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How to Have Sex (2023), Molly Manning Walker’s debut feature, starts with the fizzy chaos of a holiday among friends and gradually makes that atmosphere harder to trust. Its story of three British teenagers in Greece is a character-led coming-of-age drama about friendship, peer pressure, sex and consent—not a how-to guide or a simple moral lesson.
What is How to Have Sex about?
Tara, Skye and Em head to the Greek resort of Malia for a rites-of-passage holiday shaped by drinking, clubbing and the expectation that they will have a good time. Tara, played by Mia McKenna-Bruce, is at the centre of the story; Lara Peake plays Skye and Enva Lewis plays Em. Their holiday mixes the pleasures of being away together with the social pressure to drink, flirt and hook up.
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The film’s early energy matters. The girls’ jokes, excitement and friendship are not treated as a false front or a mistake. Instead, the holiday’s carefree surface makes it more unsettling when the story turns toward trust and the meaning of sexual encounters. The film follows Tara’s experience rather than stepping outside it to deliver a tidy verdict.
How does the film approach consent?
Consent is central to the film, especially the difference between an encounter that is positively wanted and one that happens amid pressure, uncertainty or impaired judgment. The story asks viewers to notice what a character is feeling and what is missing, rather than relying on a clear-cut speech or a conventional dramatic signal to label an encounter for them.
Do these 3 things before closing this tab:
1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteThat approach is part of why the film has prompted debate. TIME’s interview with Walker notes that viewers disagreed about two pivotal sexual encounters, including whether they recognized the absence of positive consent. The disagreement is a point of reception, not proof that the film presents every interpretation as equally sound. Its focus remains on how pressure and trust shape Tara’s experience.
Walker has said she wanted to tell the story from the girls’ perspective without judging them. In a Festival de Cannes interview, she described the aim as: “I wanted to make sure the film was told from the perspective of the girls and not judging them.” She also said, “I hope that it starts a bigger conversation around consent and good sex.” Those aims help explain why the film invites discussion rather than functioning as sex education or a lecture.
Rank #2
What makes the story feel brutally honest?
The film places sexual pressure within a wider social setting, not in isolation. BFI Sight and Sound describes a holiday story that combines teenage friendship and holiday chaos with a sexualised, casually misogynist subculture. That tension gives the girls’ choices context: they are navigating not only their own desires, but also expectations about what a holiday, a hookup and being grown-up are supposed to look like.
The AP review highlights the shift from fun holiday energy toward questions of trust and trauma. Walker has also connected the film’s subject to how a sexualised society shapes young people’s coming of age. The result is affecting because the film does not ask viewers to dismiss the holiday or the friendships in order to take the harm seriously. Pleasure, bravado and vulnerability can coexist, and the film lets that complexity remain uncomfortable.
Rank #3
Performances and filmmaking
McKenna-Bruce anchors the film as Tara, with Peake and Lewis as her friends Skye and Em. Shaun Thomas plays Badger, Sam Bottomley plays Paddy, and Laura Ambler plays Paige. Walker wrote and directed the film, her debut feature. Cannes credits Nicolas Canniccioni with cinematography, Fin Oates with editing, James Jacob with music and Steve Fanagan with sound.
The film was selected for Cannes’ Un Certain Regard and won the section’s 2023 prize. The Festival de Cannes lists its runtime as 98 minutes, while MUBI’s US film page lists 91 minutes; runtimes can differ between editions or listings, so check the version available to you.
Rank #4
Where can you watch or buy it?
Availability depends on territory and can change. BFI lists MUBI as the UK and North American distributor and Film4 as broadcaster. MUBI’s film page is US-specific, so it does not establish streaming availability everywhere. Check the service’s current catalogue in your region.
MUBI Shop lists a Blu-ray edition with English and English SDH subtitles, a Q&A with Walker and McKenna-Bruce, a Reclaim the Frame conversation and six art cards. The shop listing showed the Blu-ray as sold out when checked; that stock status may change. Confirm both availability and regional compatibility before buying.
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