When it comes to House of the Dragon, and its predecessor Game of Thrones, they’ve never really shied away from showing anything. From intense violence to nudity and sex, the show is not afraid to depict any situation, and that was on full display in Episode 4 of Season 1 when Daemon took young Rhaenyra to a brothel, and she (and the audience) saw tons of fully nude people having sex. Now, the director of that episode has opened up about filming the highly talked about scene, how she did it with a female gaze, and why she didn’t “just want to point the camera at tits.”
Clare Kilner was tasked with filming the sequence of Daemon taking his young niece to a brothel while directing the episode “King of the Narrow Sea.” While speaking with THR she opened up about figuring out how to shoot the scene, and explained how she depicted it from the female gaze:
I’d grown up on seeing male gaze [in cinema] — seeing sex from the male point of view — and I found myself thinking that I don’t even know what the female gaze is. You don’t just want to point the camera at tits. I had to think about what my own gaze was, which was interesting. So for that sequence, I actually drew on the fact that when I was 23, somebody took me to a club in Berlin through these dark corridors and into this room where people were just like walking toward one another and ripping one another’s clothes off and having sex. I thought that this is how it might feel for young Rhaenyra going into this place.
Reading this I was immediately hit by the fact that many of us have grown up with a male gaze of what situations like the brothel scene look like. Rhaenyra’s trip to Flea Bottom is different, because, as the director said, it’s not really focused on just showing nudity and sex, but rather examining how the young Targaryen is feeling while having this visceral experience for the first time.
Ultimately, the scene is a major turning point in Daemon and Rhaenyra’s relationship, and vital to the plot. Not only did it officially begin the turbulent romantic relationship between the two Targaryens, it also led to the princess's interaction with Criston Cole, and it started a mild scandal in Westeros.
Obviously, within the discourse surrounding “King of the Narrow Sea,” people still talked a lot about seeing so many naked actors in that scene having sex. Also, Milly Alcock said shooting it wasn’t easy, and some extras had to look like they were “69ing for 12 hours” while they got the shot. However, overall, the sequence is vital, really nothing new for viewers who have seen all the brothel scenes between HOTD and GOT, and it provides a new perspective on these kinds of situations.
While these sequences are important to the plot, they are still difficult to shoot and watch. Along with this highly talked about brothel scene, Matt Smith has opened up about questing the sex scenes in the GOT spinoff. He’s also spoken about HOTD simply being a lot to film. Although it sounds like a lot of thought and time goes into making sure these scenes serve a purpose, so that the story is always meaningfully moving forward and these challenging scenes aren't there for nothing.
I’m sure we’ll be getting more scenes with the female gaze in mind when Season 2 of House of the Dragon comes out. The second installment is currently in production, and Kilner is set to direct more episodes. While I’m sure we’ll get more scenes like the brothel one in the upcoming season, with this director back in her chair, I’d imagine the same kind of thought and care will go into them.
At the moment, we don’t know when HOTD Season 2 will come out, but in the meantime, you can stream Season 1 of House of the Dragon as well as all of Game of Thrones with a Max subscription.
