94% The Sessions

All Critics (159) | Top Critics (41) | Fresh (150) | Rotten (10) | DVD (1)

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.

Lewin, who has fought his own lifelong polio battle, handles tricky material with a gentle, empathetic touch.

Formulaic but uplifting, positive and accessible.

In its barest form this is a traditional rites-of-passage yarn, dealing in first love and lost innocence, and even with a candid discussion of sex, it's mostly sweetness and light.

Few movies are so frank about the sexual mechanics of the disabled ...

All thinking viewers will come away with a better understanding as to how the seemingly different amongst us are really just the one-in-the-same when getting up close and personal.

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.

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

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