Going for it: The Sessions

The Sessions is an earnest little film that apparently takes a nonfiction, first-person magazine article on sex and the disabled - an account by a 30-something guy (Mark O'Brien, John Hawkes), confined since childhood to an iron lung (childhood polio) who wants very much to have sexual relationships - visits a long-haired and unconventional Catholic priest (William Macy) for advice and encouragement (this is Berkeley, circa 1988), Macy tells him to "go for it," he hires a sex therapist who directs him to a "sex surrogate" (Ceryl, Helen Hunt), who initiates him and teaches him over the course of 4 sessions by which time they, inevitably, fall for each other. On the plus side: Hawkes and especially Hunt play these difficult parts very well; I know that so many accolades go to able-bodied actors playing the disabled, but you have admit that he does a damn good job with the role; Hunt even more so - as this part requires her to be extremely calm and comfortable in a # of graphic sex scenes, and she does seem entirely natural before the camera - she's a much under-rated actress I think (pigeon-holed as a TV actress). I in particular like that the movie did in fact follow the natural course of events (spoilers here) and did not go for the so-called Hollywood ending that I half-expected and feared: Hunt understands that she has to walk away from Hawkes and let him lead his life rather than building a fantasy relationship around her - so she actually stays with her deadbeat husband (poorly cast - he does not look at all like a Jewish philosopher) and Hawkes moves on. On the less good side: sometimes a short story is best left as such, and it does feel like this movie, even though relatively short by today's jumbo standards, is filling time - the pace is very slow and kind of boring (I was relieved that they'd cut the sessions at 4, dropping the scheduled last 2). Movie has far too much voice-over narration, by Hawkes and even by Hunt (dictating notes on this case), and very few dramatic scenes aside from the sessions themselves. Sex surrogate is a totally weird and (to me) little-known profession; Hunt does give an explainer as to how and why this is different from prostitution, and we can see how she is actually offering therapy and instruction, rather than just erotic pleasure - but all this made me think I'd rather see a documentary on the subject than this somewhat prettied-up version, in which not one but three beautiful women fall for Hawkes - possible, yes, but possibly also his own view from his own narrative standpoint, accepted within the world of this movie as fact. We learn very little about his background and nothing about Hunt's, which is to me a big blank space in the story. Still, a very unusual topic that the writer-director Ben Lewin handles with dignity and with some light humor - worth watching for that and for two fine performances.