could just maybe be a bit happier.”
What Movies Will It Remind You Of? 50 Shades of… no. I kid! That movie’s garbs, and always will be! Anyway: Secretary and Babygirl explore this particular kinky subject matter with the nuance it deserves.
Performance Worth Watching: Melling played Dursley in the Harry Potter films, but his true coming-out as an actor of considerable depth was as the armless, legless guy in The Ballad of Buster Scruggs – and now Pillion, which gives him a front-and-center role and allows him to explore the psychological complexities of a person who’s very, very horny for guys who order him around. His youthful demeanor (he’s 37 but could pass for 22 or 44) adds further complexity to what’s essentially a coming-of-age story.
Sex And Skin: Um, can we call it “graphic roughhousing”? Other moments range from decidedly non-suggestive moments with offscreen thrusting and oral miscellanea to big fat glimpses of pipe.
Our Take: “He says I have an aptitude for devotion” is how Colin describes his relationship with Ray. Translation: Colin gets used like a dishrag and is second fiddle to Ray’s dog, but this is the dynamic everyone enjoys. That’s a slippery slope to outdoor rimjob buffets — hello! — but it’s all consensual and, considering Pillion follows Colin’s point-of-view, kind of sweetly innocent despite the, shall we say, subcultural behavior. Is it extreme? Not for me (or you!) to judge. We just don’t see it in mainstream — or in this case, mainstream-fringe — films often, and Lighton presents it with a marked sense of humor underscored by emotional sensitivity and complexity.
In some ways, the narrative follows predictable beats as we wonder if, or more likely when, Colin and Ray will break “character,” and what that might mean for their relationship. Note how other subs snuggle with their doms by the campfire, but Ray and Colin don’t seem to be there yet. A wordless scene that speaks volumes thematically and inspires a blossoming of the film’s exploration of confidence, control, vulnerability, sexual power dynamics and, ultimately, deepening self-awareness.
Further comedy and thoughtful complexity emerges from Colin’s relationship with his parents; Mum, who’s losing a battle with cancer, doesn’t seem to get it, but Dad carries himself like he googled what the padlock and chain represent. She’s our analog for concern and he’s our analog for acceptance. Ray reluctantly agrees to let Colin bring him to his parents’ for dinner, and the film’s ideas and mediumweight dramatics only bloom from there. Lighton’s smartest grace note is how Colin’s straight-laced, suburban upbringing isn’t something to be rebelled against, but rather integrated into more progressive, open-minded ways of thinking. Such thoughtful, clever nuance ultimately defines Pillion beyond its hot-button wild, explicit moments.
Our Call: And yes, that’s the funniest needle drop in eons. STREAM IT.
John Serba is a freelance film critic from Grand Rapids, Michigan. Werner Herzog hugged him once.
