The Sessions

Mark O'Brien developed polio at the age of six.  The disease left him with little control over his muscles.  But he travels about on a motorised gurney which allows him to attend college and earn his degree, and from there he earns a living as a writer and poet.  We find this out about him in the first two minutes of the movie.

At the age of 38, Mark decides he is missing out on something.  Sex.  After falling in love with his carer (she handles it badly) and writing a series of articles on sex and the disabled, he decides that he has been a virgin long enough.  But as a committed Catholic he discusses it with his priest first.  He gets an unexpected response - 

FATHER BRENDAN:   I think He'd give you a free pass on this one.
MARK:    Really?
FATHER BRENDAN:   I think He'd say "Go for it".

Mark engages the services of a professional sex surrogate.  Cheryl works at the referral of a sex therapist, and helps disabled people gain confidence to the point where they can have full sexual relationships by having six sex sessions with them.  No more than six.  It's an awkward situation and Mark is terrified.  But Cheryl is thoughtful and kind and if her manner is somewhat clinical she is also understanding and patient.  She finds herself hindered by the guilt that plagues Mark.  Not about sex outside of marriage, but that someone like him could deserve any sort of love at all.  

How the two get through this is by turns, sad, touching and really REALLY funny.  I am not exaggerating if I tell you that this is one of the funniest films I have seen in a long time.  Mark is a witty and likeable dude (brilliantly played by John Hawkes) William H Macy plays the groovy surfer dude priest and is funny just by raising an eyebrow, and the frank discussions of sex are refreshingly blunt and to the point.

But this isn't actually a film about sex.  It's a film about romance.  And while Cheryl and Mark might try to separate the two and have a therapist/client relationship, feelings naturally surface.  Sex, the movie says, is more than a physical act and you can't sleep with someone and not feel connected.  It's an issue.  Cheryl worries about Mark's "transference", but she unexpectedly runs into issues with her own emotions too - and the feelings of her husband.

"The Sessions" is the best film I've seen in a long long time.  The screenplay (adapted from O'Brien's own article) is very real - very quickly the characters feel like people you've come to know.  The direction is honest and straightforward - no manipulation, no dressing things up and the acting is bloody superb.  I never really liked Helen Hunt before, but she gives a fantastic performance here. There's been a lot of writing about the fact that she's in the nip for a lot of the film - but it's not Hollywood Nip.  It's Matter of Fact Real Life Nip, where people slip off for a wee without bothering to put their knickers back on.

Its up against stiff competitions at the Oscars, but I really hope it wins big.  It's a groovy film about cool people and I liked them a lot.

MARK: I believe in a God with a sense of humour. I would find it absolutely intolerable not to be to able blame someone for all this.