MOVIE · 2012

The Sessions

ComedyDocumentaryDramaRomance98 min

After a writing assignment stirs his curiosity about sex and disability, poet and journalist Mark O’Brien decides he wants to lose his virginity. John Hawkes is Mark, whose childhood polio left him dependent on an iron lung and needing help with nearly every part of daily life. When an advance toward a caregiver goes badly, he contacts sex surrogate Cheryl Cohen-Greene; Helen Hunt gives Cheryl a calm, matter-of-fact presence as she lays out the rules of their sessions. Alongside Mark’s conversations with his therapist and priest, the film follows a practical, intimate arrangement shaped by embarrassment, faith, humor, and physical limits.