Paul Verhoeven is a provocateur. He likes to make people uncomfortable, and in 1995, he achieved a sort of immortality with a single sequence involving a lot of splashing and even more confusion. If you've seen the showgirls pool sex scene, you know exactly what I’m talking about. If you haven’t, you’ve likely heard the legends. It’s a moment in film history that defies standard critique because it occupies a space between high-budget glossy production and absolute, unadulterated camp.
Critics at the time hated it. They absolutely loathed it. They called it "unintentional comedy" and "the death of the NC-17 rating." But something weird happened over the next thirty years. The film didn't just disappear into the bargain bin of history. It became a billion-dollar home video success and a staple of midnight screenings.
The Choreography of Chaos in the Showgirls Pool Sex Scene
Let’s be real for a second. The physics in that pool just don't make sense. Kyle MacLachlan and Elizabeth Berkley aren't just performing a scene; they look like they’re fighting for their lives in a washing machine set to "heavy duty."
Verhoeven’s direction was intentional. He wanted it to be aggressive. He wanted it to be over-the-top. In several interviews, including the 2019 documentary You Don’t Nomi, various film historians argue that the "thrashing" was a deliberate choice to mirror the jagged, cutthroat nature of the Las Vegas entertainment world. Whether the audience "got" that metaphor in 1995 is another story entirely. Most people just wondered if the actors were actually okay.
- Elizabeth Berkley’s performance was criticized for being "too much."
- MacLachlan later joked about the scene’s absurdity in various talk show appearances.
- The water temperature was reportedly kept warm to accommodate the long shooting hours.
- It took multiple days to get the lighting and the "splashing" just right.
Honestly, the sheer athleticism involved is impressive. You’ve got two people trying to stay afloat while executing a choreographed routine that looks more like a seizure than romance. It’s the centerpiece of the movie for a reason. It represents the peak of the film’s "more is more" philosophy.
Why the Critics Were Wrong About the Satire
People often forget that Verhoeven is the guy who gave us RoboCop and Starship Troopers. He’s the king of the "secret satire." When Showgirls first dropped, the mainstream media treated it as a failed attempt at a serious drama. They missed the joke. Or maybe the joke was just too loud for them to hear.
The showgirls pool sex scene serves as a perfect microcosm of the American Dream as seen through the eyes of a cynical Dutchman. It’s loud, it’s expensive, it’s vaguely violent, and it’s ultimately hollow. Nomi Malone, played by Berkley, wants it all. She wants the fame, the money, and the guy at the top. The pool scene is the moment she "arrives," but the way it's filmed suggests that the prize isn't quite what she expected. It’s chaotic. It’s messy.
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Elizabeth Berkley took the brunt of the fallout. It’s one of the great injustices of 90s cinema. She did exactly what her director asked of her. She gave 150% in every frame. In the years since, actresses like Natalie Portman have come to her defense, noting that the industry’s reaction to her performance was deeply rooted in a specific kind of misogyny that didn't apply to her male co-stars.
The Technical Reality of Filming Underwater (and Above It)
Filming in water is a nightmare. Ask any cinematographer. You have issues with light refraction, sound, and the physical exhaustion of the actors. For the showgirls pool sex scene, the production had to deal with a massive private estate pool in Las Vegas. They needed to make the water look crystal blue while maintaining enough clarity to actually see the "action."
The editing is what really makes it legendary. There are so many cuts. It’s frantic. This wasn’t a mistake; it was an aesthetic choice designed to overwhelm the viewer. If it felt like "too much," that’s because Verhoeven thinks "too much" is just the right amount.
What Actually Happened on Set?
MacLachlan has been famously candid about his experience. He’s noted in various retrospectives that the scene was awkward to film—as most such scenes are—but the specific direction to be "animalistic" led to the thrashing motion that has since been parodied by everyone from Saturday Night Live to drag queens around the globe.
There was a real sense of "what are we doing?" among the crew. But Joe Eszterhas, the screenwriter, was known for his "raw" and "unfiltered" scripts. He wanted spectacle. He got it. The scene cost a significant chunk of the day's budget just in terms of safety divers and specialized camera rigs.
