Joanne Peh Reacts To Sex Scene In Toggle’s First M18 Drama Last Madame
She thought it could “have shown a little bit more”.
Mediacorp has finally dropped its first M18 drama Last Madame yesterday (Sept 26).
The 12-part, half-hour English-language serial stars Joanne Peh as Fung Lan, the mama-san of a whorehouse in pre-WWII Singapore. In a separate timeline set in the present, Fiona Fussi plays her great-granddaughter who chances upon her forebear’s hustling legacy.
The show also stars Lina Ng, Brandon Wong and newcomer Jeff Chou. It’s rated M18 — restricted to persons aged 18 and above — for “mature themes”. One reason for the higher age classification is that it contains a buzzy sex scene between Fung Lan and a cop, played by Jeff.
Joanne’s performance as the harlot-herder is so emotionally challenging and such a departure from her earlier roles that she took to Instagram to explain what she went through for the part. “It was such a big step for me as an actress to go bare in front of the production crew and my fellow actor,” she wrote. “But I decided to do this because the context of the story and character motivations were fully justified.”
Compromising positions: Joanne Peh and Jeff Chou get busy in Last Madame.
If you’re curious about the sex scene, just jump straight to Ep 9’s ‘The Spy Who Knew Too Much’. (Needless to say, it’s much preferred that you watch Last Madame in its entirety and not judge the merits of the bonking on its own without any context.)
Joanne and Jeff’s horizontal shuffle is set to an elegant piano score and punctuated by a couple of fade-in/fade out transitions. There’s some kissing (including one where Jeff plants a smooch on Joanne’s naked hip), under-the-covers humping and a brief girl-on-top action. All in all, the minute-and-a-half long shag isn’t graphic and is pretty chaste by M18 standards.
Group effort: Joanne and her Last Madame castmates doing a Facebook chat with fans.
It could use more lust and less caution, we thought. And we aren’t the only ones sharing that sentiment. When asked at a Facebook chat last night, what’s the difference between what they filmed and what eventually ended up on screen, Jeff said the scene was “beautifully shot” but felt it was “a little too cropped… a bit conservative maybe.”
Said Joanne: “I was pretty concerned about that scene and I asked the EP to give me a glimpse of it before it is released, so I am prepared. When I found out it was that, it did shock me for a bit — we look really naked. It was really beautiful and I was really excited about it. And when the final cut came out on Toggle, I was slightly disappointed. We could really have shown a little bit more. No body parts were shown.” (Cue to 34’ 24” for her full response.)
Forward looking: Fiona Fussi on the set of Last Madame.
While Joanne may have expressed disappointment, Fiona, another participant at the Facebook chat, applauded the boldness of Last Madame and how it marks a new chapter for Toggle. “I was really happy that the show was M18,” she said. “I like that it’s the first M18 show for Toggle. I thought it was quite amazing to do that. Maybe because of that, people are… a little bit more sensitive to certain scenes because it’s never been seen or done before. But I think it’s pretty cool we pushed some boundaries for some of the intimate scenes.”
It may be a baby step but it’s still a step forward. That said, let’s hope that Last Madame paves the way for more edgy, more grown-up content. Perhaps they can get raunchier for Last Madame Season 2. Who’s up for that?
Last Madame is now streaming on meWATCH.
Photos: Ochre Pictures
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