Viewers left cringing by 'painful' sex scenes in Netflix's 'Obsession'

Netflix's new BDSM drama Obsession has garnered attention across social media – with some users calling sex scenes a "hard watch".

The four-part series follows a surgeon's affair with his son's fiancée, which soon turns into an erotic obsession.

The Netflix synopsis reads: "A contemporary adaptation of Josephine Hart's novella, Damage, the story centres around a dangerous love triangle that emerges when the enigmatic Anna Barton embarks on a passionate affair with her fiance's father, William.

"Whilst Anna fights to sustain both relationships, William is drawn into an obsessive spiral. But how long can they keep their secret hidden before someone gets hurt?"

The divisive series stars Richard Armitage, Indira Varma, Rish Shah and Charlie Murphy, who plays Anna Barton. "He fed me a few olives and then we shook hands and said goodbye," she joked to The Independent about meeting Armitage for the first time.

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The BDSM thriller has since received a mixed response, with one brutal critic asking why the sex scenes are "so cringe." They joked that it was "putting me off having an affair."

Another viewer added: "Cringe!!! I still can't believe the storyline."

"It'll never be 50 Shades of Grey," a third wrote.

Murphy recently opened up about the intimate scenes, explaining how the actors spent an entire week filming.

"It was a nice parallel because no one else had witnessed it except this very close crew, so after that we had these loaded looks in our public scenes together: eating dinner, touching hair and all that. We’d experienced our world already."

Murphy and Armitage worked with the intimacy coordinator Adelaide Waldrop who helped choreograph scenes and make the pair feel more comfortable.

"I’ve never really had any bad, bad experiences, thank God – and we all know that there’s been loads out there. It has given me more bravery to know that I have an armour on in some way, even if I’m fully nude," she said.

Obsession is available to watch on Netflix now.

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