In post-9/11 New York City, an eclectic group of citizens find their lives entangled, personally, romantically, and sexually, at Shortbus, an underground Brooklyn salon infamous for its blend of art, music, politics, and carnality.
Maria, an unfortunate young woman, kills her rapist father in self-defense, and is later tried, sentenced, and shipped off to a woman's penitentiary where she and her fellow inmates are subjected to psychological and sexual abuse at the hands of a psychotic lesbian warden.
Single mother Diana struggles to provide for her child and pay for her college education. When she meets two dancers from a nearby gentlemen's club, Diana's convinced there's fast money to be made stripping.
A psychiatrist encourages his female patients to tell him their sexual problems, each as each relates her particular case, we see it in flashback.
Aurora Rumelin is happy because the noble writer Leopold Sacher-Masoch has asked for her hand. Little by little the marriage goes into crisis mainly because Leopold asks his wife to beat him before sexual relations and to treat him like a slave. Both spouses have lovers and, in the end, the marriage ends in divorce.
Inspired by the Baader-Meinhof gang, a film about modern left Germans adopting the culture of extreme left-wing movements of the 1970s. East German dominatrix Gudrun leads a revolutionary gang of her own in Berlin. She has her men kidnap the son of a rich businessman in order to gain publicity. Claiming that heterosexuality is a social norm created to keep the people down, she forces her male minions to have sex with each other.
In a kit protection costume, a man enters his home, following signs and directions to his wife's bedroom, but he's looking to play the game his way.
Eva, an upper-class housewife, frustratedly leaves her arrogant husband and decides to enter the call girl business. She lets Yvonne, a prostitute, teach her the basics and both set out for prey together, until Eva starts an affair with Chris, who turns out to be a call boy, as well. Consequently, she moves into his penthouse, large enough for both to offer their services separately.
Country girl Rebecca has spent most of her life on a farm in South Dakota, and, when she goes away to college in Los Angeles, Rebecca immediately feels out of place in the daunting urban setting. She is befriended by a savvy party animal named Crawl, who convinces the ambivalent Rebecca to stay in the city. When Thanksgiving break rolls around, Rebecca, no longer an innocent farm girl, invites Crawl back to South Dakota, where he pretends to be her fiancé.
Alberta, a mousy young woman with the survival skills of a snail, loses cash that isn't hers, so she runs from her small town to Seattle where her old babysitter, Celene, lives - a dominatrix with a classy apartment and a life plan. She lets Alberta stay. Alberta gets a job as a checker at a supermarket and becomes fascinated with Celene's work.
After experiencing a tragic event, a teenager is comforted by an older French woman who convinces him that an S&M relationship will help him heal.
On the surface, the Kyobashis appear to be a happy family. Despite a family agreement that they are all open with each other, the entire household knows the opposite is true.
A young boy and his sister are drawn into one man's obsessive pursuit of his former lover.
Dom is the story of Jade, a young woman torn between her search for spirituality and her dark life as a dominatrix. Her powerful spoken word poetry ignites the interest of a young rockstar and when her world is shattered by death and violence, Jade must choose between control and giving herself up to love.
An ambitious young woman from a wealthy family, but unsatisfied with her social position, will not hesitate to use all that is within her reach to achieve her ascent in society.
What if ... you let a stranger into your house to use your phone, but while you've been patiently waiting in the kitchen, he just disappears ... or does he? Félix, an architect who has just split up with his girl-friend and inhabits a huge mansion in Barcelona, finds out how many hiding places there really are in his house. But are there enough to hide another person, a strange parasite of living space? Or is Félix really going insane?
Ben works in a morgue. Ben's wife left him and he is into various kinds of alternative sexuality. Teresa dies of an ecstasy overdose on the dance floor. When she is brought to the morgue, she is resurrected -how shall I say?- in Ben's arms (that part based on a true story). From this starting point, the film revolves around the interactions between them and Boris (orgy fan), Abdel (no sentimental life), Ducon (wants to kill himself), Nico (dying of AIDS), etc... A social study of the 90s with heavy references to sex and deat
When Sam learns his mother cannot afford to send him to another school after he is kicked out, he and his friends start their own escort service for mature women to pay for his tuition.
After breaking into a house he believes is empty, thief Olivier is caught by the owner, Ariane, who turns out to be a dominatrix. Improbably falling for her, Olivier returns periodically, and an impulsive romance blossoms despite Ariane's profession. Soon Olivier becomes more familiar with her work, even joining in on occasion. However, when he discovers that Ariane has a son, he attempts to "fix" her, hoping to give her a better life.
A woman suffering from multiple personality disorder tries to piece back together her life.