---
title: "How to Have Sex"
year: 2023
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/how-to-have-sex"
fi1m_id: "how-to-have-sex"
imdb_id: "tt22890246"
tmdb_id: 1075175
wikidata_id: "Q117753851"
fi1m_score: 84
critics_score: 83
critics_reviews: 18
published: "2026-09-10"
updated: "2026-09-18T08:38:04.698263+00:00"
region: "BE"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# How to Have Sex (2023)

Directed by Molly Manning Walker · 1h 31m · Drama

## Identity

How to Have Sex

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/how-to-have-sex
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** how-to-have-sex
- **IMDb ID:** tt22890246
- **TMDB ID:** 1075175
- **Wikidata ID:** Q117753851
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt22890246/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/1075175, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q117753851

**Fi1m score: 84** · Critics 83 from 18 reviews

*In a sentence:* A holiday where everyone keeps asking whether you got with anyone and nobody asks how it went

> Molly Manning Walker’s first film follows three sixteen-year-olds to Malia and gets the noise right before it gets the silence right. Mia McKenna-Bruce is remarkable. The boys are drawn thinner than the girls, and the ending arrives in a hurry.

## Synopsis

Tara (Mia McKenna-Bruce), Skye (Lara Peake) and Em (Enva Lewis) are sixteen, have just sat their GCSEs, and have flown to Malia, on Crete, for a week they intend to remember. The plan is drink, clubs, boys, and for Tara, who is the only one of the three who has not had sex, something more specific. They talk their way into a room by the pool and fall in with the group on the next balcony: Badger (Shaun Thomas), who is loud and friendly, Paddy (Samuel Bottomley), who is quieter, and Paige (Laura Ambler). Molly Manning Walker’s first film as writer and director follows the holiday night by night, through the strip, the hotel and the mornings after, as the fun begins to cost something.

## Review

Tara (Mia McKenna-Bruce), Skye (Lara Peake) and Em (Enva Lewis) have finished their GCSEs and landed in Malia, on Crete, with a plan. It is the best holiday of their lives, they tell each other at the airport, and they are going to make sure of it. Tara, the small loud one, has a second plan she is less loud about: she is the only one of the three who has not had sex, and she means to fix that before the flight home. Molly Manning Walker wrote and directed the film, her first, and it is good. We recommend it, with a caveat about the boys and the last ten minutes.

The first half hour is noise, and the noise is right. Nicolas Canniccioni shoots the strip at night in pinks and greens with the camera at shoulder height and close, so the crowd is a wall of arms and the girls have to shout to be heard by each other and by us. Luke Moran-Morris gives them a hotel room that is mostly floor and bed, the sort of room three people can wreck in an evening, and they do. George Buxton dresses them in new going-out clothes, the sort saved for a trip like this and not yet worn. We were tired within twenty minutes, in the way one is tired at a party, and we think that was the idea.

On the next balcony are three older kids: Badger (Shaun Thomas), who is loud and kind and the first to shout across, Paddy (Samuel Bottomley), who is quieter and better-looking and knows it, and Paige (Laura Ambler), who mostly watches. Badger likes Tara straight away and is easy with her. Skye, who has noticed this, steers Tara at Paddy instead. Em, the sensible one, sees all of it and says less than she should.

Then, a little past the midpoint, there is a night we will not describe, and the film changes. It does not change the way most films do. The music does not stop, the parties carry on, Skye and Em are as loud as before. What changes is that Canniccioni’s camera stays on Tara while the frame around her keeps moving, and McKenna-Bruce lets the bravado leave her face a piece at a time. We watched the second half with our stomach tight, and what did it was not anything shown. It was a girl walking through a pool party in daylight, asked the same question by everyone she passed, answering it with a face that had stopped matching her voice.

McKenna-Bruce is doing the whole film. She is quick and funny in the early scenes, and she never plays the later ones for sympathy; Tara keeps trying to be the person the holiday wants her to be, and the effort is what hurts. Fin Oates cuts the party scenes in short pieces and the mornings in long ones, so the hangovers feel like the true length of the trip. James Jacob’s score is barely there. Most of what you hear is the strip, the pool speakers and the room next door, and the film is quieter than any of them.

