To state the obvious, everything that's in a movie is a deliberate choice by the director. Hitchcock spoke about "playing the viewer like an organ", i.e. manipu

To state the obvious, everything that's in a movie is a deliberate choice by the director. Hitchcock spoke about "playing the viewer like an organ", i.e. manipulating the audience by what is shown, what is not, what is revealed, the order of information being shared with the viewer. Sex scenes can certainly be in a movie for character development, but often are just there to make the audience horny & increase the fun factor and therefore positive experience of the movie. Calling out Nolan for his sterility in movies misses that point; his movies are ideas with stories attached, vs say Bay or Bruckheimer, whose movies are more deliberately products designed for the mass market.