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This could have turned out incredibly icky. Think about it for a moment: severely handicapped man goes on a quest to lose his virginity. Hollywood Quirk © could have taken over this screenplay and film and drug it into the ground. Mercifully, and with great élan, I can admit that all of those worries can be put to rest. The Sessions is delicate, humane stuff being explored.
Aside from Joaquin Phoenix, John Hawkes turned in one of my favorite male performances of the year. Normally an actor takes this kind of role to prove that they are the real deal, and because they’re hungrily going after awards-glory. Not so Hawkes. His twisted body, his character is a polio survivor, who is immobile from the neck down, and facial contortions could read as easy awards pandering, but Hawkes digs so much deeper and crafts a warm, loving presence. This is a man who uses humor and empathy to greet the world, and Hawkes renders this humanistic presence in vivid detail by the time the film ends. It’s moving stuff for his performance alone.
Once we add in Helen Hunt as his sex surrogate, a woman who is normally all business who begins to crack under his charms is especially poignant. Yes, her nudity is brave, but people are missing the point. Her sex scenes aren’t tasteless provocations; they’re natural extensions of the storyline and provide moments of true tenderness between these two people. They’re not just engaging in sex, but she is gently guiding him to full-on actualization as a person, these scenes remind us that sex can be gentle, sweet and life-affirming under the right circumstances. And Hunt bravely bares everything she’s got – literally and figuratively – as the surrogate.
Sure, the priest played by William H. Macy may border on the adolescent, but I found his overall character to be a nice sounding board for Hawkes’. They have some funny moments, like when Hawkes admits that he believes in God so that he can have someone to blame for his poor luck in life. It’s an open-hearted glimpse into these two men, and a touching moment.
The ending of the film comes a little abruptly, and it must be said, after charming us with such adult explorations of the themes and images of the story, it’s a bit of a letdown that they couldn’t deliver a more satisfactory ending. I’ve probably made The Sessions sound terribly serious, but much of it is actually funny following the model setup by Hawkes’ character as humor to lessen a precarious situation and provide us a common entry point. Yet I still found myself in a confused emotional state when it ended – do I cry because I was so moved? Or do I smile because I witnessed the merging of soul, mind and body into one? I was left somewhere in between, and The Sessions has stayed with me longer than I thought it would have. It’s just that quietly good.
