Wrongs of Passage : Molly Manning Walker -“How to Have Sex”

The coming-of-age, rite-of-passage drama How To Have Sex has few surprises in plotting. (If a coming-of-age, rite-of-passage drama surprises with its plot, it’s likely because it has strayed into another genre).

A trio of Brit girlfriends on a Greek vacation have a clear mission: to party, drink, and try to get laid with the “fit” boys they run into at their hotel. One of the girls is a virgin, compelled to catch up with her more sexperienced besties. We can be certain she’s bound to be disappointed. (Are there stories about people who DON’T have a disappointing first time having sex? It would be akin to stories about people who don’t fall on their ass the first time they try roller skates.)

With people deliberately drinking their way into blackout territory, issues of consent will arise. Again, you won’t be surprised.

What’s surprising is how well writer-director Molly Manning Walker, (in her feature debut) keeps something this familiar as compelling as if we were privy to a thriller. When our virgin somehow disappears during the evening’s clubbing bacchanalia, we tense up. Has the girl gone from the glaring Greek sunshine into irreversible Gaspar Noe territory? No. This isn’t a thriller; the girl eventually shows up, claiming it’s all fine. But is it?  

Walker guides a large cast of young actors into stunningly natural performances. A lot of the discomfort the movie generates comes from its almost documentary frankness. The girls (played by Mia Mckenna-Bruce, Enva Lewis, and Lara Peake) are friendly in organic, endearing ways, and yet allow themselves to feel jealousy over who’s getting most of the boys’ attention. You know, the way normal friends might. The boys (Shaun Thomas and Samuel Bottomley) do some shitty things, but the movie abstains from demonizing them. The tone of How to Have Sex (which could easily be called How NOT to Have Sex) is deftly calibrated so that it captures both the youthful thrill of debauchery and the regretful fallout of the morning after.

• Drama
• Film