The Sessions (2012) 8/10

Starring : John Hawkes, Helen Hunt, William H Macy, Moon Bloodgood
Director : Ben Lewin
Running Time : 96 mins

As a child Mark O’Brien (Hawkes) developed polio, which meant that he has spent most of his life in an iron lung. As a result he has been unable to form any kind of a romantic relationship so, with the advice of his priest Father Brendan (Macy) and one of his care workers, Vera (Bloodgood), Mark decides to employ the assistance of a sex surrogate.

This is a touching account of one man’s seemingly impossible mission to find love and lose his virginity. The characters whose lives he touches all love him in a way that is more than sexual, and Hawkes manages to portray Mark in such a way that you can’t help but like him, if only for his wide eyed optimism. There are sad moments, but largely this is a light-hearted drama that shows that just because someone can’t move from the neck down without assistance doesn’t mean that they’re not a human being with feeling and emotions.

You’ll like this if you liked : The Diving Bell And The Butterfly