Cultural Legacy and the "So Bad It's Good" Label
Is the showgirls pool sex scene actually bad? That’s a trick question. If a piece of art is still being analyzed, parodied, and discussed thirty years later, can it truly be called a failure?
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It’s camp.
Susan Sontag defined camp as the "love of the unnatural: of artifice and exaggeration." This scene is the definition of that. It’s a high-fashion fever dream that went off the rails in the best way possible. It has become a rite of passage for film students and cult movie fans. You haven't truly experienced 90s cinema until you've sat in a theater full of people cheering for the splashing.
- The film was the first NC-17 movie to be given a wide release by a major studio.
- It made over $100 million in video rentals.
- The "VIP" edition of the DVD actually came with shot glasses and drinking game rules.
The Modern Re-evaluation of Elizabeth Berkley
We need to talk about Berkley's bravery. She was coming off Saved by the Bell. She was Jessie Spano. She wanted to prove she was a "serious" actress, and she threw herself into the role of Nomi Malone with a ferocity that few actors could match.
The pool scene required her to be completely vulnerable while performing a physically demanding "act" that she knew would be scrutinized by millions. The fact that she was mocked for it says more about the audience in 1995 than it does about her talent. Today, fans at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery screenings treat her like a queen. They see the performance for what it is: an incredibly high-energy, committed piece of physical acting.
What Most People Get Wrong About the "Washing Machine" Effect
The common joke is that Kyle MacLachlan looks like he's trying to save her from drowning. Or that she looks like she's having a fit. But if you look at the wider context of Verhoeven's work—specifically Basic Instinct and Elle—he often uses physical intimacy as a site of conflict rather than connection.
The showgirls pool sex scene isn't supposed to be sexy in the traditional sense. It’s supposed to be an explosion of ego. It’s two people using each other to feel powerful. The splashing isn't just water; it's the sound of the characters' lives colliding in a way that can't be sustained.
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How to Watch It Today
If you're going to revisit this moment, don't do it alone. Watch it with friends. Watch it with the "You Don't Nomi" documentary queued up afterward. Look at the lighting. Notice the way the neon lights of the Vegas strip (or the simulated version of it) reflect off the surface of the water.
There is a craft here that is often ignored because the subject matter is so "trashy." But "trash" is often where the most interesting cultural conversations happen.
- Look at the Framing: Notice how the camera stays mostly at water level to keep you in the chaos.
- Listen to the Sound: The Foley work for the splashing is incredibly loud, intentional, and rhythmic.
- Watch the Expressions: Berkley is giving "method" intensity in a scene that most would play for subtlety.
Moving Past the Meme
It's easy to reduce the showgirls pool sex scene to a GIF. It’s easy to laugh at the "erratic" movement. But the scene remains a landmark because it represents a time when studios were willing to spend $45 million on a weird, dark, satirical vision of America that didn't care about being "likable."
We don't get movies like this anymore. Everything is sanded down. Everything is tested by focus groups. Showgirls is a jagged, neon-soaked relic of a time when directors were allowed to be "wrong." And honestly? The world of cinema is a lot more fun because of it.
Actionable Insights for Cinephiles
- Seek out the 4K restoration: The colors in the pool scene are actually stunning when viewed in high definition; you can see the deliberate color palette of blues and harsh whites.
- Research Verhoeven’s "Dutch Period": To understand why he filmed the pool scene this way, look at his earlier films like Spetters or Turkish Delight. He has always used bodies as a way to shock the "polite" audience.
- Contextualize the NC-17 rating: Understand that this film was a political statement against the MPAA as much as it was a movie about dancers.
- Read the script: Joe Eszterhas’s stage directions for the pool scene are notoriously brief, leaving much of the "thrashing" to Verhoeven’s direction and the actors' improvisation.
The legacy of this moment isn't just in the laughter it provides. It’s in the way it forced us to define the line between "art" and "trash"—and the realization that sometimes, the best things are both.