Alexander Skarsgård has never been better (or H๏τter) than in his latest movie Pillion

, an ultra-horny movie about a biker dom and his BDSM relationship with an eager young submissive, Colin (Harry Melling). Colin is the definition of a proper boy, still living at home with his parents (partly because his mom is dying of cancer but also because it doesn’t seem like anyone has told him to do otherwise). He sings in an a cappella group and goes on dates with boys set up by his mom.

One date early on is wearing a shirt that reads, “Hey Alexa, Free Britney” in sparkly letters, indicating the kind of taste his mom may have. Colin’s taste is anything but awful, though. After a brief encounter at a bar, Colin decides to meet up with Skarsgård’s Ray, his parents supportive of their rendezvous despite it being Christmas Day. When he shows up, his mom’s dachshund and his dad’s leather jacket in tow, he finds that he’s a pale imitation of Ray, who is sporting a тιԍнтly fitted leather bike riding get-up and a decidedly larger (and meaner-looking) dog.

Pillion, despite its depiction of an almost certainly toxic relationship, doesn’t forget to find humor, which makes it all the more devastating when things come to a head. For a first feature, it’s a startlingly confident, overwhelmingly Sєxy debut for Harry Lighton.

Pillion Underscores The Layered Character Dynamics

Harry Melling Is Excellent As Colin

Without much persuading or even talking, Colin eagerly falls into a relationship with Ray. By the end of their second date, he’s cooking for his new master and sleeping on the floor at the foot of his bed. He returns the next day with bags full of groceries to see Ray’s biker gang divided into two factions — the submissives in the kitchen, wearing aprons and not much else, and their doms in the living room. With the dynamic quickly established, Colin falls into this new way of life, eager to accept and adapt to this new idenтιтy.

As Ray, Skarsgård is cold and distant. One sub remarks to Colin that he couldn’t live without kissing his partner, though Colin says he’s fine with it, convincing himself as much as he’s convincing the other man. Ray’s chilly personality leaves little room for Colin’s desires and, though he’s onboard with most of what Ray wants, Melling brilliantly layers subtle flickers of doubt through his performance. It’s a real breakout role for the actor who is perhaps best known for being Dudley Dursley in Harry Potter. This role is, obviously, leagues away from that and it finally gives Melling a chance to really branch out.

It should be made clear that Pillion does not set out to depict a healthy dom/sub dynamic. Ray and Colin’s is anything but. In a proper relationship like this, a sub’s desires are just as important as the dom’s and constant conversations about consent and desires are had to ensure that all parties involved are not only satisfied, but also happy. In many ways, Colin does find happiness with Ray and his biker friends. But as their relationship continues, he finds that their dynamic is as suffocating (if not more so) than the one he left behind when he moved out of his parents’ house.

Ray plays a major part in this story, but it’s really Colin’s movie. Their relationship and many of the situations are mined for humor, with the film being surprisingly funny as Colin navigates his dynamic with Ray. Pillion truly works as a delayed coming-of-age story, though, and it has a flicker of devastation before ending on a surprisingly uplifting note.

Pillion premiered at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival.