Horizontal Special Ed, by Linda Stonerock

The students receiving the "special ed" in this case would be people like myself, who have no physical disabilities, and who, consciously or unconsciously looked at people with disabilities as sexless. Film broke that stereotype for me. My ideas about others have been transformed over and over and this was another example.

This assumption of mine was first challenged a long time ago in 1978 when i saw "Coming Home," by Hal Ashby.

In that film Jane Fonda's character, Sally, who volunteers in a VA hospital during the Vietnam war, finds herself getting to know and then becoming attracted to, Jon Voight's character, Luke, who is a paraplegic in a wheelchair.
Their first meeting is not promising. Luke, who at that point is extremely angry, runs right into Sally in the hospital hall and his urine bag spills all over the floor. It's a humiliating moment full of rage and frustration, and puts the reality of what Luke's life involves right in Sally and the audience's faces.

As time goes on, Sally continues to approach Luke, working to get to know him, and provide a listening ear. She lets him know that she wants to know him as a fellow human being, and is interested in his experiences, including in Vietnam. Her husband is currently serving in Vietnam, which is why she has this open time to be a volunteer. As time goes on, they become very close, and Luke finally tells her, "There's not an hour that goes by that I don't think of making love to you." Sally doesn't seem particularly surprised, because she is having the same thoughts. I was surprised, though! Even though it was the handsome, young Jon Voight--he was in a wheelchair! Ashby's filming of the scene when they make love was subtle and tender, and full of heat. And i saw, for the first time, that a paraplegic could have a sex life.

The next time i encountered a film that showed the sexual life of a disabled person it was completely different. Sex was the language of this film's exploration of the main character's being. In 1997 "Sick: The Life and Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermashochist" came out, and even though i'd read about the film, i was unprepared to meet Bob.
Bob was born with cystic fibrosis, and was supposed to die in childhood--but instead he lived to be 43. As a way of having control over something in his painful life, he went INTO the pain instead of away from it. He truly was a supermasochist, and he was fortunate enough to find a perfect life partner in Sheree Rose, the dominatrix to whom he signed away complete control of his body and mind. Their relationship lasted 15 years. There are many scenes of their S&M sex life in the film, and it is not for the squeamish. But there is no doubt, this is real sexual pleasure, and real love. 

So here is a person who's been identified all his life with a fatal disease, taking the truth of that and turning it into his path to sexual ecstasy. Amazing! Flanagan was a man of many parts, and had a great sense of humor. For instance, he was a counselor at a camp for kids with cystic fibrosis for many years. We see him there, singing songs like "Forever Lung" and "Supercalafragalistic-cystic fibrosis"to an enraptured crowd. Hilarious. i know he gave hope and some open moments of joy to so many kids. He was very honest about who he was and where he was in his life, and sex was a key part of that life.

Kirby Dick directed this film with the complete co-operation and involvement of Flanagan and Rose, and there's not a misstep in it. He's a filmmaker who is clearly interested in bringing the voices of those who have been silenced to the attention of the larger culture. In 2009 he directed "Outrage," which deals with a group of gay activists who have begun to "out" closeted gay politicians who are using their positions to pass legislation that harms gay people. In 2012 he directed "The Invisible War," a devastating doc about rape in the military. This violent crime is being completely swept under the rug. There's a lawsuit that draws directly on the testimonies in this film that is going on now in civil court, because there was no satisfaction to be had in military proceedings, where rape was ruled "an occupational hazard" for a woman in the U.S. military. An unforgettable film. It's up for an Oscar this year. 

In the last year there have been several films that have had characters with disabilities who are very much sexual beings. The first one that comes to mind is a great Australian documentary (shown at IFS in 2012), "Scarlet Road." Directed by Catherine Scott, it profiles the activist/sex worker Rachel Wotton. Sex work is legal in Australia. Some years ago, Wotton, who lives in Sidney began to work with a previously unserved clientele, disabled men.
Made over 3 years, we spend time getting to know Rachel, who is passionate about sexual expression and sexual rights for all. We also meet several of her clients. We hear from them and their caregivers about what a great experience this relationship is; all the warmth, intimacy and normality it's brought into their lives. Clearly, it takes skill, communication and understanding on both people's parts. Obviously, it's not as easy as "falling into bed," in these situations, but with some logistical planning, and certainly with repetition, most obstacles can be surmounted, and it becomes just two people interested in sexual pleasure there together. It doesn't hurt that one of them is a consummate professional.

Rachel has become a great advocate for this group of people, founding an organization called Touching Base to connect people with disabilities to sex workers. She's got branches in several cities in Australia and her goal is to have them spread all over the globe. Touching Base focuses on issues that sex workers and disabled people share: access, discrimination, human rights, legal issues, and social stigma. It's inspiring to see someone so energetic, knowledgeable, and compassionate working to normalize the sex lives of disabled people, in private and in public.

