It would be easy to label The Sessions as Helen Hunt’s sex movie, since she portrays a sex surrogate and is naked for much of her performance, but that would be a disservice to the potency of Ben Lewin’s movie.  The Sessions is much more than that, and to my mind it is even more impressive because it is inspired by real people and situations.  It is one of the best movies I have seen yet this year.

Mark O’Brien (John Hawkes) is a polio survivor whose body must be encased in an iron lung most of the time just so he can keep breathing.  Although he has lived a surprisingly full life considering his condition he has never had sex, and he would like to experience that before he dies.  So, after consulting with friends, therapists and even his priest (William H. Macy), Mark agrees to see a sex therapist.  How those visits affect not only his life but hers forms the crux of the story.

A movie like this depends on great writing and performance to succeed, and Lewin’s movie has both.  Lewin wrote the script after being inspired by O’Brien’s story, and he has directed the film with great care.  His script is dramatic and funny, touching and risqué, sad and celebratory.  It does not sentimentalize O’Brien’s predicament but rather explores the universal themes that O’Brien has to face.  And the acting by Hawkes, Hunt, Macy, Moon Bloodgood, Annika Marks and Robin Weigert is superb, fully embodying all the humanity that Lewin’s script dramatizes.

It is also refreshing to find a movie that treats sex with adult frankness, honesty and appropriate humor.  Most movies don’t know how to deal with realistic sex; they often employ a teasing approach or use it as motivation for vice and violence.  Those methods are fine, but it’s nice to find a movie that isn’t afraid to admit and explore the complexities of sex and its aftermath, and is brave enough to not snicker about the subject.  I highly recommend this movie.  ☆ ☆ ☆ 1/2.  21 November 2012.