How to Have Sex on France 4: a subtle analysis of consent and first emotions (review)

First film about a first time: a beautiful teenage drama about a sea, sex and sun vacation that goes awry, with the amazing Mia McKenna-Bruce.

How to Have Sex is broadcast for the first time unencrypted this Thursday evening on France 4 (and available the next day in streaming on France.TV). First recommends this feature film awarded at Un Certain Regard at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. Our review:

To celebrate the end of classes, three English high school girls go to Crete for a week. A first vacation with friends where we dream of stratospheric drunks, of dancing until the end of the night and above all of chaining partners. Life is good because young English people who share the apartment next door are there for the same reasons… The first feature film by Londoner Molly Manning Walker (winner of the Un Certain Regard prize at Cannes) takes the pulse of a youth lost between the dictates of social networks, the euphoria of first emotions and a sensitivity on edge.

If the first part takes conventional paths (the parties, the alcohol, the neon lights of the clubs, the desire that rises and the half-naked bodies that sniff each other), How to Have Sex takes on a whole new dimension when the film finally addresses its real subject and takes a subtly lucid interest in consent and gray areas. Darkness sets in and the camera only has eyes for Mia McKenna-Bruce, a gifted 26-year-old, almost unknown in the battalion. Her ability to go from deep sadness to absolute joy in a second gives her the air of Florence Pugh in Midsommar (the two actresses, who however do not have the same features at all, are strangely similar in certain respects). The actress’ baby face becomes the scene of dizzying questions about freedom (does her virginity really belong to her?) and social pressure around sex.

How to Have Sex. By Molly Manning Walker. Starring: Mia McKenna-Bruce, Shaun Thomas, Lara Peake… Condor Distribution. Released November 15. Duration: 1h28.

Molly Manning Walker: “With How to Have Sex, I explore confusion, hesitation…”