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The Sessions [Blu-ray]

John Hawkes (Actor), Helen Hunt (Actor), Ben Lewin (Director) Format: Blu-ray
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 1,842 ratings
IMDb7.2/10.0
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Genre Drama
Format NTSC, Widescreen, Blu-ray, Multiple Formats
Contributor Annika Marks, William H. Macy, John Hawkes, Moon Bloodgood, Ben Lewin, Helen Hunt
Language English
Runtime 1 hour and 35 minutes
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Product Description

Based on the poignantly optimistic autobiographical writings of California-based journalist and poet Mark O'Brien, THE SESSIONS tells the story of a man confined to an iron lung who is determined - at age 38 - to lose his virginity. With the help of his therapists and the guidance of his priest, he sets out to make his dream a reality.

Product details

  • Aspect Ratio ‏ : ‎ 1.85:1
  • Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
  • Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 0.7 x 7.5 x 5.4 inches; 1.6 ounces
  • Item model number ‏ : ‎ 10422342
  • Director ‏ : ‎ Ben Lewin
  • Media Format ‏ : ‎ NTSC, Widescreen, Blu-ray, Multiple Formats
  • Run time ‏ : ‎ 1 hour and 35 minutes
  • Release date ‏ : ‎ January 6, 2015
  • Actors ‏ : ‎ John Hawkes, Helen Hunt, William H. Macy, Moon Bloodgood, Annika Marks
  • Dubbed: ‏ : ‎ Spanish, French
  • Subtitles: ‏ : ‎ English, Spanish, French
  • Studio ‏ : ‎ Fox Searchlight
  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00ANGICRE
  • Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 1,842 ratings

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
1,842 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Jack E. Levic
5.0 out of 5 stars SWEETLY HEARTBREAKING YET SWEETLY INSPIRING
Reviewed in the United States on February 28, 2013
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Mark O'Brien was a normal healthy child until he was striken with polio at age 6 and doomed to a lifetime or relying on others for his basic needs and his life-saving iron lung. The story could end there but O'Brien's brilliant mind and joy of living overcame all obstacles. O'Brien is not exactly paralyzed, he explains. It's his muscles that don't work. He can't move his body below his nexk yet he becomes a writer. He has feeling throughout his body but can't touch a person or object. He has a wonderful mind trapped in a body that has abandoned him.

THE SESSIONS delves into one aspect of O'Brien's incredible life and the movie takes us on an incredible journey of life, love and hope. At age 38, O'Brien, with much guilty and anxiety, decides to hire a sex surrogate just to finally experience sex and physical closeness. He later wrote an article about this experience which became the basis of this book.

We can look at Mark O'Brien with pity or revulsion, as many people did, or we can see him as an inspiration and a joyous creation from God. O'Brien lived an exceptionally long life, despite his condition, and touched the hearts of many. His was a true story of overcoming or at least accepting the worst obstacles life could give anyone.

John Hawkes gives tremendous heart and depth to his portrayal of O'Brien. Hawkes went beyond the norm and refused doubles or special effects and turned his own body into the twisted posture of a polio-stricken O'Brien. Helen Hunt was nominated for an Academy Award for her role as Cheryl Cohen-Greene, the real-life sex surrogate that changed O'Brien's life for ever. Hunt shows her remarkable acting talents as the surrogate baring not only her heart and soul for the role but her body in very tasteful but somewhat explicit nude and sex scenes. Both Hawkes and Hunt became their roles and the connection between the actors and the real-life characters is clear.

Hawkes endearing speech pattern and smile and humor endears us the O'Brien he portrays. We just want to give Hawkes and O'Brien a loving hug and to relish his delightful humorous take on life and his tragic situation. O'Brien's moral dilema is strengthed by scenes with his parrish priest placed by William H. Macy. Macy's role is important as the Catholic priest helping O'Brien wrestle with his shame and embarassment along with his strong desire to experience sex for the first time. Macy's role could have been much more and somehow the priest seems one-dimensional as he listens to O'Brien's stories about the surrogate. Obviously, there is the connection between the two as far as not having sex, except the priest has made a decision to be celibate. O'Brien is trapped in a body that is not fully functional and any chance of a normal loving relationship with a woman seems impossible.

