PILLION – A Review: The double-edged sword of submission

By Derick Matthews

What do our desires tell us about ourselves? Who shapes the ideal partner and how do we obtain these qualities in another person?

The dark romance that is Pillion, which premiered in May 2025 at the Cannes Film Festival and was released in February 2026, provides a daring and often uncomfortable glance at one’s sexual preferences and the lengths one will go to keep their so-called “partner” satisfied.

Experienced through the character of Colin, a quite tender 30-something-year-old man who still lives with his parents, we take the initial journey with him into the gay world in a pretty harsh way. Meeting a BDSM inclined biker at a social event, Colin played remarkably by London actor Harry Melling (think Harry Potter or more recently Coen brothers dark comedy The Ballad of Buster Scruggs), becomes infatuated and then disillusioned by his first “love” Ray (Alexander Skarsgård), who takes pleasure in their sadistic tactics.

At first glance, this piece could easily fall into the realm of voyeuristic gratuity. Indeed, there are some disconcerting scenes that I do heed discretion towards, including a sequence in which Ray and his biker gang take their submissive partners on a road expedition, which ends with Colin having to witness Ray pleasure himself on another man, leaving Colin feeling quite disoriented, if not humiliated. To this point, however, the movie shines as a whole with its vulnerability and unfeigned honesty towards LGBTQIA+ exploration and intimacy roles in general.

This film provides complexity and a broad message that being the ‘pillion’ in a relationship, whatever form that takes, doesn’t always necessarily mean taking the back seat. Rather, perhaps saving your voice for when it really counts and being the calm on an otherwise tumultuous road at times can make all the difference between a merely superficial and a lasting bond.

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