This was my response to the comment:
I have to admit, I continue to feel that the scene involving the vibrating vagina egg is one of the movie’s weaker moments. However, I do not think the scene was “randomly put in there.” I think the scene has a lot to do with the movie. On one level, it is, for Sofia, the straw that breaks the camel’s back. The incident builds the case she’s forming, consciously and unconsciously, that she and Rob may not be compatible.

On another level, the egg is a reference to a Japanese movie called In the Realm of the Senses. You might remember that the egg has the text, “In the Realm of the Senses” printed on it. That’s Mitchell telling people (who know too much about movies?) that the reference is intentional. Senses was released in 1976, but wasn’t shown in many places uncut until one or two decades later. The movie deals mainly with sexual obsession and is one of the earliest serious movies to contain explicit sex. In one scene of Senses, the male protagonist inserts an egg into the female protagonist’s vagina. She pushes it out and he eats it. In the Realm of the Senses is, thirty years later, an excellent source to study for someone trying to see if explicit sex can be used in a movie non-pornographically.

So, the scene is useful to the movie narratively and in the way it references the other movie. My beef with the scene is that it turns into a kind of slapstick I don’t think quite works for the movie. At the same time, though, Mitchell is poking fun at Senses which was too solemn and too dreary to be entertaining to me and, I would imagine, to many viewers. Mitchell accomplishes more than Oshima (director of Senses), I think, and the egg scene is an example of Mitchell being confident of this belief. There’s nothing I can think of offhand in the movie that didn’t serve a purpose on at least one level.

As for the acting, I can’t say much in response. I thought the acting was extraordinary for the mostly non-professional actors. People I talk to who found substance in the movie seem to appreciate the acting. People I talk to who found pornography seem to appreciate the acting less. It makes sense to me that our respect for an actor might vary in relation to our respect for the movie the actor is in.

I’m not at all offended that my writing didn’t have immediate resonance for you. Now that I think about it, I can’t remember the last time I was offended by something.

My primary hope in writing this was to share a film I feel is noteworthy and explain my feelings. I did my best to analyze it as though I didn’t know that seeing sex on screen makes some people uncomfortable. For me, there is a foreseeable future where mankind unites in complete bodily acceptance. I’m convinced the people of that future will be able to watch Shortbus, stripped of its current novelty of explicit sex, and find substance, humanity, and beauty.

I’m glad you found these things and, if I helped, I’m even gladder to have convinced you of my opinion that I continue to confidently stand by.