The setup of Jane Schoenbrun’s Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is an intriguing one. When Kris (Hannah Einbinder) is hired to reboot a storied slasher franchise, Camp Miasma, she meets with Billy (Gillian Anderson), the final girl from the original film.
Things get weird, fast, as the lines between reality and fiction blur. But one thing’s clear: Kris and Billy desire each other. One might even say they need each other. And it all culminates in a legitimately mindblowing sex scene.
Unlike, say, I Want Your Sex, in which both characters excitedly leap into sex with reckless abandon, things are far more trepidatious in Camp Miasma (in theaters now). That’s not because Billy and Kris aren’t into each other—in fact, their desire for each other is off the charts. But Kris, as much as she desires it, finds the idea of actual sex and intimacy rather terrifying. For her, sex “has always felt like a distraction… my primary partner tends to be work,” she confesses to Billy.
In an earlier scene, Kris attempts to seduce Billy, appearing in her cabin wearing just a pair of plaid boxers and socks. It works at first, and the two kiss and fall to the floor together. But Kris backs out in a panic, revealing her intimate secret to Billy. Kris can only achieve any semblance of sexual pleasure by disassociating, imagining she’s part of an old slasher film, particularly one in the Camp Miasma franchise.
Billy seems to understand this deeply. For her, the Camp Miasma slasher franchise was never about the academic concepts Kris often gets hung up on. For her, it’s merely “flesh and fluids.”
That line is essential to Schoenbrun’s film, and the pivotal sex scene at the end. Camp Miasma is all about sexual desire, and how complicated, and even humiliating, it can be to try to achieve that desire. It’s everywhere you look in the film. Even the slasher villain character is named Little Death, which in French (la petite mort) is a euphemism for an orgasm. Schoenbrun confirmed this idea in an interview with Time magazine, revealing the character Little Death is the “eternal embodiment of desire, or of the orgasm.”
The myth of the Camp Miasma movies involves the idea that the lake at the summer camp opens up, and there’s a hole at the bottom from which Little Death emerges to go on their killing spree. In Camp Miasma’s third act, Kris realizes she’s a character in a film—getting her closer to the reality of being a part of an actual Camp Miasma movie. It means there’s a chance for her to meet Little Death himself, and achieve the true intimacy she’s longed for but has never had.
[WARNING: Spoilers ahead.]
Back at the camp, winter turns to summer, and Kris fully emerges herself in the slasher fantasy. She finds herself running from Little Death and manages to escape from him. She seeks refuge in a cabin where Billy is waiting for her. She’s turned the camp cabin into an intimate paradise, covered in rose petals and candles. There’s even a chandelier fashioned out of packets of their favorite candy wrappers (the pair share a serious love of candy). It’s like a picture-perfect scene, right out of a movie.
It’s here that the world disappears, and Kris’ fantasy of being immersed in a slasher film is fulfilled. Sade’s ultra-sexy “No Ordinary Love” plays as the two embrace. Billy reminds her that it’s just a movie, calming a panicked Kris. “You’re almost there,” Billy tells her, as she lies on top of Kris.
In this moment, with the killer approaching, Billy coaxes Kris to look outside herself. She does, excitedly, and places herself into the mind of Little Death—the orgasm itself. It approaches her, and as Billy pleasures her, Kris gets closer and closer to orgasm.
Schoenbrun keeps the camera close-up on Billy and Kris’ faces, Kris staring into the camera, and Billy staring at Kris. She writhes with a combination of panic and pleasure, fearing Little Death’s arrival yet feverishly anticipating her first-ever orgasm.
When the moment comes, the music crescendos and the camera gets even closer to Kris, an extreme close-up on the discovery of pleasure. Her walls are finally down, and she’s achieved the moment she’s wanted her whole life. She’s in the slasher film, and got the orgasm of her dreams.
Suddenly, blood starts to flow out of Kris’ mouth. Billy continues to pleasure her, staring into her eyes, until blood spurts out of her mouth too, drenching Kris in blood. Einbinder is incredible here, channeling through her eyes an incredible sense of release and surprise, rapidly blinking as the blood covers her face. Schoenbrun’s camera pulls back to reveal that Little Death has killed them both.
Of course, neither character actually dies. They transcend with a “little death,” waking the next day to a world glowing with opportunity. Both Billy and Kris have been repressed by their desires for nearly their entire lives, and their experience at Camp Miasma together frees them from those shackles. Still drenched in each other’s blood, they go into town to get more candy, and the movie ends.
The scene is metaphorically dense, sure, but even for those who find themselves utterly baffled by Camp Miasma, it’s a majestic one. The women reclaim their agency in the world, empowered by their newfound sexual freedom. The film franchise that’s had an unhealthy hold on them seems to have finally relinquished, and they’re free to love one another with the sort of reckless abandon they long for.
It’s both stunningly intimate and erotic yet impressively non-gratuitous. It’s a scene devoid of nudity—Billy wears a silk nightgown, and Kris is in underwear and a t-shirt. Schoenbrun exudes such masterful control over these characters that we can instantly understand how pivotal this moment is for both of them and how key it will be for the rest of their lives. The passion radiates off the screen in an orgasmic ecstasy, without any nudity whatsoever.
Sex scenes are often misunderstood and overly gratuitous and unnecessary, existing purely for titillation. They’re often seen as distractions that don’t deepen our understanding of the characters. Camp Miasma is the exact opposite. If the scene didn’t exist, it would be a much worse, and far less comprehensible, film.
Because of this vulnerable, sexy, and blood-drenched sex scene, the film is nothing short of tremendous.
