Synopsis
Though a childhood bout with polio left him dependent on an iron lung, Mark O'Brien maintains a career as a journalist and poet. A writing assignment dealing with sex and the disabled piques Mark's curiosity, and he decides to investigate the possibility of experiencing sex himself. When his overtures toward a caregiver scare her away, he books an appointment with sex surrogate Cheryl Cohen-Greene to lose his virginity.
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Cast
- John HawkesMark
- Helen HuntCheryl
- William H. MacyFather Brendan
- Moon BloodgoodVera
- Annika MarksAmanda
- Adam ArkinJosh
- Rhea PerlmanMikvah Lady
- W. Earl BrownRod
- Robin WeigertSusan
- Blake LindsleyDr. Laura White
Recommendations
- 100
Observer
The Sessions is fascinating, informative, engaging and heartbreaking stuff. Its easygoing, matter-of-fact tone makes it subtle and rewarding, not weird. Roses all around to all and sundry for one of the year's most captivating films. - 91
The A.V. Club
It might just be the most poignant, moving film ever made about one man's surprisingly noble efforts to get laid. - 90
Variety
A film of tenderness and humor married to the unlikeliest of subjects. - 83
Entertainment Weekly
The Sessions is first and foremost about Hawkes' virtuoso performance, one of those "My Left Foot"-y transformations that make audiences verklemmt and generate awards talk. - 80
Boxoffice Magazine
The emotional journey is articulated with so much nuance, and such a vigorous belief in human possibility, that everything The Surrogate touches becomes its own, and is made new. - 80
The Hollywood Reporter
At once entirely frank and downright cuddly in the way it deals with the seldom-visited subject of the sex lives of people with disabilities, this well-acted and constructed film will, at the very least, turn the spotlight on this unusual topic. - 80
Time Out
The real heat of The Sessions comes from its pitch-perfect sense of place, the free-spirited Berkeley of the 1980s. - 80
Village Voice
Hawkes and Hunt nobly tackle the physical demands their roles require.
