254. The Sessions

254. (27 Oct) The Sessions (2012, Ben Lewin)* 69



John Hawkes and Helen Hunt offer two of the performances of the year with The Sessions, a film that captures the power and poignancy of intimacy better than just about any other. Their scenes together are funny, poignant and astoundingly moving. Both excel even when they're not sharing screentime, but they work so well together it's transportive and career-defining.

The film itself is powerful throughout. Ben Lewin's script is clever enough, but it's in moments like where he visually explores the ecstasy of an orgasm that it's clear he's a director first. There are issues with the peripheral characters here, who are mostly stock or comic relief. They make Hawkes and Hunt's scenes together even easier to relish.

THE SESSIONS

THE SESSIONS
Written and Directed by Ben Lewin
Starring John Hawkes, Helen Hunt and William H. Macy

Mark O’Brien: I’m definitely a believer but I believe in a god with a sense of humour, a wicked sense of humoour, one that created me in his own image.

Perhaps I’m just not as open as I like to think I am, or perhaps I should consider myself fortunate that I have not yet required such services, but up until seeing THE SESSIONS, I had no real idea that sexual surrogacy existed, let alone what it was. Now, I know that sexual surrogates, more often than not, women, are therapists with backgrounds in sexuality who assist their patients with sexual obstacles, by listening to them, communicating clearly with them and, as it turns out, demonstrating their lessons physically with their patients. In that sense, it’s like therapy with a happy ending, I guess. In reality though, it is so much more than that, as is proven by the true story of Mark O’Brien.

O’Brien (played on screen in a fiercely fearless portayal by John Hawkes) was a poet and at 38 years old, he had yet to experience one of the most inspirational activities God ever gave us, sex. It’s not that the perfect moment never presented itself for O’Brien but rather he had some seemingly insurmountable obstacles to get past in order to get anywhere under the sheets. First of all, his sheets aren’t even on a bed; they are inside an iron lung, where O’Brien spends the majority of his time. At the age of 6, he contracted polio, went on to lose most of his muscular functions and cannot spend more than three hours outside the iron lung. He grew into a well-adjusted adult male and even went on to earn a university degree despite only being able to type using a stick gripped between his teeth to hit keys. Sexual intimacy has always eluded him though and, after falling for one of his attendants, he decides he should be prepared in case that fateful moment should ever arise again.

O’Brien chronicled his sexual awakening in an article that was published at the time and has now formed the basis for THE SESSIONS screenplay, written by Ben Lewin. Lewin also directs, which is the film’s only real weakness. While Lewin coaches incredible performances out of his leads, including Helen Hunt as the surrogate herself and William H. Macy, as O’Brien’s confidant (and parish priest), his visual style is a little static for my taste. There is a lot of talking in THE SESSIONS, which, is necessary considering the action from the lead is rather limited, but at times this stunts the film somewhat. Fortunately though, what is being discussed is simply fascinating and the emotional impact of what is taking place is subtly slipped in amidst these brave performances. In a world where sex has become so transactional on so many levels, it is reassuring to see that feeling can still play a part even when money is deliberately exchanging hands.

The Final Conclusion - Best Actress 1997

1997

So the much anticipated ranking is:

5. Julie Christie in Afterglow

I'm not one of the fans of Julie Christie in Afterglow. She has some nice moments and she nails to emotional scenes to a certain extent but it's not enough to win me over. I really missed the wildness or the subtlety of her other great performances. But the fact that she wasn't great is mostly due to the horrid movie. Still, she's not great.

4. Kate Winslet in Titanic

This is great work by Kate Winslet. I don't want to take away anything from it as it's great work but she pales a little bit in comparision with the epic movie that she's in. Kate perfectly portrayed all the negative emotions and fears of the character and therefore she was really haunting in the beginning.

3. Helen Hunt in As Good as it Gets

Helen Hunt almost crossed the line of fantastic with her performance as Carol Connelly in As Good as it Gets. Hunt added wonderful, loveable realism to this character and she made the audience really care about her. Those, who keep saying that she's one of the worst winners, really need to shut up. Helen Hunt is just excellent as this loveable character.

2. Judi Dench in Mrs Brown

This is a wonderful performance by one of the greatest actresses ever on this planet. Although it may not be the best achievement of the brilliant Dame Judi Dench, she perfectly inhabited this very complex character and nailed the emotional scenes. This is excellent work that is a real joy to watch. It's not fantastic or mindblowing, it's "just" absolutely wonderful.

1. Helena Bonham Carter in The Wings of the Dove

As Kate Croy, Helena Bonham Carter managed to create fascinating, multi-layered and mysterious character that is surely very interesting. I was totally blown away by Helena who gave astonishing work and I am not surprised at all at the amount of love that Helena gets for this great achievement. Haunting, disturbing, beautiful.

So I can proudly announce

that my winner is...

Helena Bonham Carter

in

The Wings of the Dove

Just loved Helena

Final thoughts: Why do I have mixed feelings? This was an enjoyable year with very good performances and mostly not-so-great movies. Afterglow was T-E-R-R-I-B-L-E but Christie made it a bit less intolerable, Mrs Brown was quite boring with Judi Dench who gave a wonderful but definitely not her greatest performance (interesting enough, that was the movie because of which I wanted to do this year), As Good as it Gets was very entertaining and Hunt really elevated the material (I'd say she was the best thing about it). Helena was just thrilling and her movie was very interesting. I'd say Titanic was the best movie in the bunch, a real epic and Kate was really good in it though not brilliant. I would say that this year was worth reviewing because of the fantastic, gutwrenching performance of Helena Bonham Carter and the great Dame Judi. I could live without the rest, though.

