Revisit some of your favorite movie scenes. Where do they take place?
If we think about it, many memorable scenes in the history of cinema happened in a very special room – the bathroom. Not only that, but the bathtub plays an important role in many unforgettable scenes. Let’s all take a walk down memory lane and revisit some of the greatest bathtub scenes.
Some Like it Bubbly
“There must be quite a few things a hot bath won’t cure, but I don’t know many of them” – these are the words of the well-known poet and writer Sylvia Plath, words many of us surely believe (and know) to be true. The pleasure of taking a bath is something that can be easily noticed in many bathtub scenes we know and love.
From the black and white bubbles Tony Curtis is surrounded by while talking to Marilyn Monroe in Some Like it Hot, to the colorful bathrooms in more recent movies, bathtubs have a well-known reputation for being a great place for relaxation and enjoyment. We love to see our favorite actors immerse themselves in water and simply wash the day away: Scarlett Johansson is adorable in The Nanny Diaries, Meg Ryan is heartwarming in City of Angels and Cameron Diaz makes us laugh while trying to enjoy a bath in a really tiny tub in The Holiday.
Bathe in Luxury
Most of are used to those teeny-tiny bathtubs and it’s impossible not to be tempted by the idea of taking a luxurious bath in a huge bathtub. Watching Elizabeth Taylor in Cleopatra is definitely something that makes our eyes pop. Not only because she’s nice to look at, but also because this particular scene offers us a glimpse of what it means to be rich and powerful. We all know that the Queen of Egypt loved to take special baths overflowing with secret ingredients like milk – we can only imagine how much milk went into filling that giant bathtub!
But one of the most luxurious scenes ever has to be the one in Scarface. Al Pacino’s character, Tony Montana, definitely knows how to bathe in style. Nothing says opulence more than a bathtub the size of a swimming pool. He may not be a good man, but he knows how to look intimidating in a giant tub filled with bubbles, and that’s not an easy thing to do.
A Splash of Fear
Anyone who loves thrillers and horrors knows that you should always check behind your shower curtain before hopping into the bathtub. You never know what’s there! But in all seriousness, some of the bathtub scenes that take place in horror movies or thrillers can give the viewers a serious case of goose bumps.
Remember Fatal Attraction’s disturbing ending? Even though it wasn’t the original ending and a lot of people hated it, it’s still a memorable bathtub scene. Other movies that turn bathtubs into really bad things are Shivers, The Dead Zone (there’s less water here and more blood), not to mention the well-known classics like The Shining or A Nightmare on Elm Street.
Feelings Run on Water
What makes bathtime more fun (or more interesting)? Perhaps there are too many answers to this question, but there is no doubt about the fact that taking a bath with the person you love –or desire – is one of the most fascinating and sensual experiences in the world.
It’s easy to understand why we often see intimacy between lovers depicted this way in movies. We love to see Angelina Jolie and Antonio Banderas enjoy each other in a tub in the middle of a room in Original Sin, or to watch Rosario Dawson smile beautifully at a smitten Edward Norton in a tiny tub in The 25th Hour. Eva Green’s and Ewan McGregor’s bath time playfulness in Perfect Sense is also one of the many examples of how love can make every little thing more interesting.
There are many beautiful bathtub movie scenes to remember and to enjoy. Many of them are powerful and they have the incredible ability to make us smile; they can scare us or even make us cry. Some of them simply make us laugh, just like the one in The Jerk, where Steve Martin is splashing bubbles all around him, while blessing us with his silly voice.
