Some movies we don’t think of as having rape scenes, but kind of did:
Sixteen Candles
Duck Soup
Marnie
Animal House
How have we gotten this far without mentioning Rashomon?
An absolutely stunning movie (though not an easy one) is Eric Rohmer’s lush and wonderful The Marquise of O.
A Russian count saves an Italian damsel from being gang raped by Russian soldiers. He takes her to safety, where she then faints in his arms. Later, she discovers to her disbelief that she’s pregnant. Facing accusations from her family & community, she also has to deal with the courtly advances of her Russian “hero”, who is respectfully trying to win her hand despite her condition.
It’s a complicated story of sin & forgiveness, love & redemption, of social mores and manners, and a parable on how people are rarely ever black and white, despite the temptation to deify them. The story on its face is quite shocking, but the movie is enormously touching, humanely handled, and often quite funny because we know the truth that everyone either seems to want to ignore or deny because of old-fashioned convention. There are no easy answers for this couple, but some moving revelations and proof that Rohmer was a special kind of genius when it came to matters of the heart. Sublime.