Dense.
Photo: Warner Bros.

It’s May 2003, and expectations for The Matrix Reloaded are high. Pretty much the entire original cast is back: Keanu Reeves as Neo, Carrie-Anne Moss as Trinity, Laurence Fishburne as Morpheus, Hugo Weaving as Agent Smith. (The Wachowskis’ trilogy finale, The Matrix Revolutions, is already slated for November.) When Reloaded finally lands in theaters, however, reactions are mixed. The actions scenes get some praise, but the script doesn’t fare as well (“deep-dish speechifying,” Peter Travers puts it in Rolling Stone). In a New York Times piece titled “A Memo to the Wachowskis From a Disappointed Fan,” Philip Graham eviscerates the story with one notable caveat: “I have to admit that the Merovingian’s programmed food is a good one.” “One of the few effective new ideas in Reloaded,” he adds.

He’s talking about the cake scene, an oft forgotten aspect of the Matrix legacy. The Wachowskis gave us meticulous fight choreography, dense philosophy, tiny sunglasses and latex, but lest you forget, they gave us an orgasm cake, too. In the scene, the old program known as the Merovingian (Lambert Wilson) demonstrates to Neo, Trinity, and Morpheus his ability to play with causality in the Matrix by sending a restaurant patron (Tory Mussett) a slice of cake. That piece of cake is really a piece of code that sends her into a very public climax, illustrated on screen with the franchise’s signature stream of neon-green binary exploding between her legs. It’s a shamelessly horny moment that reflects so many of the Wachowskis’ bolder filmmaking impulses. The takeaway is clear now: Behind all their musings about faith and destiny and self-actualization, the Matrix is as much about the bone-shaking, consumptive carnality of life.

Photo: Warner Bros.

Back in 2003, there wasn’t much more consideration of the orgasm cake or what it was meant to signify in the Wachowskis’ world-building. Much like the rave scene in Zion, which Travers labeled as “a tacky bust, generating embarrassment, not heat,” it was received as something to be gawked at and giggled about. But to dismiss the orgasm cake — or that sticky-sweaty dance party, or the kiss that Persephone (Monica Bellucci) cajoles from Neo — is to ignore how important lust and love are to the Matrix stories. …….

Source: https://www.vulture.com/2021/12/about-that-matrix-orgasm-cake.html