94% The Sessions

All Critics (154) | Top Critics (41) | Fresh (144) | Rotten (10)

Thanks to Lewin's light but assured touch, The Sessions never wears its theological preoccupations heavily, instead allowing transcendence to creep up on the audience quietly.

A very different kind of love story, breaking taboos lightly, with sensitivity and humor.

Achieves its sunny disposition by pulling punches.

A funny, tender and mostly unsentimentalized movie about physical and emotional triumph.

Forced to do all his acting with his face, Hawkes displays the kind of camera-arresting capability that has earned others Oscar nominations.

For the most part, an authentically subversion take on fringe sexuality.

The Sessions belongs completely to Hawkes, who disappears into the role of Mark O'Brien, delivering a stunning performance that illuminates what it means to be a whole person.

This is one of the best, and certainly one of the best-acted, films of the year. I can't think of another film that mixed compassion and carnality in such an eloquent way.

The laughs are always gentle, which is descriptive of the film as a whole, as it strives to reconnect cinematic sex with shared humanity.

Vera is something of a missed opportunity here.

A movie about sex that shows a whole lot of sex, but isn't sex-obsessed. The Sessions grabs you in the heart rather than the loins.

An inspiring tale that celebrates the human spirit, underscores the value of connections, and laughs at the beautifully embarrassing urges that make us what we are.

Deeply moving. The Oscar-worthy (John) Hawkes invests his character with a sense of grace and humor that nullifies any potential pity. This is a great movie for adults and even for older adolescents.

It is rare to watch a movie where sex is treated with maturity, religion is treated with respect and characters are so heart-warmingly written and portrayed.

Raw, unrestrained and sympathetic without giving in to melodrama, 'The Sessions' is about a man facing a physical challenge who decides he wants to become intimate with a woman.

An intelligent, funny, insightful film that offers a frank examination of sex. It's not prurient or titillating, just truthful.

A remarkable actor, John Hawkes, gives a remarkable performance as a remarkable character.

Surprisingly funny and touching.

Presents the sensitive O'Brien as a brave, funny, unselfish and unlikely romantic-fantasy dream hero for disappointed, weary or jaded older female moviegoers.

The uplifting struggle for living a life of dignity for paralyzed from the neck down polio victim Mark O'Brien.

The sex scenes are frank and explicit, but never cheap and exploitative. (Yes, they get naked. Grow up.) The nudity isn't airbrushed pin-up perfection, but raw and real - and all the more lovely and moving because of it.

Taking the good with the bad, this isn't a terrible movie, though it is being rather overhyped. I found myself laughing a lot and enjoying the transformations the actors go through, but an unengaging story only serves to drag it down.

A film, inspired by the life of the late poet-journalist Mark O'Brien, that celebrates the relationship between physical and emotional intimacy.

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_sessions/

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