The flaws are in the writing around her. Paddy is a type, the good-looking boy who does not ask, and Bottomley plays him well enough, but Manning Walker gives him no interior to find. Skye is drawn with a thicker line than she needs; every time the film wants pressure on Tara, Skye says something cruel, and the mechanism shows. The last ten minutes arrive in a hurry, as if the film had spent its patience on the middle and had none left for the end. Most critics have let this pass, and we nearly did.

It starts like [*The Inbetweeners*](https://film.one/tv/the-inbetweeners) on their holiday and ends nowhere near it, and the trick is that the two halves are shot the same way. Nobody sits down and explains anything. That is the right decision, and rarer than it sounds.

It is a 15, and 91 minutes. If you have a daughter about to go on one of these, watch it first. Then decide whether the conversation is one you have before she goes or after she gets back.

*Fi1m score 84, published 10 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

The reviews are unusually united. Nearly every critic praises Mia McKenna-Bruce’s lead performance as Tara, describing it as raw and revelatory, and most credit writer-director Molly Manning Walker with handling the grey areas of consent without turning the film into either a lecture or a cautionary tale. Critics also single out the tonal shift, from the noise and colour of a post-GCSE holiday in Crete to something quieter and more troubling, and several admire the camerawork for catching the sticky, sensory feel of the nights out.

Reservations are minor and cluster around the supporting characters: Little White Lies and The Hollywood Reporter both find some of them broadly drawn or thinly motivated, and IndieWire calls them obvious. The Playlist thinks the ending is rushed. The nearest thing to a dissent is Paste, which finds the story competent but predictable and carried mainly by the acting. The spread is narrow, running from firm approval to something close to acclaim.

## Straight answers

**Is How to Have Sex worth watching?**

*How to Have Sex* is worth watching, and we scored it 84. Molly Manning Walker's first film follows three sixteen-year-olds on a post-GCSE week in Malia, and Mia McKenna-Bruce's performance as Tara carries it from noisy fun into something quieter and harder. The boys are written thinner than the girls and the last ten minutes feel rushed, but it suits anyone who has been on such a trip, or has a daughter about to go.

**How long is How to Have Sex, and what is it rated?**

*How to Have Sex* runs 1h 31m. It is a drama film.

**Where can I watch How to Have Sex in Belgium?**

*How to Have Sex* is streaming on MUBI, Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV in Belgium, and it is also available to rent from Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV from €1.99. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service.

**How violent or frightening is How to Have Sex, and is it suitable for children?**

*How to Have Sex* is a 15 in the UK and is not for children, though it is not violent or frightening in the usual sense. It is a drama about sixteen-year-olds drinking, clubbing and pursuing sex on holiday, and a little past the midpoint there is a night the film does not show but which changes everything after it. Older teenagers could watch it; parents may want to see it first.

**How does How to Have Sex compare to Fish Tank?**

*How to Have Sex* and [*Fish Tank*](https://film.one/film/fish-tank) both watch a teenage girl closely and decline to judge her, but they differ in temper. Andrea Arnold's film is the tenser and more dangerous of the two, carried by Katie Jarvis and her fraught encounters with Michael Fassbender; Molly Manning Walker's begins as a loud holiday and turns quiet. Choose *Fish Tank* for grit, *How to Have Sex* if the Malia strip is nearer home.

**What should I watch after How to Have Sex?**

After *How to Have Sex*, try [*Fish Tank*](https://film.one/film/fish-tank) (2009, Fi1m 85): Andrea Arnold’s Essex teenager, watched as closely and judged as little as Tara is. Then [*Aftersun*](https://film.one/film/aftersun) (2022, Fi1m 85): Another British holiday abroad, remembered later, where the sunshine hides what nobody said; and [*Never Rarely Sometimes Always*](https://film.one/film/never-rarely-sometimes-always) (2020, Fi1m 84): Two teenage cousins, one long trip, and a lead who says almost everything with her face.

