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| A blue-templated, uplifting, fresh and curiosity-striking poster for Ben Lewin's The Sessions |
The Sessions is the true story of Mark O'Brien, a poet who is bound to his iron lung due to his debilitating polio condition, who in 1980's California as a middle-aged gentleman gets his sexual debut thanks to a life-savvy sex therapist's generous sessions.
John Hawkes (Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011)) and Helen Hunt (As Good As It Gets (1997)) are both magnificent, and William H. Macy (Fargo (1996)) has a lovely and very funny part as O'Brien's open-minded, candid priest here in a real gem of a film, in which all the secondary parts are also filled out by wonderful actors across the board. With underplayed, fine photography and music, The Sessions works its magic by totally un-senzationalizing sex with a paralyzed man, and by broadening the human horizon in doing so. It is written and directed by Ben Lewin (Georgia (1988)), who has survived polio himself and who handles the true story here with insightful deftness and a keen sense of common humanity, empathy and not least a warm and liberating sense of humor that makes the rare situation we get confronted with here so very recognizable and palpable. The result is poignant and deeply moving
Full of heart, meaning, fun and tears, The Sessions is a uniquely wonderful film, pushing boundaries and making perfectly natural sense with its inherent agenda of the right for a sexual life for people with disabilities.
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Budget: 1 mil. $
Box office: 9.1 mil. $
= Big hit
What do you think of The Sessions?
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