The Sessions Film Review A hit on the festival circuit from Sundance to Toronto in 2012, 'The Sessions' was shamelessly overlooked for the Golden Globes and the Oscars this year. Based on Mark O'Brien's 1990 article 'On Seeing a Sex Surrogate', the film charts the author's attempt to have sex for the first time at the age of 36 in 1985; not an easy thing for a man crippled by polio from the age of six and having to spend his life lying in a prone position in an iron lung.
This is a grown up film about disability and sex and as such it portrays the yearnings, difficulties and intimacy of achieving intercourse in a funny, frank and completely naturalistic way. Helen Hunt gives one of her best ever performances as the sex surrogate, Cheryl Cohen-Greene, and should be applauded for taking on a role that requires her to be completely naked in several scenes. In doing so, however, she displays a body unblemished by cosmetic surgery, extreme dieting or gym workouts that women half her age would die for (she is nearly 50). She brings compassion and understanding to the role and the scenes of awkward sex (the eponymous 'sessions' of the title) have a gentle veracity that will have you harking back nostalgically to your very first time. John Hawkes has not made a bad film yet and brings humour and warmth to the role in equal measure. The possibility of love beyond the intimacy of sex is delicately explored and Hawkes brilliantly conveys O'Brien's pain that this may be an unobtainable goal. The triumvirate of fine actors is completed by William H. Macy's portrayal of an understanding, sympathetic and pragmatic priest that acts as a lightning rod to O'Brien's spiritual concerns.
I had not read O'Brien's article before I had seen the film so there was a part of it which I cynically viewed as a fairytale – the scenes exploring Cohen-Greene's growing emotional attachment to O'Brien in just four sessions. As a professional sex surrogate I just could not believe that this 'transference' could develop in Hunt's character. Surely there would be a cold detachment? After all, isn't sex surrogacy about resolving a physical problem or need? I was so sceptical about this part of the film that I read O'Brien's article 'On Seeing a Sex Surrogate' immediately after the film and to my surprise, 'The Sessions' is a near identical translation of the article. Knowing this transforms the film into a perfect gem.
If there is one slight criticism it is that there is no equality of the sexes. Hawkes, in contrast to Hunt, does not appear naked once; yet the scene in which O'Brien is encouraged to look at himself naked in a mirror would have been the perfect opportunity to see his genitalia. A film that deals with human sexuality and which only shows women naked is hypocritical and wrong. Hollywood still has a long way to go in the equality stakes when it continues to remain unabashed at showing copious amounts of female flesh, yet at the same time being jarringly puritanical at displaying the male form.
In broaching the little talked about subject of disability and sex, 'The Sessions' should be de rigeur for all spotty adolescents. Yet, because Helen Hunt is seen completely naked, the film attracts an automatic 'R' certificate in the States restricting an intelligent and sensitive drama to a limited audience. There is something very wrong about the cultural and social norms of the United States when films showing scenes of graphic, gory and gratuitous violence can attract large teenage audiences; yet a naked woman and the most beautiful and natural act in the world are regarded as taboo.
This is a grown up film about disability and sex and as such it portrays the yearnings, difficulties and intimacy of achieving intercourse in a funny, frank and completely naturalistic way. Helen Hunt gives one of her best ever performances as the sex surrogate, Cheryl Cohen-Greene, and should be applauded for taking on a role that requires her to be completely naked in several scenes. In doing so, however, she displays a body unblemished by cosmetic surgery, extreme dieting or gym workouts that women half her age would die for (she is nearly 50). She brings compassion and understanding to the role and the scenes of awkward sex (the eponymous 'sessions' of the title) have a gentle veracity that will have you harking back nostalgically to your very first time. John Hawkes has not made a bad film yet and brings humour and warmth to the role in equal measure. The possibility of love beyond the intimacy of sex is delicately explored and Hawkes brilliantly conveys O'Brien's pain that this may be an unobtainable goal. The triumvirate of fine actors is completed by William H. Macy's portrayal of an understanding, sympathetic and pragmatic priest that acts as a lightning rod to O'Brien's spiritual concerns.
I had not read O'Brien's article before I had seen the film so there was a part of it which I cynically viewed as a fairytale – the scenes exploring Cohen-Greene's growing emotional attachment to O'Brien in just four sessions. As a professional sex surrogate I just could not believe that this 'transference' could develop in Hunt's character. Surely there would be a cold detachment? After all, isn't sex surrogacy about resolving a physical problem or need? I was so sceptical about this part of the film that I read O'Brien's article 'On Seeing a Sex Surrogate' immediately after the film and to my surprise, 'The Sessions' is a near identical translation of the article. Knowing this transforms the film into a perfect gem.
If there is one slight criticism it is that there is no equality of the sexes. Hawkes, in contrast to Hunt, does not appear naked once; yet the scene in which O'Brien is encouraged to look at himself naked in a mirror would have been the perfect opportunity to see his genitalia. A film that deals with human sexuality and which only shows women naked is hypocritical and wrong. Hollywood still has a long way to go in the equality stakes when it continues to remain unabashed at showing copious amounts of female flesh, yet at the same time being jarringly puritanical at displaying the male form.
In broaching the little talked about subject of disability and sex, 'The Sessions' should be de rigeur for all spotty adolescents. Yet, because Helen Hunt is seen completely naked, the film attracts an automatic 'R' certificate in the States restricting an intelligent and sensitive drama to a limited audience. There is something very wrong about the cultural and social norms of the United States when films showing scenes of graphic, gory and gratuitous violence can attract large teenage audiences; yet a naked woman and the most beautiful and natural act in the world are regarded as taboo.