Top Ten Bathroom Scenes

Bathroom scenes in films serve vary purposes. Some can be used for, quite literally, toilet humour. Others be used for beautiful and moving scenes. Sometimes a bully wants to stick your head down the loo for looking at him the other way. Or perhaps a director has included a scene of something in a bathroom for extesential purposes, to remind an audience that they and the film character are one and the same, that even film characters need to use the toilet. (But usually it's just for toilet humour) Whatever the reason, there have been some great bathroom scenes over the years, and here are my pick of ten of the best.

10. Austin Powers

Here is one of the lighter examples on our list, and a perfect example of toilet humour. For reasons completely unbeknownst to me, I do have a soft spot for Austin Powers films, and this scene in particular, while not exactly the sophisticated brand of humour I usually go for, does make me chuckle a little bit.

9. Rules of Attraction

Word of warning to those of you with a weak disposition, this scene might make you a little faint. I have certain rules when it comes to violence - I can handle anything from decapitated bodies to machine guns, stabbing to shoving. But three things that I cannot handle, under any circumstances, are acts of violence associated with eyes, wrists or scalps. Therefore this scene is somewhat of an uncomfortable experience for me. But then again, that's clearly what the director was aiming for. Generally, with suicide in films, we'll see someone downing a bottle of films, and the next minute, they're dead. It's a rarity for us to be given this long view of someone literally dying in front of our eyes, and it certainly ain't pretty. And choosing to set in in a bathroom only reinforces the methodical, clinical, almost "clean" nature of this act. Let's move on to lighter territory, shall we?

8. Pretty in Pink

Oh Duckie, it should have been you. Not only does he have the best clothes, the best taste in music and is generally adorable, he also gets this show-stealing scene. Just thinking about this scene when I see a tampon machine will elicit a giggle from me. 

7. There's Something About  Mary

Luckily - or unluckily, depending on how you view it - the now legendary "zipper scene" from this film was absent from Youtube during my search. Aw, remember those long-gone years when the Farrelly Brothers were actually (moderately) funny? While their brand of humour may have been more of the gross-out brand, there is something both horrific and comical about Ben Stiller's look of pure horror and anguish on his face as he gets his - ahem - caught in the zipper of his trousers just before his big date. Just like the Farrelly's plunge into failure, that's gotta hurt.

6. The Big Lebowski

This is another wince-inducer, but for very different reasons. Poor Dude, all he wanted was to have a bath, and the next thing he knows, there's a ferret in there with him. I think we can all emphasize with - Yeah, maybe not. The quick pace of this scene means there's barely time for the audience - or The Dude - to pause and think, "What the hell just happened?". But that is the magic of Lebowski after all - one minute you're bowling, and the next minute there's a ferret sharing your dirty water. Also kudos on the candles Dude - very righteous. 

5. Bridesmaids

Bridesmaids is wonderful due to the fact that, not only did it show every dumb male who naturally assumed women couldn't be funny that they were severely incorrect, but that it also finally put an end to the classic "OMG women don't use the toilet or burp or fart they don't even have a hole down there" lameness that has been going on for year. (Apologies, the nature of this post is getting to me and I'm becoming as crass as some of these videos) Here is a video that shows, not only women burping and farting, but women throwing up on each other, and defecating in sinks. While one of these actions may be true to (drunken) life and the other more belongs in a Human Centipede film, any film that helps dispel the myth that women don't "go" is brilliant. Plus this scene, as with Bridesmaids as a whole, is hilarious. 

4. The Royal Tenenbaums

The first time that I watched this scene, I had to cover my eyes. (For reasons similar to those I have already expressed whilst talking about Rules of Attraction) Yet the more times I've seen this film, one of my all-time favourites, the more I've grown to love it. As with every Wes Anderson film, the aesthetic is crucial - the dim lighting and bright blue background, the subtle jump cuts - he shows us in this scene that he is able to show real, bitter human emotions through the screen, and not just whimsical dance scenes on sunny beaches. Also, who would've known Luke Wilson, otherwise known as "the Wilson brother with the normal nose" was such a great actor, am I right? The complete sorrow in his eyes, eesh, it's almost too much. Oh, and one last important point - the soundtrack. I believe it was this scene that introduced me to the spine-tingling music of Elliott Smith and for that I will always be grateful. 

3. La Haine

This scene can be read two ways - as a deep philosophical anecdote that is relevant to the characters in the film, or just the film's director trying to use up some free time by roping in an old man to tell a rambling "In my day" story. While I'd love to believe the latter, I do believe that there is a deeper significance to this scene, particularly the old man's opening remarks - "Do you believe in God? Wrong question. Does God believe in us?" It's the looks of complete bewilderment that really make this scene, and are testament to the fact that sometimes an audience and the characters in a film can be just as bewildered by the events unfolding in front of them.

2. Psycho

If you're reading this and aren't singing the music in your head or out loud, then you're a bad person. There's really little to say about Psycho that hasn't been said before. This scene revolutionized film, and was also the first film of all-time ever to show an actual toilet! If you ever want to prove Hitchcock's genius to someone, I think this would be the scene to do it. I'm a bit sad really because I'm getting rusty on my Psycho facts - I used to know how many cuts there were in this scene. Instead, I can bestow upon you the facts that the blood in this scene is chocolate syrup, and that the stabbing sounds were made by stabbing a melon. 

1. Trainspotting

This is, without a doubt, one of the most brilliant toilet scenes (and also one of the most disgusting) ever. The move from "The Worst Toilet in Scotland" to Renton's serene underwater paradise is, and always will be, hilarious. If you can stomach this scene then you're in luck, as there's another involving defecation in the film. However this scene and it's fantasy element will always win for me, as it shows and audience, through use of a fantasy sequence, the lengths people will go to for drugs, but still manages to keep it light and funny.

Grace Barber-Plentie