The sex scene is on the way out. Or so we’re told every few years (most recently by Basic Instinct director Paul Verhoeven, who late last year told Variety he detects “a general shift towards puritanism” in the movies). The number of films depicting sex has reportedly fallen to its lowest levels since the 1960s. Hollywood has fallen out of love with erotica.

And yet, just as frequently as these assessments roll in, a new movie or series seems to crop up which cuts across the culture’s porn-enervated consciousness and shows it’s still possible to get all aflutter about on-screen rumpy pumpy.

During lockdown the first season of Normal People seemed to create a new language of intimacy, managing to be both explicit and poetic at the same time. Teen drama Euphoria made the world “look like one big erogenous zone”, according to the New Yorker.

Now Netflix’s new erotic thriller mini series, Obsession, promises a depiction of what its male lead, Richard Armitage, called “the all-consuming orgasm”.

It’s a reworking of Josephine Hart’s novel Damage, which in 1992 was made into a film starring Jeremy Irons and Juliette Binoche. It dealt with an affair between and older man, Dr Stephen Fleming, a surgeon, and his son’s girlfriend, Anna. They become fixated on each other and it was a story that was more about sexual obsession than a relationship.

Louis Malle’s film aged badly, however, and is seen to have too male a viewpoint. The young woman is driven by the early-life psychological damage referenced in the title. It all seemed just a little too close to Donald Trump’s assessment, made years later, that “troubled women are better in bed”.​

And so this version dials back that sexism, and gives the young woman more agency. The story is something a bit more like a Fifty Shades if Anastasia had just as much power in the relationship as Mr Grey. There’s a fair bit of BDSM, which was sanitised in the earlier adaptation but here is tastefully included, featuring silk ropes rather than chains and handcuffs.

Anna (Irish actress Charlie Murphy), a kind of dominant submissive, lays down “the rules”. “Nothing happens beyond these four walls without my permission”, she tells Stephen (Armitage) sternly. “I give you your power.”

In a sense he submits to her, and is rewarded with moments that give meaning to the French phrase for an orgasm: la petite mort (the little death).

His lustful braying can probably be heard in neighbouring counties – I had to turn my TV down, lest neighbours get the wrong idea. When she leaves him one night in the tousled pile of their bed, he masturbates furiously, breathing in the remainder of her essence from the sheets.

Meanwhile the relationship between Anna and Stephen’s son progresses towards marriage and Stephen’s wife remains blissfully oblivious, making a little speech about enduring love at the engagement party even as she and her husband lead a sex life that’s about as eventful as Bert and Ernie’s from Sesame Street.

The whole thing is shot in sepia tones which gives it the feel of a feature-length perfume ad and makes everyone look even more gorgeous than they are – Armitage especially has a flinty magnetism that is just perfect for the role. An orchestra of strings swells in and out constantly, as the pair flirt with the danger of being discovered.

As a story of decimating infatuation it works well enough, especially in the early going, and the leads have an undeniable chemistry, even if it beggars belief that Anna would ever consider marrying the schoolboyish son. But, after all the pre-release fuss about how hot it all is, there’s nothing about the actual sex scenes that particularly touch a nerve.

They are neither intimate enough to be emotional, nor transgressive enough to be shocking. There isn’t a single moment that has the power of the butter scene in Last Tango in Paris or the first frenetic skirmishes in Fatal Attraction.

There’s a sense too that the story was just right, length-wise, as a film. Over four episodes it feels stretched a little thin. Writer Morgan Lloyd Malcolm, may have brought the story up to date in terms of how it views the genders, but there’s no way we will be as obsessed with these characters as we once were with Jeremy and Juliette.

Comedy and cuteness: 3 of the week’s best series

The Marvellous Mrs Maisel – Season 5
Prime
Women have never had an easy time of it in stand-up comedy and Midge Maisel has run her own gauntlet over this sparkling New York drama. The sad news is this is the last one; the good news is it’s a return to form after a flaccid Season 4.

The Last Thing He Told Me
Apple TV+
The novel on which this was based, by Laura Dave, was a number one bestseller in the US. This adaptation, from Reese Witherspoon’s production company, effectively captures the twists of the book, while showcasing Jennifer Garner’s acting talents.

Jane’s Animal Adventures
Apple TV+
The legendary naturalist Jane Goodall, despite her public profile, is a strangely unknowable character but she apparently serves as the inspiration for an animal-obsessed young girl who has adventures with her two friends – a boy and a chimp – and learns to respect the natural world.