I swear to god every scene in this movie felt halfway done.
The relationship with the hot nurse...
The conversations with Helen Hunt...
The conversations between Hunt and her husband...
Meeting the new girl in the hospital..
Just when scenes got interesting, it would move on to the next. It went by so fast. I'm all for a quick pace, but I really did feel like this story deserved to have more time spent on the characters.
You're right. I didn't see how the relationship developed between the two main characters, or with the other women for that matter. It was kind of like..."Hi, I just met you. Wow, you're so charming, even though you're in an iron lung, I think I love you..."
The ending was flat as well. "Okay, so two more sessions and we're done?" "Meh...let's just stop now, before I break your heart." Two minutes later, he's found the love of his life, then narrates (SPOILER ALERT) his own death.
It was well acted and had a lot of potential to be a very moving film, but I think you nailed the problem with it...there just wasn't enough of anything.
Two minutes later, he's found the love of his life
I agree 100%, especially at the end. I felt like we had gone on this journey with the main character, but didn't get the payoff at the end of getting to see him in a happy relationship; they just skipped over it. I get that the point of the film was not about his life in general or all of his relationships and loves, it was about his experience with the sex surrogate, but still, they talked all about how the sessions were intended to prepare him for a future relationship that might hopefully include physical intimacy...it would have been more satisfying to see him in that relationship, even for a little while. And I could have done without having him narrate his own death, that was a little disorienting. It took me out of the film, because I kept thinking "wait, how is this possible? Is this fantasy?"
shareVery good points on why this film is not entirely satisfying. On the other hand, I appreciate that once we got the sense of the relationships, the director did not drill them into the ground like so many mainstream films. I gave this 8/10 at 90 minutes, but I probably would have rated it higher had the relationships been "fleshed out" a bit more.
shareYes but the film is called 'The Sessions'. It was about a man losing his virginity using a sex surrogate in a number of 'sessions'. If they'd included what happened in his relationship etc then it would have been a longer and perhaps different film. Clearly the focus was on the experience of the film's title and we got what was promised. Remember, this was based on one particular article written by the protagonist.
shareI didn't feel like they went by too quickly, so much as they just focused on the wrong people... It was interesting how the sessions affected his intimacy with other people (Amanda, Vera, and even the girl he met at the end... Susan?) but instead we focus on the more sensational aspects, and his development as a human being kind of gets shortchanged because of it... I also thought that having him fall in love with his surrogate was the wrong move for a movie (even if that's how it played out, in reality... ) It gives the impression that the emphasis should be on the person you get to have sex with, when really I feel like the companionship is the more important part of it. (I'm disabled myself, and I used a prostitute to lose my virginity, if that makes any difference... )
Now, technically there was nothing wrong with the story that was told, but I just feel like some tinkering with the elements I mentioned would have made the viewing more fulfilling, for me... We can't all get the movie we want, I guess! Still, what it does cover, it covers well.
"Your mother puts license plates in your underwear? How do you sit?!"
Yes I did. I will admit that its fun to watch a 90 minute movie, as most I watch are longer, but the condensed time did affect things. Things felt a bit 'surfaced.' Some scenes would have been better a bit more elongated, like the first session about body awareness and the session Cheryl has an orgasm. The ending transition was a slightly rushed too. I also really liked the scenes where he envisions sensations and evokes his memory of childhood. Would have loved to see more of this type of storytelling, especially if Mark was a poet. Love non-linear art. Often it tells me more than the straight forward, as its rather visceral...so is sex, love, pain, pleasure, life and death.
That being said, I kind of like the fact that things didnt get flesh out. It lends itself to the nature of the "sessions."
All Mark had is time to think. I'm sure the sessions/experience gave him plenty to feast upon, even if it was fleeting, gone before real anchor can take place...aka...this movie.
...but I really did feel like this story deserved to have more time spent on the characters.Well the film was all about the characters wasn't it?