The shifting nature of the sex scenes was as important behind the camera as it was in front of it. Without their running inner monologues, the physical dynamics between the characters are our only markers of how their power is volleyed back and forth. For instance, in high school, Marianne lets Connell take the lead. He’s the popular one, the one whose acceptance could change Marianne’s life as she knows it. But he refuses to speak up for her when it really matters, which is why Marianne has more than earned the power, both socially and sexually,that she wields over Connell by the time they meet again in college.