Colin (Harry Melling), in “Harry Potter” the hated cousin Dudley Dursley and now the protagonist of the BDSM comedy “Pillion“, Is the exact opposite of a tough biker: even beyond the 30 he still lives with his warm-hearted parents-and while he is cursed all over the dear long day in his job as a male political, he likes to appear with his barbershop quartet in the local pubs of the London suburbs Bromley. But then he meets at one of his appearances on the unearthly attractive biker Ray (Alexander Skarsgård), who of course does not recognize the somewhat smaller and very slim color in comparison-especially not in his strange singer outfit.
Or at least Colin believes. Because when you go out, Ray actually leaves a card with a phone number. However, there is a catch: Ray is part of a BDSM-practiced biker gang-and so he is looking for less for a partner at eye level (Colin would not reach there anyway), but a submissive slave who can be happy to be able to sleep on the carpet at the end of his bed. With this plot enriched with deepthroat blowjobs and butt plugs, you would now be expected pretty much everything, but probably not a warm crowdpleaser comedy-but Harry Lighton provides us with his sometimes hilarious directorial debut!
In order to be able to do something with Alexander Skarsgård, quite a few would be ready to scrub his apartment for it.
The fact that the film adaptation does not adhere to the template as closely becomes clear by the fact that it does not mean “Box Hill” like the highly praised novel by Adam Mars-Jones, but just “Pillion”. The new title is a pun: “Pillion” in the biker context simply means “passenger seat”. But at the same time the word is in the BDSM scene for the submissive part in a relationship. And with this double meaning, Colin is now also familiar with Colin: For him it is simply heavenly if he can take a seat on Ray's passenger seat. At the same time, Ray also goes without saying and without prior concrete consultation that Colin has to fulfill all the wishes – cooking, washing and cleaning.
Colin participates. He is also too fond of Ray to have a choice. And because Harry Melling, despite her sexual openness (after the first Christmas blowjob in a dark alley, the sperm still drips a bit ironic, you don't think too deeply about how healthy this relationship really is. In contrast to the novel, the film does not play in the 1970s and eighties, but today, makes the almost wordless Ray appear only mysterious. Because where there was still confidentiality in the gay scene at the time, Colins caring parents Peggy and Pete (played with a lot of comedic understanding by Douglas Hodge and Lesley Sharp) are almost too open to the (sexual) relationship of their son.
The thing with acceptance
The parents always show themselves interested in Ray and absolutely want to invite him to dinner, but they are only partially clear about which submissive role their son takes in the relationship – both in and outside the “hobby room”. Peggy does not want to taste that Colin is constantly reaching shopping lists via text messages, for example, even on his own birthday.
In a possibly something spoke out and yet not clichéd meal table talk, Ray reacts in great clarity to the increasingly louder mother: Yes, he would notice how uncomfortable it is for her when she experiences her son in such a submissive attitude. Nevertheless, her discomfort would not mean that Colin also feels uncomfortable.
Lubricant, sweat and leather
When Alexander Skarsgård was asked to describe “Pillion”, he limited himself to the words “Gleitgel, sweat and leather”. But “hardcore” should not be expected from the film-even if it (a lot) continues when it is actually used to the genre of the Arthouse comedy: at a group sex party of the bikers, the submissive parts crawl around with rubber pig masking-or are thus placed on the garden tables that they are presented for everyone at their free disposal. However, the dynamics between Ray and Colin, which is not always immediately tangible, remain tangible and well observed by a dynamic between Ray and Colin, which is not always immediately tangible, especially since the different preferences are also not pathologized.
Yes, even more: It is clear to us why Colin sees a charm in this relationship, the rules and commands – beyond the fact that he would otherwise never have the chance to do something with such an incredibly hot guy like Ray. Even if it sounds contradictory at first, “Pillion” shows us what liberating effects can have on us. Recently went under the hobby poetry, Colin summarizes the relationship with the words: “Every day at your feet brings me a step closer to you.”
Conclusion: “Pillion” tells with a lot of wit and sincerity of a BDSM relationship in the biker milieu and even works as an absolute crowdpleaser for a mainstream audience, without having to make too big cuts in terms of authenticity.
We saw “Pillion” at the Cannes Film Festival 2025, where he was shown as a world premiere in the “Un Certain Regard” section.