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# A Portrait of an Artist as a Dominatrix
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/a-portrait-of-an-artist-as-a-dominatrix/
- Published: 2026-09-10T19:49:38.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-10T19:49:38.000Z
- Description: “I Want Your Sex” is a caricature of the art world more than an actually incisive critique, but it’s funner that way.
- Author: Lisa Yin Zhang
- Tags: Pocket Review, Film, Review, Film Review

Olivia Wilde plays Erika Tracy, a contemporary art superstar-slash-sociopath (is there a difference?) in the super-fucked-up love story that is [*I Want Your Sex*](https://www.magpictures.com/iwantyoursex/?ref=hyperallergic.com) (2026) — and “fuck” is an operative word in this movie, because she’s also a dominatrix. 

Cooper Hoffman, playing Elliott, her schlubby and somehow-already-balding 23-year-old gallery assistant, becomes her plaything; “consent” here is both sexual and artistic (and both, I ought to warn you, are violated). 

It’s a caricature of the art world more than an actually incisive critique — "You know I hate criticism, especially when it’s accurate,” Erika breezes at one point. But it’s definitely funner that way, with hilarious but low-hanging one-liners (“You don’t have a trust fund? What are you, an orphan?”); the obligatory gorgeous gallery girl who looks at you like she loathes you more than anything in the history of the world; and Julio Torres-esque Surrealist elements (that can be pretty convenient cover for occasionally suspect acting). Did I even mention that Charli xcx graces the screen as Elliot's utterly unimpressed girlfriend? 

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/6.jpg)

Olivia Wilde in **I Want Your Sex* (2026)

There’s also what seems to mea surprisingly searing take on David Hockney’s “[Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-digital-decline-of-david-hockney/)” (1972): without spoiling too much, a scene where a figure looks blankly down at a version of themself floating face-down in a pool. Portrait of an artist, indeed — for it’s at this moment that the film cleverly reveals another side of itself as a Künstlerroman. “Contemporary art is a scam, you know that, right?” Erika asks Elliott in one of their very first scenes. In *I Want Your Sex*, we witness the rebirth of Elliott as not just a victim but a scam artist in his own right (okay, a podcaster cashing in on the drama, but again, is there a difference?) — made in the image of his aggressor. This isn't exactly the kind of movie you'll remember for the rest of your life, but it's worth its hour-and-a-half runtime in rollicking ridiculousness alone. 

[I Want Your Sex](https://www.magpictures.com/iwantyoursex/?ref=hyperallergic.com) *(2026), directed by Gregg Araki, is screening in select theaters and widely available on streaming services.*