This thesis aims to explore the phenomenon of implied sex in cinema from the methodological standpoint of film semiotics. The representation of sex in film is interpreted through the prism of signification and signifying practices. Special emphasis is placed on signs which require the viewer’s active participation in the extraction of their meaning. Specifically, what is analysed are instances of the depiction of sex via hints within the mise-en-scène, suggestive editing, or expository screenwriting. The paper primarily consists of textual analyses of the following films (listed here in chronological order according to release date): Ecstasy (1933, dir. Gustav Macahtý), A Streetcar Named Desire (1951, dir. Elia Kazan), North by Northwest (1959, dir. Alfred Hitchcock), Persona (1966, dir. Ingmar Bergman), Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975, dir. Chantal Akerman), Eraserhead (1977, dir. David Lynch), La pianiste (2001, dir. Michael Haneke). Providing a counterexample, the paper also touches upon the problematic of sexual explicitness, as demonstrated by Nymphomaniac (2013, dir. Lars von Trier) and Love (2015, dir. Gaspar Noé). The implication/explication dichotomy is put into question throughout the paper, with the aim of putting forward a potentially more nuanced analytical toolkit for the interpretation of sex scenes in cinema. It is, however, demonstrated that a notion of “explicitness” is nevertheless present in the societal and institutional response to films which thematise sexuality. It is precisely this response which points to the broader issue of sex and social control (examined from the perspectives of social theorists Wilhelm Reich and Michel Foucault). It is hoped this study will provide an informed overview of the relationship between sex and signification within film, perhaps offering possibilities for further study.