Review of Harry Lighton’s film Pillion – a sentimental education with a stunning gay Alexander Skarsgård

For his first feature film, director Harry Lighton hits hard with Pillion. The pitch is undeniably very appealing for any gay person as it announces the meeting of a shy young man who will experience his first great story with a man, a biker gang leader and dominant, who will initiate him into submission. And it is Alexander Skarsgård who plays the dom!

A singular duo: Colin and Ray

The shy boy is Colin (Harry Melling). He is actually more than shy. He looks completely in his own world, somewhat autistic, lost, not very socially comfortable. He seems like a confirmed bachelor before his time and plays in a somewhat folk band wearing a little suit. He still lives with his parents, has few friends, and a limited social life… and one can guess that he has little or no experience with men. Imagine his surprise when he senses an opening with Ray (Alexander Skarsgård), a magnificent and ultra charismatic man. But Ray is not like the others. He is a super macho dominant who is only looking for a submissive. For him, mentality is more important than physical beauty. And he senses a potential docility in Colin.

An iconic role for Alexander Skarsgård

What an iconic role for Alexander Skarsgård, who has never looked so beautiful on screen. He and the director go all out, and the magnificent blond actor resembles the ultimate materialization of a deviant Prince that Tom of Finland could have imagined. In every shot, his beauty and authority radiate the screen. Impossible not to burn with desire or be disturbed by him. And the dialogues play several times with nods to this unreal beauty that strongly contrasts with Colin’s ordinary and uncertain appearance.

A sentimental education above all

The film surprises, it is not what one might have imagined – a destructive and kinky gay passion framed by domination/submission. Pillion is above all the story of a sentimental education. Colin, inexperienced, will discover love in a unique way at the same time as his attraction to rather cerebral BDSM practices. Ray will be his first, his initiator, leading him to understand through their relationship what he likes, what he does not like, how far he is willing to go.

An unlikely and endearing couple

The whole enchants for its unlikely couple, for its non-judgmental immersion into the intimacy of a nascent couple where the dominant/submissive relationship is central. Ray is a total macho, a strict, demanding, unfathomable man. For him being a dominant is not just a bubble of fun from time to time. He lives as a dominant and never leaves his role. He spends his free time with a small group of biker friends where other dominants have their assigned submissives.

The viewer adopts Colin’s perspective and dives with him into his blazing passion for Ray, a man about whom he ultimately knows very little. We know he has money, that he does not like to talk much and that he likes to be obeyed in intimacy but apart from that, he remains very taciturn and secretive.

BDSM and intimacy: a respectful look

The dominant-submissive relationships and BDSM can have this magical aspect that when experienced reality is altered, like the sensation of being introduced into another world, both very codified and cathartic, liberating. It shows that the director knows the subject well and treats it with respect and tenderness. It never falls into the grimy; there are many cute and funny breathers, playing on the contrast between these two main characters, their very opposite worlds, with some really successful comedic situations.

A possible love?

But is Ray really a man one can fall in love with? Is he capable of love? Can Colin hope to become his lover as well as his submissive? That is the little suspense of the film which ultimately reveals itself more as the portrait of the rise of a submissive (the last part, which may evoke Clouzot’s cult film, La prisonnière, shows the flaws and limits of the mesmerizing Ray).

A singular and striking film

Beautifully directed, hugely endearing and deeply singular, Pillion is a little independent gem that will make its mark in Alexander Skarsgård’s filmography and will surely touch an audience curious to discover relationships outside the norm.

Film presented in the Un Certain Regard Section of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival
No French release date yet, potential screening in most LGBT Film Festivals