I had the pleasure of being invited to a special screening event of Molly Manning Walker’s feature film directorial debut, HOW TO HAVE SEX, hosted by MUBI at Cineplex Cinemas Yonge-Dundas and VIP in downtown Toronto.
Winner of the ‘Un Certain Regard’ Prize at Cannes and a multi-BAFTA nominee, HOW TO HAVE SEX is raw, real, gorgeous, and thought-provoking. As glitter-y as it is gritty, HOW TO HAVE SEX announces a new talent in writer-director Molly Manning Walker and star Mia McKenna-Bruce.
In HOW TO HAVE SEX, a trio of three, British teens – Tara (Mia McKenna-Bruce), Skye (Lara Peake), and Em (Enva Lewis) – are fresh off their exams and ready to party while on a girls trip to Malia, a town in Greece where the streets overflow with raucous, young tourists intent on celebrating hard. The thick-as-thieves friends celebrate their temporary freedom from the stresses of back home: exams, parents, the impending transition to post-secondary, and – truly terrifying – the future. They dive right into the mayhem of Malia.
They connect with their wily hotel neighbours, fellow young Brits on holiday. The common mission of the group? Party and hook up. The latter part of the mission is of particular significance to Tara. She is the only virgin of the group, a fact about which her friends constantly tease her. Clad in Fashion Nova-esque cut-out dresses and bikinis, the three friends embark on a Dionysian night-out that will alter their views on sex, attraction, and friendship.
Molly Manning Walker pulls off a Herculean task: telling a story about the lives of teens that feels authentic, real, and contemporary. The scenes between the friends in their hotel room – from lazing after a late night to hurriedly getting glam for a night out – truly stand out for their raw intimacy. They swap outfits and make-up tips. They hype each other up and hold each other’s hair back. This is not SUPERBAD or some such coming-of-age comedy. Though there are laughs, the story peers into the pain and private fears of these young friends. As the friends frolic in the waves, euphoric in their freedom, one decries their mother’s persistent texts. Conversely, Skye mumbles that her mom probably hasn’t even noticed that they’ve gone. Em shares her doubts of being able to earn a good salary in her chosen career, despite having excellent grades. Tara jokes self-deprecatingly about her likelihood of failing her exams. She puts on a brave, fun front for her friends at most times. However, in quieter moments, we feel her concern and insecurity bubbling.
The friends are bonded by their shared life stage. As they each receive the news of their exam results, it’s a sobering reminder that they’re all about to walk different paths and start new chapters in their lives. This combines into a heady mix of wanting to live in the moment and party together, carefree as the other tourists, yet there is also a nagging, wriggling anxiety that threatens to overcome.
There are moments in the film that feel as if we’re a fly on the wall of a slice-of-life drama. There is an ease with which the friends navigate unspoken social rules of friendship and attraction: swapping clothes, doing each others’ hair and make-up, and commenting on each other’s sex lives as nonchalantly as they discuss their schooling. Both topics feel daunting and bigger than them, though they’d not share that sentiment publicly.
Mia McKenna-Bruce delivers an achingly powerful performance as Tara. She speaks volumes through a glance. Through the intensity in her gaze to the tension in her face, entire truths are revealed. This is in service to the grimy reality of the film. The internalization of fear, confusion, and dread, masked by a chiruppy squeal for another drink. McKenna-Bruce brings a quiet power to her role.
In some of the most poetic scenes, the film amps up the sound of her breathing and we hear the confusion, the chaos, the disappointment, the wild abandon in just her inhales and exhales. This weekend, McKenna-Bruce took home the EE Rising Star Award at the BAFTAs, the only award that night chosen by the public (source here). The award is well-deserved. I sincerely hope it marks an exciting and fulfilling career for this young talent.
Laura Peake and Enva Lewis are also excellent as Skye and Em. Lewis gives a grounded credibility to smart and thoughtful Em. Peake delivers a brilliant performance as Skye, the sometimes mean-girl-frenemy of the trio. Skye seems older than the other girls. She walks with self-assuredness amongst the boys and the revellers, unlike Em’s giddiness and Tara’s openness. Skye is vulpine. She watches and calculates the moves of those around her. We get a peak at her life when she mentions how her Mom probably hasn’t noticed that she’s left. She feigns a casual attitude when it comes to her exams (despite checking her grades after she makes a big deal that she doesn’t care). Peake’s Skye is wholly realistic. Almost every friend group I’ve encountered has a Skye. Her distance and disillusionment run counter to Tara’s optimism. The trio feels wholly real. Indeed, there were many moments throughout the film and afterwards I could recognize scenes from my life and those of my friends and acquaintances. The film feels real and lived-in.
In the past year with the success of BARBIE (Gerwig, 2023), the fervour over Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour (the concert and the movie), as well as various “core” and aesthetic trends on TikTok, there has been a renewed focus on and celebration of girlhood, particularly stories of girlhood told by women. HOW TO HAVE SEX gives us this exploration into girlhood and emerging adulthood, but it does not give us the opportunity to shield our eyes from some of the darker aspects to which girls and women are often vulnerable. It’s a true story of girlhood, not just an aesthetic.
That brings us to the ending. The ending could have veered into after-school-special territory. It got close, but the fluid writing and McKenna-Bruce’s performance keep it feeling earthy like the rest of the film, while also lifting a heavy load off of our shoulders. There is hope in the future for Tara and her friends, and we feel lifted by this. Watching as an adult who has lived through the stage in life which Tara and her friends are in, there’s a sweet sadness to knowing that this may perhaps be the beginning of the end of these friendships. For now, though, our trio is hopeful and feel a call to approach the world.
Reminiscent of AFTERSUN (Wells, 2022) and THIRTEEN (Hardwicke, 2003), HOW TO HAVE SEX is a visually lush, stellar feature film debut. Movie lovers should be excited by the entrance of these two promising talents.
HOW TO HAVE SEX garnered buzz as a dark horse favourite at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. I am very thankful to have been invited to a special advanced theatrical screening of the film by MUBI and Touchwood PR, followed by a cocktail reception! My friend and I had an incredible time discussing the film and our own adolescent experiences and misadventures over a cocktail at the Cineplex VIP lounge following the film.
Read more about HOW TO HAVE SEX on MUBI now.
You can see HOW TO HAVE SEX on the big screen at the TIFF Bell Lightbox. You can find showtimes here.
Toronto Film Files 