British film How to Have Sex triumphs at Cannes Un Certain Regard competition

Molly Manning Walker's British drama How to Have Sex emerged as the victor in the Un Certain Regard competition at the ongoing 2023 Cannes Film Festival. The moment of triumph, however, was accompanied by a minor mishap. Molly Manning Walker, the talented director behind this remarkable debut feature, was unfortunately absent when the award was announced. As fate would have it, she was en route from Italy and faced an unforeseen delay at the airport. Determined to keep the audience engaged during the wait, jury president John C. Reilly took the initiative and belted out a song, injecting an element of delight into the atmosphere.'

What is How to Have Sex about?

This film centres around the experiences of three British teenage girls who embark on a holiday with the intentions of reveling in drinking, clubbing, and pursuing romantic encounters.

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The moment of triumph, however, was accompanied by a minor mishap. Molly Manning Walker, the talented director behind this remarkable debut feature, was unfortunately absent when the award was announced. As fate would have it, she was en route from Italy and faced an unforeseen delay at the airport. Determined to keep the audience engaged during the wait, jury president John C. Reilly took the initiative and belted out a song, injecting an element of delight into the atmosphere.

Finally, Molly Manning Walker made her grand entrance onto the stage, clad in a comfortable ensemble consisting of a T-shirt and jogging shorts. Breathless from her sprint, she said, "I just ran here from Italy, guys."

She added that she had a clear vision for her film—to offer a narrative told from the perspective of young women—and she expressed her hope that the movie would ignite vital conversations surrounding consent and the nature of fulfilling sexual experiences.

How to Have Sex has received glowing reviews

How to Have Sex, after the Cannes premiere, received extremely good reviews. It has received an impressive rating of 95 per cent on review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes.

The Daily Telegraph's Robbie Collin wrote, "If this makes How To Have Sex sound like a teaching aid, it really isn’t: Manning Walker cares for Tara far too much to turn her into an object lesson, and allows her compensatory moments of grace and delight."

Variety's Guy Lodge wrote, "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."

Decider's Charles Bramesco wrote, "However unremarkable the subject matter, Walker elevates it with small yet deft choices that capture the contours of this social minefield with deeper accuracy."

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