### Reviews we read (25)

- **The AV Club**, Murtada Elfadl (A): The critic praises the gritty, realistic take on teenage sex and consent as a spellbinding antithesis to typical teen comedies. He singles out Mia McKenna-Bruce’s anchoring performance and the director’s trust in gray areas and lived-in performances. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/how-to-have-sex-review-a-spellbinding-tale-1851207610)
- **Empire**, Sophie Butcher (85/100, inferred): The film immerses viewers in the sensory overload of a teenage holiday while exploring the complexities of consent, female friendship, and vulnerability through strong performances, especially Mia McKenna-Bruce as Tara. It handles tough topics starkly and affectingly without exploitation, delivering an enthralling and important debut. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/how-to-have-sex/)
- **Slant Magazine**, Clayton Dillard (85/100, inferred): The critic calls the film a remarkable, humanist knotty study of consent that leaves emotions unresolved and relationships messy. He singles out its masterstroke in handling ambiguity around a key sexual encounter and its instructive take on sexual politics. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/how-to-have-sex-review-molly-manning-walker/)
- **Little White Lies**, Hannah Strong (3/4/3): The critic finds the film an assured debut that captures the rite-of-passage holiday with visual flair and sharp insight into teenage sexual politics and friendship tensions. Mia McKenna-Bruce stands out in a lead role that mixes bravado and vulnerability, though some characterisations feel broadly drawn. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/how-to-have-sex)
- **Radio Times**, James Mottram (4/5): The critic praises the sensitively handled exploration of sexual consent in a debauched holiday setting, driven by a raw and star-making performance from Mia McKenna-Bruce. Manning Walker's debut impressively gets inside the protagonist's head amid the hedonistic atmosphere. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-ct3vgp/how-to-have-sex/)
- **Screen Daily** (80/100, inferred): The review highlights the terrific debut's shift from riotous holiday energy to discomfort, with witty, empathetic storytelling and a visually arresting style that tunes into hidden anxieties. A star-making turn from Mia McKenna-Bruce and strong ensemble work are singled out for praise. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/how-to-have-sex-cannes-review/5182052.article)
- **Time Out**, Anna Smith (4/5): The review calls the film a smart, provocative take on consent and social pressures among teens, with an authentic ebb-and-flow tone that mixes fun and discomfort. Manning Walker shows sensitivity and compassion in directing, avoiding clichés while delivering strong performances from the young cast. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/how-to-have-sex-2023)
- **Total Film**, Kate Stables (80/100, inferred): This punchy debut offers a vividly shot, sharp-eyed take on post-GCSE holidays with a fresh female perspective on sexual consent, balancing wild partying and pleasures against the pitfalls and disorientation of bad choices. It refuses to become a simple cautionary tale while showcasing strong performances and camerawork. [Read](https://www.gamesradar.com/how-to-have-sex-review/)
- **Vulture**, Bilge Ebiri (80/100, inferred): The critic sees the film as a drifty experiential journey through euphoria and dread rather than a straightforward coming-of-age tale. He praises the atmospheric direction and McKenna-Bruce’s expressive performance that captures shifting bravado and regret. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/article/movie-review-molly-manning-walkers-how-to-have-sex.html)
- **Evening Standard**, Tom Davidson (75/100, inferred): The debut transforms from an Inbetweeners-style holiday romp into a darker exploration of consent, coercion, and teenage friendship, using deft camerawork to capture the sticky, sensory reality of Malia nights. Mia McKenna-Bruce excels as the vulnerable Tara, delivering an unsparing but not overly bleak look at regretted experiences. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/how-to-have-sex-review-london-film-festival-b1103381.html)
- **IndieWire**, David Ehrlich: The critic finds the debut too smart and unflinching for its obvious characters in a sensitive teen drama. He highlights the film's refusal to simplify the gray areas of consent and desire during a raucous holiday. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/movies/how-to-have-sex-review-1234864793/)
