The Sessions & Rust and Bone

Two recent movies, one American and one French, address the sensitive question of sexuality and physical disabilities. Both films feature superb acting and intelligent, moving scripts, and both movies, The Sessions and Rust and Bone, are worth your time.

The Sessions (2012), written and directed by Ben Lewin, tells the true story of Mark O'Brien, who was paralyzed from the neck down due to polio, and his determination to lose his virginity. (Interestingly, Lewin himself lost the use of his legs from polio, which is undoubtedly why the movie doesn't hit any false notes.) Mark decides to hire a sex surrogate, a professional therapist with a background in psychology, who can teach him intimacy. This surrogate, Cheryl, helps him learn to accept his body.

John Hawkes, one of the best character actors around, plays Mark, and he is simply extraordinary, especially since all he can use in this role are his eyes and his voice. He captures Mark's fear and excitement and joy as he meets Cheryl, played by Helen Hunt, and then undergoes a profound change. Hunt, too, is excellent as she plays a woman in a marriage clearly going off the rails who finds herself attracted to Mark but knows that she must keep the relationship purely professional.

In Rust and Bone (2012), Stephanie, a middle-aged whale trainer, becomes severely depressed after losing her lower legs in an accident at the theme park where she works. Her life before the accident had been only marginally happy, but the loss of her legs—and of her livelihood—make her nearly suicidal. Fortunately, though, she remembers a nightclub bouncer, Alain, who had driven her home months before and they strike up a friendship. In the end, her life, even without her legs, will perhaps be happier than it had been before the accident.

Marion Cotillard, playing Stephanie, brings a rare intensity to the role. Early in the film, as she refuses to be seen in public with stumps, she is heartbreaking. The new actor Matthias Schoenaerts, who plays Alain, is pure physicality, a man who lives for illegal kickboxing matches and sex without strings attached. The two of them complement each other and remind us that Plato was right: each of us is a half a soul longing for completion through another person, our soulmate.

Rust and Bone, directed by Jacques Audiard, who directed the terrific gangster film A Prophet, is probably the more complex of the two films as its story contains a few subplots involving the character of Alain, such as his relationship with his preschool-aged son, but I recommend The Sessions, too.