How to have a memorable spring break? Set out to lose your virginity…cautiously.
Molly Manning Walker’s Cannes breakout film “How to Have Sex” is a twisted coming-of-age story about a group of 16-year-old British girls who go on a vacation to Greece with the mission to help their shyest pal finally go all the way. “Scrapper” cinematographer Walker writes and directs her feature debut, which won the Un Certain Regard prize at Cannes this year.
It’s supposed to be the best summer ever. Tara, Skye, and Em touch down on the Greek party resort of Malia for the vacation to end all vacations, the girls trip every British teenager ticks off at the cusp of adulthood. Tara, the last remaining virgin, is on a mission to change that: and her best friends are causing chaos right alongside her. The 16-year-old drinks and dances her way through the strip — with all its messy bars and grimy nightclubs — until she meets a couple of boys on the neighboring hotel balcony who she hopes might give her a summer to remember.
The ensemble cast includes Mia McKenna-Bruce, Lara Peake, Shaun Thomas, Samuel Bottomley, Enva Lewis, and Laura Ambler. “How to Have Sex” will be distributed by MUBI.
Writer-director Walker told Deadline that the film centers on the “gap in education” around consent. “It would be amazing to reframe the conversation around how to have positive sexual experiences,” Walker said. “I wanted to talk about how we are introduced to sex. Especially people who have experienced these clubbing holidays. Most women I know have experienced some form of sexual assault, and I think this needs to be talked about.”
IndieWire critic David Ehrlich wrote that “How to Have Sex” is most powerful as a “portrait of the things that people allow of themselves (and their friends) in the interest of self-preservation.”
Ehrlich concluded, “Walker’s debut ends on a soberingly painful note that makes the whole thing seem like more than the sum of its parts, as Tara, at long last, sees herself with a clarity that she’ll be able to keep forever — a valuable souvenir rescued from a holiday that she’ll never be able to forget.”
“How to Have Sex” premieres across the UK, Ireland, Mexico, Chile, Argentina, and Brazil this November. A U.S. release will be coming soon via MUBI. Check out the trailer below.