It seemed pretty amazing to me that an American studio would release a film focusing on a real-life severely disabled man employing a sexual surrogate to relieve him of his virginity--but they did. I think "The Sessions", directed by Ben Lewin, got a pretty wide release, and i hope opened the eyes of many audiences who held some of those "i thought disabled people were sexless" assumptions.

i didn't realize until i began to read about this movie, that an Oscar-winning short doc on O'Brien by Jessica Yu, "Breathing Lessons: The Life and Work of Mark O'Brien" had been made in 1996. I've yet to see that film, but i plan to. "The Sessions" was adapted from O'Brien's article of 1990, "On Seeing A Sex Surrogate," which appeared in The Sun quarterly.

Mark is played with great skill, tenderness, and humor by John Hawkes. It is the kind of performance that gets Oscar nominations, and i'm shocked that he didn't get one. Helen Hunt, who plays Cheryl Cohen-Greene, the surrogate, did get nominated, and she, too, is superb. Both performances are totally committed and fearless. A third character, a fairly cool priest, is played by William H. Macy. Mark confesses at one point that part of the reason he believes in God is that he couldn't tolerate not having somebody to blame the wreck of his body on.
This story takes place in Berkeley in 1988, when Mark is 38 years old (he lived to be 49). He got polio when he was 6, but had a lot of support and encouragement from his family, and was able to get a degree from Cal (he went to classes on a motorized gurney), and live somewhat independently, though he had to be in an iron lung many hours a day. 

He decides that before he dies he wants to experience sex and orgasm. Cheryl is contacted, and what transpires then is a mutual journey of discovery. Cheryl has never been with a disabled client, and Mark has never even been naked with a woman before. (The real Mark was 4'7'' and weighed only 60 lbs. So that this relationship took place at all is really a miracle.)

Their meetings are tentative, but fortunately, Cheryl has confidence in her skills, and employs them all, and finds several she's probably never had to dig down for. She is always honest and direct, and answers all Mark's questions and calms his fears with reassurance and kindness. She lets him know that they will continue to try together during all of their 6 sessions. They end up not needing that many, as, by session 4 Mark has achieved what he was determined to experience.

There's very matter-of-fact nudity in this film, though not genital focus--and it's not the usual sort of Hollywood nudity either. This is about what sex really is--and the strong impact it can have on our lives. We do see that this relationship takes courage and tenderness on both people's parts. The bond that results from this profound intimacy and trust is inspiring and reminded me how meaningful sexual contact can be. There's no shying away from who these two people are and why they are there, but more happens to each of them than they'd expected. That's a normalizing result of how the story is told. There's respect and joy and surprise.

Coming from France, a film about real sex is more expected. In "Rust and Bone," the great Marion Cotillard gives herself completely to the role of Stephanie, a woman who loses her legs when the killer whale she's been the trainer of attacks her during a performance. So, this is the first film i've seen where the disabled person is a woman. Women in foreign films are more likely to have the agency to be the sexual initiators, and that's the case here.
Directed by Jacques Audiard ("A Prophet"), it also stars Matthias Schoenaerts, as Ali, the male half of the couple the film focuses on. The performances are powerful and naturalistic.

The story is set in Antibes, which i'd always thought of as a cushy resort. Audiard shows the other side of the place, where people live. Class conflict, poverty, family breakdown, all are on display. Both Stephanie and Ali are people who've lived their lives through embrace of the body. She's a beautiful woman and he's a big handsome man. In their first encounter, he's a bouncer who drives her home after pulling her out of an altercation that her flirtation probably caused. He admires her confidence and beauty, and when he accompanies her briefly to her apartment, he intimidates her live-in boyfriend. That turns her on, and he leaves his number with her.

They don't see each other again, until after her accident. Cotillard will be in and out of a wheelchair for the rest of the film, and the removal of her legs to just above the knees, is certainly one of the amazing pieces of digital magic of the year. She calls Ali, because she hopes that he will somehow be able to see beyond what's happened to her--even though she hasn't been able to yet. And he does. The scene of him carrying her out into the surf at the beach is joyous and moving, a real turning point.

And then there's the sex--it's hot and the positions aren't as limited as you might think. Stephanie comes back to life with Ali. She begins to fully be who she really is again. This is only one aspect of this complex film about love and battle--with others, with the self, and with the general cruel violence of the world. Ali gets involved in a brutal bare-knuckles fighting ring that has quite a bit of money to be won attached to it. Amazingly, Stephanie becomes his manager. She takes to this role with the brave, tough attitude of one who has trained animals for years. These men are animals to her, too, and she knows she can get the upper hand. 

As A.O. Scott said of this film, it has a certain "ugly magic." It's not like any film i've seen.