The ranking of the reviewed years:

1. 1944
2. 1969
3. 1974
4. 1989
5. 1959
6. 1964
7. 1939
8. 1977
9. 2010
10. 1997
11. 2009
12. 1980
13. 1941
14. 1963
15. 1966
16. 1973
17. 1990
18. 1978
19. 1954
20. 1948
21. 2002
22. 1957
23. 1940
24. 1998

About the next year: I AM SO DAMN SORRY! I've just realised that The Whisperers was removed from Youtube! I'm so f-ing nervous right now. I'm feeling very sorry but I'm going to do another great year instead. I'm so sorry again. Really, really sorry. Basically, the poll was useless and I didn't get the other movies of the years in the poll. So I had to think quick. And I have my year, which is (I promise) a great one. It's an incredibly similar one to 1997 and not only in the types of roles (single mom, royal) but also some people. :)

What do you think?

Helen Hunt in As Good as it Gets

Helen Hunt received her first and (to date only) Best Actress nomination and Oscar for playing Carol Connelly, a waitress and a single mom in the Best Picture nominated comedy, As Good as it Gets. Many were surprised to see her win but I really don't see why. She won SAG, the Golden Globe. Of course, many thought Judi Dench would win but Hunt triumphed in the end. I guess that her stardom she reached with Mad about You helped her. It's an interesting and very controversial decision, not very typical from teh Academy.

As Good as it Gets is an entertaining but really overlong movie. Had it been 30 minutes shorter, I would have enjoyed it way more. That Best Picture nod was a bit much, I think. I mean being very entertaining doesn't equal an Oscar nomination in my book. Furthermore, this movie has such a TV feel to it (just like everything by James L. Brooks). Brooks does things as if this movie was 20 minutes long. And what works in a sitcom doesn't necessarily work in a feautre film. Jack is naturally great but that Oscar might have been a bit much. Greg Kinnear was not bad but nothing particularly amazing, really.

Whatever happened to Helen Hunt? Seriously, what's going on with her right now? Apart from the funny, but insignificant What Women Want, she didn't make many successful movies until As Good as it Gets. I guess the fact that she kept on working on television after her Oscar win might have been one of the main reasons why she didn't succeed after all. I think she's very much like Tina Fey though their characters are a bit different (but their acting style is quite similar). The other odd thing is that I wouldn't really expect to write so much about sitcom actresses on this blog, in my Best Actress reviews (only Mary Tyler Moore comes to my mind now).

Comedy is extremely hard to pull off. There's always the danger of overacting and unfortunately we don't really get great great comedy nowadays. I mean, how does The Hangover compare to Some Like it Hot? All in all, great comedy performances are mostly given on television, I feel. Hunt's previous experience with comedy certainly helped her a lot in portraying the character of Carol Connelly. However, it's not only comedy skill that she needed to do this role well. Carol is a bit boring character and you've just got to make her more interesting and loveable. And Hunt really succeeded in doing so, thanks to her immense charisma.

The first thing I noticed that (just like with Dame Judi Dench in Mrs Brown) Hunt doesn't get enough screentime and that's really the movie's fault. I just couldn't decide who's the one I should be rooting for. There was Melvin, Carol and Simon. Jack had the advantage of being Jack and getting the juicy lines, Kinnear is the one the audience feels sorry for and there's Hunt. The thing that really elevated this performance above the two male actors is that Hunt added some bitterweet realism to Carol. Carol is a very ordinary woman with problems at home, with her love life and her child. She seems to exist inside a bubble and the only think she can care about is her only child. Hunt heartbreakingly showed the pain of this character and her performance is unusually deep for this movie. I mean, As Good as it Gets lacks emotional depth and stays on the surface with emotions but Hunt (in my opinion) went inside the head of this character and understood all her actions perfectly.

There's the scene where Hunt says a hysterical monologue (it's probably her most famous moment and people still keep talking about it). She's so heartwrenching and it's just impossible not to feel for her character. And the delivery of the lin "OK" is simply perfect. I dare say that it's probably one of the best acted scenes of 1997.

I must admit, though, that I was a bit underwhelmed by the beginning of the performance but after a while it became so easy and wonderful. It started out a bit forced with Hunt's overdoing Carol's character but in the end it really became something utterly loveable and wonderful. Her reaction, when Simon wants to paint her, is just unforgettable. On a personal level, I might say that's my favorite scene of this performance (despite the fact that I appreciate that big monologue a bit more).

So, to sum up, Helen Hunt almost crossed the line of fantastic with her performance as Carol Connelly in As Good as it Gets. Hunt added wonderful, loveable realism to this character and she made the audience really care about her. Those, who keep saying that she's one of the worst winners, really need to shut up. Helen Hunt is just excellent as this loveable character. Well done.

What do you think? It's time for your final predictions! :)

Interesting coincidence: I just noticed that I wrote about the ladies in alphabetical order. LOL :D

NOTE: I know that it's only Kate left but you might just have to wait for her until next Friday or Saturday. But I might have time for her eariler. I'll do my best, I just have a lot of things to do. :)

The Next Year

1997

So the nominees were:

• Helena Bonham Carter in The Wings of the Dove
• Julie Christie in Afterglow
• Judi Dench in Mrs Brown
• Helen Hunt in As Good as It Gets
• Kate Winslet in Titanic

I almost did not do this year but it looked unusually great for the 90s and I haven't covered a year from the 90s for a while, so I decided to take a look at this exciting year.

What do you think? Who's your pick? What are your predictions for the contest?