'How To Have Sex': About Cannes's Un Certain Regard winner
We have a winner from Cannes! How to Have Sex, a British drama film written and directed by Molly Manning Walker (in her directorial debut), has emerged as the best film in the Un Certain Regard section at the ongoing 2023 Cannes Film Festival. It competed with nearly 20 films from around the world. Here's everything to know about the critically acclaimed drama.
Movie follows lives of 3 teen friends
The film reportedly follows three girls on vacation in Greece. One of them (a virgin) "ends up losing her virginity to a guy on the beach, but she checks out during the process," as per The Wrap. "The boy then makes unwanted advances on her while she is asleep. She wakes up to him ready to have sex with her and resigns once more."
Drama is led by young actors
The film stars Mia McKenna-Bruce (Persuasion), Lara Peake (The English Game), and Samuel Bottomley (Somewhere Boy), among others. Walker has also written the screenplay. Speaking to Deadline, she earlier said, "It looks at how we learn to have sex through the pressure of friendship, toxic masculinity, and societal expectations. It's a ride through the highs and lows of intimate female friendship."
What do critics think of the film?
Variety wrote in its review, "Manning Walker's film lays out the minefield of sexual education and consent for a post-#MeToo generation, with a precision to its ambiguities that will draw gasps from its characters' contemporaries and elders alike." The Guardian opined, "Full-on energy, likable performances, and uncompromisingly daft jokes turbocharge this debut feature from British filmmaker Molly Manning Walker about three teenage girls."
Cannes 2023 in nutshell
The 76th edition of the Cannes Film Festival started on May 16 and will conclude on Saturday (local time). Killers of the Flower Moon, Asteroid City, Kennedy, Agra, Fallen Leaves, and May December are some of the films that premiered at the festival this year. From India, Anurag Kashyap, Anushka Sharma, Sunny Leone, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, and Manushi Chillar, among others, attended the event.
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