THE SESSIONS will break your heart and inspire you at the same time. There is a sweet sadness to the story that is peppered with hopelessness yet the story is full of hope and joy. It is a remarkable story that the actors and writers brought to the big screen. This fine independent film will keep you thinking and wondering. The priest says God will give O'Brien a "pass" on breaking the rules against pre-martital sex because of O'Brien's predicament. The moral dilemma is heartbreaking since there is no one to blame or judge here.

The writers treat the story with gentle humor. Hawkes's take on O'Brien is so lively and full of joy. There is an inspirational tone to the entire film that leaves the viewer curious about O'Brien's lifem along with a bittersweet sense of hope. It is a truly wonderful film.

The extras on the film are rather limited and involve Helen Hunt and John Hawkes getting into their roles. There is an interview with the real Cheryl Cohen-Greene who talks very briefly about her career as a sexy surrogate. She never mentiones O'Brien and what relationship that had and how their sessions affected her emotionally. The movie leads us to believe they had a spiritual and emotional connection in their few sessions. Cohen-Greene certainly had an immense effect on O'Brien. A brief feature on the real Mark O'Brien would have been an added plus. We're led to believe he found love the last few years of his life, but did he? THE SESSIONS touches the viewer so deeply that we only want more information on Mark O'Brien and his life. The movie opens with scenes of O'Brien "driving" his bed around Berkeley but there is no mention if this is actual footage or not. Truly a remarkable film that leaves so many questions unanswered and has the viewer wanting more.
2 people found this helpful
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Leonard
5.0 out of 5 stars All are good
Reviewed in the United States on March 17, 2024
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All are good
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Fred Schwabe
4.0 out of 5 stars X rated
Reviewed in the United States on April 25, 2024
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Most all...especially the intercourse part
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Mary W. Fowler
5.0 out of 5 stars I may watch this movie daily
Reviewed in the United States on March 24, 2013
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Oh, here is a remarkable presentation of sexuality without "being sexy" about it. Mark O'Brien (from a true story played by John Hawkes) leaks that lovely honesty that allows self-awareness to flower. I don't know how I dare admit it, but I shared this movie with a friend the other night, and then watched it again the very next night--having already seen it at least 4 times! I guess I'm one of the "beautiful women" who succumbed to the outright beauty of the man himself (women who show up at his funeral at movie's end). The Mark John Hawkes gave us is simultaneously chld-like, masterfully self-aware right from the get-go--(no doubt from the journaling and poetry he'd mastered, even from an iron lung)--easily self-mocking, easily able to seek the friendship of a priest who will sanction his pursuit of a very, very difficult goal. Mark, "a Polio," has the opportunity to seek the services of a "Sexual Surrogate." So, though he "appears" a simple man, John Hawkes' appropriation of him shows a complexity that continues to draw me back and back. And adding to that, the excellent presence in this story of three caretakers brings us especially Rod and Vera, who were also shown with stellar ability to be in the present and simply accepting of Mark's dependencies, while wholly aware of his "personhood," These all just puff this movie bigger and bigger. Vera--who's initial appearance is shown as being reservedly assessing---just grows and grows into an inveterate side-kick--a beautifully sound compadre to "have one's back."

As much as I've watched this movie now, the more critical I become of the sex therapist, Cheryl, whom Helen Hunt actually quite superbly renders. It is not at all clear why she became so wrapped up in him (but she does). I wish they'd had time to show her in therapeutic relation with anybody else--to put in perspective the fact that she was a pro in this business. That is to say, she exposed herself to the risks of sexual bonding in a clinical fashion over and over again. I know this is a separate issue beyond what the movie could take on, but even one scene with her with one other client, coming or going, or going to bed with hubby following some other day with a client--or for that matter, having to shift hats and enter into real sexuality with her husband--whom I read as a really nice guy--and appropriately adult and real!), would have helped us see what in Mark undid her so.

