How to Have Sex

Viewer Advice: High impact themes: sexual violence.

A sun-drenched, hormone-laden trip of teenage kicks turns dark in this compellingly contemporary navigation of sexual politics.

High school is over and, before the reality of exam results hits, a trio of British teenagers are determined to have the “Best! Holiday! Ever!” Tara, Em and Skye arrive in Malia, a party town in Crete, primed for a blowout of clubbing, binge-drinking and attempts at seduction. But after a tryst that challenges the limits of consent, the harsh light of day breaks on the bacchanal’s seedy aftermath, testing friendships that the young women thought would last forever.

Receiving the 2023 Prix Un Certain Regard at Cannes, writer/director Molly Manning Walker – who was cinematographer on the Sundance prize-winning Scrapper (also screening at MIFF 2023) – staunchly refuses the coming-of-age clichés of her Hollywood counterparts. In this radiant, revelatory drama, hedonistic revelry à la Spring Breakers is soon shattered by a painful truth – a portrayal with keen attention to adolescent social dynamics, and which has drawn comparisons to the breakthrough Aftersun (MIFF 2022). Mia McKenna-Bruce delivers a career-making performance as Tara, our Dante in this dizzying inferno of hormones and the darkness of the teenage brink.

“Full-on energy, likable performances and uncompromisingly daft jokes turbocharge this debut feature … [with] an intriguingly sympathetic, complex and even mysterious performance from McKenna-Bruce.” – The Guardian

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Director Molly Manning Walker will be in attendance for the screenings on Monday 14, Thursday 17 and Friday 18 August.