17 November 2023.
By Neptune
HOW TO HAVE SEX ***
This film by first-time director Molly Manning Walker should have been called ‘How NOT to Have Sex’.
It’s about three English teenage girlfriends who go off to a Greek party resort to literally “get laid”. They’re terribly excited and the place is full of rowdy young people like themselves, drinking throughout the day, playing crazy games in the hotel pool and clubbing all night. There is nothing evil going on, they’re just out to have a fun time away from school exams and their parents. It’s frenetic, though not really sexy, just sad and vulgar. And their accents are so far from the King’s English, it was a blessing to have subtitles.
With all the non-stop partying, what emerges here is that there seems to be little self-respect among these young girls, no confidence in their own worth, for sex has become a commodity rather than the result of a deep relationship. One has to wonder – is this an absence of family guidance, a lack of morals and education, or peer pressure and the weight of social media? Or is it the fact that now anything goes, there’s just too much choice, and these are bewildered, immature beings behaving in crowd mode.
If this film shows how it is to be young today, something has badly eroded the self assurance that a young girl would need to protect her fragile emotions as she is blossoming into womanhood. You can’t really blame the boys either, for the times and the whole atmosphere has set them all on this wild ride.
In the end the title is really a titillating misnomer, for there isn’t much sex going on, only a disappointing episode for Tara, the main character, which might sadly affect the rest of her life choices. She is strongly played here by Mia McKenna-Bruce, a name to remember.
(Showing at the Grütli Cinemas)
Superb **** Very Good *** Good ** Mediocre * Miserable – no stars
By Neptune
Neptune Ravar Ingwersen reviews film extensively for publications in Switzerland. She views 4 to 8 films a week and her aim is to sort the wheat from the chaff for readers.
For more stories like this on Switzerland follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
