Gregg Araki is one of the important directors of the New Queer Cinema movement that re-examined sexuality in the early 1990s with films like The Living End (1992), Totally F***ked Up (1993) and The Doom Generation (1995). His new filmI Want Your Sex (2026) marks his return to the big screen is a nuanced and playful erotic comedy – his first film since his 2014’s polarizing White Bird in a Blizzard. He has been working steadily in television since 2014. With a strong script written by Gregg Araki and co-writer Karley Sciortino, I Want Your Sex explores the way sex is envisioned and experienced by Zillenials and the old Gen Z. Araki’s new film hit the art house theatres in Los Angeles on Friday after its debut at Sundance in January 2026 and a special screening at last weekend’s Outfest Next in Hollywood.
At the center of I Want Your Sex is Erika Tracy (Olivia Wilde) is a renowned artist who never shies away from highlighting how sex lies at the center of her work. She often pontificates about her own self-mythologizing, and one of them is a damning indictment of the film itself: “Art is a trace element of the trajectory of fame.” 23-year-old Elliot (Cooper Hoffman) is at a dead end after graduating from the university. He fails to pay rent to his best friend and roommate, Apple (Chase Sui Wonders), while his grad-student girlfriend, Minerva (Charli xcx), wants nothing to do with him most of the time.
Things start looking up when Elliott gets hired as an assistant at the sex-forward Los Angeles art gallery of provocateur Erika Tracy (Olivia Wilde). Despite their wildly different demeanors, the two are instantly attracted to one another as they enter into a forbidden, sexually adventurous relationship where Elliot becomes Erika’s “sub” in a playful S& M relationship. Hoffman’s awkward Elliot has a tremendous amount of charm as an ordinary looking guy. Olivia Wilde bounces off him with her amazing performance in Erika Tracy, a kinky and brash artist who teases out a wilder side in her “sub.” The chemistry between them is something to experience in viewing. The film has some of the most well-conceived sex scenes in current cinema – simply because they prioritize build-up, aftermath, and the joy therein rather than simple titillation.
Of course, Araki’s film is a satire and it is aimed at the generational attitudes about sex and the rising puritanical streak among American young people. Araki and Sciortino aren’t interested in categorizing younger viewers as out-of-touch puritans, nor are they looking at Erika’s version of sexual encounters as the be-all, end-all. In a society that, for a number of reasons, is growing increasingly afraid of the topic even being discussed, I Want Your Sex conveys that sex can lead to a freeing, safe space — one that can often be hilarious as well. Inversely, it also acknowledges that boundaries can be crossed.
The film’s narrative is framed with an opening shot of a woman’s naked body floating in a swimming pool and the ensuing police investigation into what appeared to have been a murder by two police detectives (Margaret Cho and Johnny Knoxville) with Elliot in the hot seat. As he recounts his account of working for Erika Tracy, the story reveals how the naïve Elliot became a sex toy for Erika’ ideas rather than any desires of his own.
For all of Erika’s talk of making Elliot’s wildest fantasies come to life by broadening his sexual horizons, I Want Your Sex plays it pretty tame in the bedroom, which may come as a surprise to those familiar with Araki’s earlier work, like his Teen Apocalpyse triology. Wilde cuts loose and embraces the silliness of her character, but the film never matches her energy. We get a series of montages of Wilde’s boss character dominating her employee Elliot, who thinks that sex has something to do with love.
We first see Elliot as struggling and unemployed, living with his best friend Apple. Erika hires Elliot as an assistant in her art studio, and he befriends fellow assistant Zap (Mason Gooding), who is very active as a gay provocateur, as they help produce Erika’s avant-garde, sexually explicit artwork. Elliot’s girlfriend Minerva is uninterested in sex and completely focused on her graduate studies, so Eliott begins to fantasize about Erika.
After Elliot’s first week, he is brought to Erika’s office where she initiates a sexual relationship, instructing him to crawl to her to show his submission. Their BDSM dynamic deepens as the dominant Erika takes control of the submissive Elliot, despite warnings from Viktor (Daveed Diggs), Erika’s business manager. Elliot confides in Apple, and is sent to have sex with Erika’s visiting French friend Yvette, who rejects him for his stunted attitude toward eroticism and sex.
Consumed with his feelings for Erika, Elliot breaks up with the indifferent Minerva. As Erika prepares for a major art show, she instructs Elliot to bring her an additional partner, and he invites Apple. Ignoring Elliot’s discomfort, Erika handcuffs him in the corner while she seduces Apple, but his resentment and Apple’s insecurity derail the encounter. Hurt and embarrassed, Apple asks him to move out. He tries to survive, sleeping in his car.
Seeking closure with Minerva, Elliot finds her with another man. Erika is busy with planning for the opening of her latest gallery show, and she cannot be bothered with Elliot. Desperate, Elliot moves in with Zap, who is busy entertaining gay tricks and occasional orgies. Later Elliot and Zap attend the opening of Erika’s exhibition, where she tries to reignite their relationship. Shocked to see videos of their sexual encounters on display as part of the art exhibition, Elliot confronts Erika, who has him ejected from the gallery. The gallery opening proves to be a disaster and Erika seems dejected about it.
She later summons him to her home to apologize with champagne, drawing him into a drunken tryst. She pushes him and he falls down on the floor, passed out, only to discover later Erika unconscious in the swimming pool. But that is not the end of the story in this satiric comedy.
Angelique Clark’s production design is la standout, especially Erika’s gallery, which feels like a Pee-Wee’s Playhouse of sorts for the sexually liberated. The costume designers Arianne Phillips and Monica Chamberlain came up with eccentric costumes for Erika which portray her as a figure of danger and freedom. Of course, Araki’s taste in music remains unmatched, with tracks from artists like Slowdive, Tamaryn, and Boy Harsher. Tucker Korte mastered the candy-colored cinematography that mirrors the emotional resonance of the locations.
For all the energy of Olivia Wilde and the other actors in I Want Your Sex,somehow the performance of Cooper Hoffman does not measure up to the tenor of this broadly campy film. It is probably intended on the part of Araki and Sciortino, who wanted to draw attention to the sense of shame that Zoomers feel in approaching sex. He really learns nothing from being a “sub” for Erika, who seems to mock the sexual timidity of the generation younger than herself. This is not a film like Sanctuary or Pillion that is focused on the kinkier aspects of S&M, but rather a satiric questioning of the generational gap of its characters and how they view.
