01
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Why this pick
A more lyrical, inward companion to The Sessions: bodily confinement is rendered with wit, sensuality, and an acute appreciation for connection and small freedoms.
A FILM WORTH A CLOSER LOOKTHE FEATURE PRESENTATION
MOVIE2012 1h 38m USA
IF THIS ONE STAYED WITH YOU
Movies like
The Sessions
ComedyDrama
CINEHUNCH / THE NEXT FRAME
Keep the feeling.
SIMILAR PICKS / A PERSONAL CONNECTION
If you loved The Sessions, try these.
01
02
Lucky
Why this pick
Its gentle, unsparing attention to mortality and everyday encounters echoes The Sessions' warmth, dry humor, and refusal to turn a vulnerable life into a lesson.
03
The Station Agent
Why this pick
This similarly modest, character-led drama lets awkward friendship and loneliness unfold through observant humor, emotional restraint, and deep compassion.
04
A Man Called Ove
Why this pick
A prickly, isolated man is gradually reopened by others in this tender comedy-drama, sharing The Sessions' balance of pain, bluntness, and life-affirming connection.
05
Me Before You
Why this pick
It shares The Sessions' focus on disability, autonomy, and an emotionally charged bond that challenges assumptions about what makes a life meaningful.
Finding the atmosphere, tension and little details that made this one stay with you.
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01 / THE STORY
A little about the film.
In Berkeley, California, in 1988, Mark O'Brien is a poet who is forced to live in an Negative pressure ventilator due to complications from Poliomyelitis. Due to his condition, he has never had sex. After unsuccessfully proposing to his caretaker Amanda, and sensing he may be near death, he decides he wants to lose his virginity. After consulting his priest, Father Brendan, he gets in touch with Cheryl Cohen-Greene, a professional sex surrogate. She tells him they will have no more than six sessions together. They begin their sessions, but soon it is clear that they are developing romantic feelings for each other. Cheryl's husband, who loves her deeply, fights to suppress his jealousy, at first withholding a love poem that Mark has sent by mail to Cheryl, which she eventually finds. After several attempts, Mark and Cheryl are able to have mutually satisfying sex, but decide to cut the sessions short on account of their burgeoning feelings.
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02 / FACES IN THE FRAME
The people who bring it to life.
Moon Bloodgood
Vera
Annika Marks
Amanda
W. Earl Brown
Rod
Blake Lindsley
Dr. Laura White
Robin Weigert
Amanda
Ming Lo
Clerk
Rusty Schwimmer
Joan
Jennifer Kumiyama
Carmen