The Sex Scenes were totally unnecessary, and do not suit the movie.

Nolan could have used the typical American after-sex scene, both lying in bed, she covered up to her shoulders. That wouldn't change anything.
But FP seems to enjoy exposing herself...

Hah.

American movies have always been pretty puritanical about sexual matters -- at one time censored by the church(right wing), now censored by feminist and other political entities(the left wing.) Or both at the same time.

I've always felt the reason why American movies have censored sex scenes is because -- unlike say murder scenes in which somebody chops somebody's head off -- "impressionable youth" will be stimulated perhaps to HAVE sex(it looks fun when filmed right, yes?) So...dangers. Pregnancy. STDs. Family issues, etc.

And maybe that's what the R rating is for.

Meanwhile: adults can and should be given erotic material for the screen, and clearly there is an audience for it, but before that can happen, you need actresses(moreso than actors) WILLING to go nude for the cameras and, in some instances, to simulate sex. There are arguments raging even as we speak in Hollywood(well before the strikes hit) as to how intimate scenes CAN be and we have these "intimacy coordinators" superising that.

Clearly Florence Pugh was willing to be tastefully nude and suggestively graphic in some brief sex scenes here -- it really is up to the woman, even as Cillian Murphy did some nudity too.

And for what reason?

A pretty good reason, I'd say. To establish Oppenheimer as the womanizer that seems to be part of his personality and to also indicate that his womanizing was largely among women who had been -- or still were -- Communist synpathizers. Oppie tied his sexual conquests to the dangerous politics with which he flirted(but never committed) through his lifetime.

In the 60's and 70s, we used to have lots of movies with nudity, sex, and overall eroticism. Mainly in "foreign films," but also in American films. It will be harder to get such movies filmed today -- again, the actresses must say "yes."

Oppenheimer was a good yes.

CONT