The Sessions (2012 film)

The Sessions
Theatrical release poster
Directed byBen Lewin
Screenplay byBen Lewin
Based on"On Seeing a Sex Surrogate"
by Mark O'Brien
Produced byJudi Levine
Stephen Nemeth
Ben Lewin
StarringJohn Hawkes
Helen Hunt
Moon Bloodgood
Annika Marks
Rhea Perlman
Adam Arkin
William H. Macy
CinematographyGeoffrey Simpson
Edited byLisa Bromwell
Music byMarco Beltrami
Production
companies
Such Much Films
Rhino Films
Distributed byFox Searchlight Pictures
Release dates
  • January 23, 2012 (2012-01-23) (Sundance)
  • October 19, 2012 (2012-10-19) (United States)
Running time
95 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$1 million[2]
Box office$10.7 million[3]

The Sessions is a 2012 American drama film written and directed by Ben Lewin. It is based on the 1990 article "On Seeing a Sex Surrogate" by Mark O'Brien, a poet paralyzed from the neck down due to polio, who hired a sex surrogate to lose his virginity. John Hawkes and Helen Hunt star as O'Brien and sex surrogate Cheryl Cohen-Greene, respectively.

The film debuted under its original title The Surrogate at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award Dramatic and a U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Prize for Ensemble Acting. Fox Searchlight Pictures acquired the film's distribution rights and released the film in October 2012. The Sessions received highly positive reviews from critics, in particular lauding the performances of Hawkes and Hunt. Hunt was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress at the 85th Academy Awards.

  1. ^ "The Sessions (15)". British Board of Film Classification. September 19, 2012. Retrieved November 7, 2012.
  2. ^ Thomson, David (January 19, 2013). "Why Helen Hunt Deserves a Best Actress Oscar for The Sessions". New Republic. Retrieved March 14, 2014.
  3. ^ "The Sessions (2012)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved January 12, 2013.