Alexander Skarsgård and Pedro Pascal stole the show at the Cannes Film Festival premiere of kinky queer biker film Pillion.

Following its Sunday, May 18, screening, the assembled crowd reportedly gave the film a rapturous seven-minute standing ovation, during which Skarsgård, who stars in Pillion alongside Harry Melling, embraced Pascal and planted a kiss on the Last of Us actor’s cheek.

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According to Variety, Skarsgård also shared a hug with an audience member wearing a rubber puppy hood — which the trade mag initially misidentified as a “gimp mask.”

As Variety notes, Pillion follows Colin (Melling), a shy young man who becomes involved in a dominant-submissive relationship with Ray (Skarsgård), the charismatic leader of a motorbike club. According to the film’s official synopsis, Skarsgård’s character “uproots Colin from his dreary suburban life, introducing him to a community of kinky, queer bikers and taking all sorts of virginities along the way. But as Colin steps deeper into Ray’s world of rules and mysteries, he begins to question whether the life of a 24/7 submissive is for him.”

Director Harry Lighton’s feature debut, based on Adam Mars-Jones’ 2019 novel Box Hill, has been getting glowing reviews. The Hollywood Reporter’s Chris Gardner, who was at the Cannes premiere, called the film “hilarious and heartfelt.” Meanwhile, in his review, THR film critic David Rooney praised both Melling and Skarsgård’s performances, writing that both actors “show an intimate understanding of how the power dynamic between their characters works.”

“Pillion is less about the shock factor of some very graphic gay kink than the nuances of love, desire, and mutual needs within a sub/dom relationship,” Rooney writes.

“It’s remarkable to see a film, especially from a first-time director, that so clearly defines what it’s going to do and then unapologetically sets about doing it with such a lean, no-nonsense approach,” Brian Tallerico writes for RogerEbert.com. “Pillion is fascinating in its depiction of how satisfied people can be in sexually charged dynamics that some might consider unusual.”

The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw writes that Lighton “has created something funny and touching and alarming – like a cross between Alan Bennett and Tom of Finland with perhaps a tiny smidgen of what could be called a BDSM Wallace and Gromit.”

For his Sunday appearances at Cannes, Skarsgård appeared to be “method dressing,” his looks matching Pillion’s themes and aesthetic. For the film’s premiere, he paired leather pants and biker boots with a white t-shirt bearing a kinky illustration. And as Women’s Wear Daily notes, he wore thigh-high leather Saint Laurent boots to the premiere of director Wes Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme later that evening.  

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