A good movie that could have been great. Would not recommend it for those viewers who are sensitive to sexual content. What was good about The Sessions: the idea of a community working together to help someone achieve a seemingly impossible & intimate rite of passage. What was disappointing (spoilers to follow):
I was initially pleased that a sexual surrogate was portrayed as having a normal life, and her career was not depicted in a sensational, degenerate &/or pornographic/fetishistic manner, but was soon disappointed at the treacly American twist of trying to make it a romance that couldn’t be, which completely hurt everything that was initially successful in Cheryl’s character. I was disappointed by this conventional rationalization of a life that does not fit the trope of sex and love, but sex as therapy which led to a real life friendship. Stories like this one need an European filmmaker who won’t shy away from a more matter-of-fact yet touching portrayal that shouldn’t have to fit Hollywood conventions.