Hollywood Tackles Sex And Disability
(The Independent)
January 2, 2013
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA– [Excerpt provided by Inclusion Daily Express] It’s long been said in Hollywood that portraying someone with a disability fast-tracks you to Oscar glory. Yet show them having sex, and film executives squirm. But A-listers such as Helen Hunt and Marion Cotillard — in films funded by some of the world’s biggest studios — are debunking the myth that disabled people can’t have sex on screen, heralding a new cinematic sexual revolution.
The award-winning The Sessions, which opens in the UK on 18 January, is one of the first Hollywood films to explore the subject of a disabled person losing his virginity. The film follows the real-life story of the American poet Mark O’Brien – a polio survivor who uses an iron lung. At 38 years old he sought the help of a sex surrogate, someone who helps people with sexual problems explore their bodies, played by Helen Hunt.
The film, which won the Special Jury Prize and Audience Award at the Sundance festival this year, is written and directed by a polio survivor, Ben Lewin, but is based on the late O’Brien’s account of his own story. “I was taken by the frankness and explicitness of it — which is rarely associated with discussions of sex,” Lewin said. “When I was a kid, we didn’t talk about sex and disability. I get the impression people are more open-minded now. There is an interesting disability-chic movement, and a number of movies looking at similar themes.”
One of these was this year’s Untouchable, which tells the story of a quadriplegic and his carer, who encourages him to pursue love. And Rust & Bone, which won the top prize at the London Film Festival, stars Cotillard as a double amputee who embarks on a sexual relationship.
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Hollywood tackles sex and disability
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