The Love Scene In Die Another Day That Took Fans To The Edge Of Cringe
While many see James Bond as a sex symbol, it actually took 40 years of spying, shooting, drinking, getting betrayed, and wooing women for audiences to finally see 007 in a sex scene. Prior to Lee Tamahori's "Die Another Day" in 2002, the MI6 secret agent was only ever shown in pre or post-coital moments but here, we see him paired with NSA agent Giacinta "Jinx" Johnson (Halle Berry).
Though Brosnan was the first Bond to have sex on-screen — every love scene before that is just Bond making out rather than making love notes Bond fan u/SuperMario1981 — "Die Another Day" itself has the unfortunate dishonor of being in one of the worst-received Bond films to date. Even among Bond fans, "Die Another Day" has proven to be a franchise ugly duckling — and the film's sex scenes have attracted their share of ire.
The film has two hookups: one between Bond and Jinx, and a shorter one between Bond and double-agent Miranda Frost (Rosamund Pike), who appeared to take her "undercover" role very seriously. But one love scene in "Die Another Day" just took things a little too far for some fans, who denounced it as the cringiest in the franchise's history.
Bond's first sex scene is one of his cringiest, fans say
In a discussion on r/movies about cinema's most awkward sex scenes, some users singled out the Jinx-Bond love scene from "Die Another Day." After Jinx and Bond throw some awful come-ons at each other, the film abruptly cuts to them in bed, where Bond is on the bottom and Jinx munches a fig on top of him.
"The build up to it is terrible because the dialogue is so creepy and then halfway through the sex she pulls a knife on him and shoves a fig in his face," said u/zolly696. "I like a good fig every now and then but that's just not an appropriate time to have one." Another user, u/Praise_THIS_Son, lamented their follow-up rendezvous at the end of the film, which involves Bond putting diamonds in Jinx's belly button.
As horny as Pierce Brosnan's Bond movies are, for some viewers, this particular scene took it up an uncomfortable notch. Another r/movies discussion from u/Deja-Review, highlights the pair's "cringeworthy out of place dialogue which makes them seem quite pervy" and their "unnecessary, gratuatous [sic] sex scene."
In r/JamesBond, u/Bond16 similarly criticized 007's "terrible dialogues between him and Jinx" as well as "their super awkward sex scene." Behind the scenes, however, the sex scene was just as awkward — on set, Halle Berry choked on the fig, and Brosnan actually saved her life by doing the Heimlich (via The Independent).