Pillion film review: Alexander Skarsgård as a leather daddy in this warm BDSM biker romance

Film Review: Pillion

Going into a sold out screening of Pillion at the GFT I didn’t know what to expect. One of my friends said she had a dream that it was the best film she’d ever seen and my other friend said it was about “Alexander Skarsgård as a leather daddy”, I was ready to submit to whatever it had to offer.

I had it in my mind that it was a Fifty Shades-esque but “make it queer” romance, and in some ways it lived up to that expectation. There were certainly some steamy moments, which felt painfully awkward to watch in a cinema full of strangers. However, what I did not expect was a BDSM biker romance with the warmth and wit of a Richard Curtis movie: heartfelt moments, sharp comedic timing and the best kind of British humour. What surprised me most was how a sub-dom relationship tapped into very relatable human experiences, raising questions about escaping the everyday, understanding ourselves and finding confidence in the most unusual circumstances.

Harry Lighton’s feature debut, based on the novel Box Hill, gained critical acclaim after premiering at Cannes in the spring. In an interview with The Knockturnal, Lighton said he was drawn to the novel because “the book presented BDSM and sexual alterity in a way which… showed the capacity for contradictions in that world”, and added that he thought “that was a really interesting prospect to try and shed a new light on that culture.”

The film dug into the dynamic between dominant Ray (Alexander Skarsgård) and submissive Colin (Harry Melling), pushing the boundaries of a traditional rom com while still offering tender moments of connection. Colin’s life of day to day drudgery as a traffic warden is changed when he is propositioned at his local pub by brooding, mysterious biker Ray. From their first sexual encounter on Christmas Day at the back of Primark, we are pulled into the world of BDSM bikers.

The visuals felt timeless, blending the 70s aesthetics of the novel with modern touches of the present day from high street shops to the digital dating world of Grindr or texts where Colin is left on read. The dynamic between the two lovers is extreme, boundary pushing and full of questions around control. It explores what happens when you take bedroom dynamics into the everyday, and how Colin’s “aptitude for devotion” becomes all consuming under Ray’s domination.

Colin’s parents, played by Lesley Sharp as Peggy and Douglas Hodge as Pete, ground the film, particularly in the trope-ish ‘meet the parents’ scene. When they invite the couple into their family home, Peggy doesn’t mince her words as she prods at Ray, looking for answers, uncomfortable with the servile role her son is playing in the relationship. 

Following Colin as he finds his place in the world, who he is, and more importantly what he wants, is a turbulent, heartbreaking journey that ends in as much part sadness as relief.

Coming out of the film, I immediately googled “pillion”, a word I had never heard, assuming its meaning would become clear after watching. Learning that it is “a seat or place behind the main rider on a motorcycle where a passenger sits” made me reflect on what the film was scratching the surface of. What it means literally and metaphorically to take a back seat, and what happens when you start to feel comfortable becoming the driving force in your own life.

Pillion is playing now at GFT, Edinburgh Filmhouse, Macrobert Arts Centre Stirling, and Odeon Braehead