Mark O'Brien is 38 years old and paralyzed from the waist down thanks to a childhood bout with polio. He leads a pretty fulfilling life otherwise though, working as a professional poet/journalist from his iron lung, regularly attending Catholic Mass on his wheeled gurney, etc.
Not surprisingly, Mark is a lifelong virgin, something he doesn't seem to think much about until two things bring the idea of sex to the forefront of his mind. One is his brief employ of a beautiful young woman that he soon falls in love with and asks to marry him (she doesn't reciprocate and he has to find a new daytime assistant). The other is an assignment to write an article about sex and the disabled. Interviewing wheelchair-bound folks about their sex lives awakens something in Mark and he does what most people do when they decide they want to have sex: he seeks the counsel of his priest.
With his priest giving him the go-ahead, Mark is put in touch with a sex surrogate, which is apparently a thing and which, despite my most open-minded thoughts and research, I still can't differentiate from just a really kind and patient prostitute (sorry to the sex surrogates out there). Through a handful of sessions with Cheryl, Mark opens up physically and emotionally and gains a sense of independence and confidence he didn't have before. The power of sex!
This movie is based on a true story; Mark wrote a first-hand account of his experiences after the fact. Despite the fact that I still struggle to wrap my head around the existence of sex surrogates, the story was an interesting one and I enjoyed the performances of John Hawkes, Helen Hunt and William H. Macy, not to mention Moon Bloodgood and W. Earl Brown as his assistants (some of my favorite scenes are Bloodgood's Vera killing time with the motel clerk while Mark and Cheryl hold their sessions in a nearby room).
Helen Hunt is up for Best Supporting Actress this year, but I doubt she'll win. I haven't even seen Les Miserables yet but even I know this is Anne Hathaway's to lose. Nor do I really think she deserves to win; I don't dislike Helen Hunt but I find her to be a pretty overrated actress, and she wasn't even the best performer in this movie (give that to John Hawkes, acting while keeping his body in that writhing position). Having not seen Les Mis, my heart rests with Sally Field.
Updated Oscar Viewing List:
Les Miserables
Life of Pi
The Master
Flight
The Impossible
Frankenweenie
Wreck-It Ralph
ParaNorman
Brave
The Pirates! Band of Misfits
5 Broken Cameras
The Gatekeepers
The Invisible War
Searching for Sugarman
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