But this is a movie not only to see, but to own. You are, after all, going to want to drink it in multiple times.
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S_J
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in India on June 7, 2018
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Heart warming
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schumann_bg
5.0 out of 5 stars remarkable
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 21, 2013
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The Sessions is a very beautiful film, focusing on the true-life experiences of a man who had polio as a child and spends much of the time in an iron lung. It shows his brave attempts to experience sexuality with a lot of humour as well as self-doubt, and the actor, John Hawkes, is amazing, as is Helen Hunt as the sex surrogate who helps him along this path. The performances ring absolutely true and leave you moved and full of admiration for them both, as does William H. Macy's turn as a Catholic priest. The effect of the film is very concentrated, with the camera often quite low to capture the character's viewpoint - he is always horizontal - but the tone is humorous and easy-going, even with the sadness which is very present also. The three faces draw you in to it as a visual experience, so you start to see them as carrying so much humanity. Don't be put off by the trailer, which gives the (false) impression there is a lot of background pop music - the tone of the actual film is much more rewarding and doesn't hop around like a lot of modern-day films! By the end it has achieved remarkable grace; it is the kind of film which modern frankness about sexual matters has allowed to be made, and seems to me to represent a strand of contemporary filmmaking at its very finest, dealing with a range of sexual and personal areas with a directness that wouldn't have been possible even in the very liberated 1970s. For me it is a much more fruitful subject than modern adventure epics full of CGI, and gives one hope for the future of cinema as a noble art form in that it creates empathy, but not in a sentimental or false way, and with a certain understatement, in spite of the openness already mentioned. Really it's the best new film I've seen for many months.
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fwiw6180
5.0 out of 5 stars 輸入版SESSIONS
Reviewed in Japan on April 29, 2014
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　マーケットプレイスで安かったので購入しました。国内版の半額以下です。いきなり日本語で著作権の警告が出てきたので、
もしや日本語字幕入りかと思いきや、入っていませんでした。２０ヵ国以上の字幕が入っているのに、日本語がないのは、高い
国内版を売るためなのかな。削除シーン、メイキング、予告編が入っており、日本語字幕と吹替えがないこと以外は、国内版と
同じようです。

　映画としては、寝たきりで人口呼吸器で生活する主人公のセックス体験がメインストーリーとなっています。たいへんな生活
を描くだけでも立派な映画になるところ、セックスの悩みに絞って描いているところがユニークです。実際にセックスもするセックス
セラピスト、代理セックスというのも、はじめて知りました。映画の創作かと思いきや、なんと実在するんですね。今は亡くなって
しまった主人公の書いた原作がもとになっています。メイキングでは、監督、出演者と一緒にこのセックスセラピストも出演。
ユーモアたっぷりに描かれている映画ですが、実話であることに、たいへん驚きました。

　寝たきりの主人公を演じるJOHN　HAWKESという俳優さん、素晴らしい熱演です。メイキングで出てくる姿からは、同一人物と
思えなかった。大胆なオールヌード（劇場では修正入らなかったのかな？）を見せるヘレン・ハントも素晴らしい。彼女、誰を演じて
も常にヘレン・ハントならではの魅力があって好きな女優さんです。ブルーレイで見ると顔の小じわやらがくっきり、映ってしまうの
ですが、なんとも魅力的だなあ。他にウィリアム・H・メイシーが共演。それにしても実在のこの主人公の、原作の魅力をきっちりと
伝えるJOHN　HAWKESの演技は見事です。心地よい音楽も良く、夏のボストン？の緑多い風景も良し。なかなかの傑作です。
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Cliente Amazon
5.0 out of 5 stars Da vedere e rivedere!!!
Reviewed in Italy on December 11, 2019
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Un film semplicemente dolcissimo che tratta il tema così scottante e ostico del sesso nella maniera più semplice e trasparente possibile . Super consigliato a chi ha un ❤️ovvero a tutti gli esseri umani che si sentono tali👍👍👍
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Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars An underrated great movie.
Reviewed in Canada on April 21, 2014
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I love this movie. Every time I watch it I am laughing out loud one moment and then have a tear in my eye the next. Every actor turns in a brilliant performance that is real and subtle, but so full of meaning. Of course, they also have a brilliant script to work with and the director and editor do a wonderful job of drawing the viewer into the story. I am sure there are some people who find the whole concept shocking even now, but for me it is a beautiful film that really makes you appreciate life.
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