- **Los Angeles Times**, Jessica Kiang: The perceptive debut gets viewers to forgive and then grieve the brash bravado of three 16-year-old girls on a party trip in Crete. It is a sorrowful observation of what the world does to girls and what it makes them do to themselves, keyed into sadness beneath the day-glo party energy. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2024-02-02/how-to-have-sex-review-mia-mckenna-bruce-molly-manning-walker)
- **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw: The critic praises the assured debut of writer-director Molly Manning Walker and the revelatory performance of Mia McKenna-Bruce as the lead teen navigating peer pressure and consent on a hedonistic holiday in Crete. The film is celebrated for its tonal balance between energetic comedy and troubling emotional depth in exploring grey areas of consent. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/nov/05/how-to-have-sex-review-two-stars-are-born-in-a-searing-study-of-consent-molly-manning-walker-mia-mckenna-bruce)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**, Lovia Gyarkye: The critic calls it a quiet stunner about three friends on a Greek holiday that turns devastating. She praises the natural chemistry among the young cast and the sensitive handling of assault's aftermath while noting some secondary characters lack clear motivation. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/how-to-have-sex-review-1235487486/)
- **The New York Times**, Manohla Dargis: The film is grim going as a vaporous coming-of-age story about a 16-year-old British girl on a booze-soaked getaway in Crete with her friends. It tracks her hopes of losing her virginity turning into a blurry life lesson amid hard-partying and forced euphoria. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/01/movies/how-to-have-sex-review.html)
- **Variety**, Guy Lodge: Molly Manning Walker’s fresh, head-turning debut is a remarkably well-modulated first feature about a British teen on a girls’ trip to Crete that starts as hot, hormonal fun before pivoting to chilling detachment around consent. It lays out the minefield of sexual education for a post-#MeToo generation with precision to its ambiguities. [Read](https://variety.com/2023/film/festivals/how-to-have-sex-review-1235619800/)
- **Collider**, Emma Kiely (9/10): The critic calls the film a shattering, mesmerizing debut that offers a nuanced and realistic depiction of trauma and confusion surrounding sexual assault. They single out Mia McKenna-Bruce's powerful, career-making lead performance. [Read](https://collider.com/how-to-have-sex-movie-review/)
- **Polygon**, Oli Welsh (90/100, inferred): The critic hails it as a perfect coming-of-age movie and an achingly sensitive, honest drama about sex, consent, friendship, and the precipice of adulthood. They single out Mia McKenna-Bruce's revelatory performance as Tara, full of pugnacious energy and vulnerability. [Read](https://www.polygon.com/24067567/how-to-have-sex-review-recommendation/)
- **Deadline**, Damon Wise (85/100, inferred): The critic praises the film as an exceptional debut that offers a subtle, powerful deconstruction of teenage dreams and desires, highlighting Mia McKenna-Bruce's extraordinary performance. They note its nuanced take on consent and peer pressure without turning into a harrowing rape drama. [Read](https://deadline.com/2023/05/how-to-have-sex-review-molly-manning-walker-mia-mckenna-bruce-1235372876/)
- **Film Stories**, Lauren Miles (85/100, inferred): The critic praises Molly Manning Walker's debut for its emotional depth and naturalistic performances, especially Mia McKenna-Bruce as Tara, while highlighting the film's exploration of consent, societal pressures on teenagers, and the bonds of female friendship amid a messy holiday setting. [Read](https://filmstories.co.uk/reviews/how-to-have-sex-review-a-powerful-feature-debut/)
- **The Playlist**, Rafa Sales Ross (B+): The review commends the film's authentic snapshot of British teens abroad and its nuanced take on female adolescence and sexual inexperience, spotlighting strong young performances and a lively yet insightful tone, with minor notes on a rushed ending. [Read](https://theplaylist.net/how-to-have-sex-review-snapshot-of-brits-abroad-proves-a-refreshing-take-on-female-sexual-coming-of-age-cannes-20230520/)
- **/Film**, Lex Briscuso (8/10): The critic lauds the film's vivid capture of English youth culture and party dynamics, its honest handling of consent and emotional fallout, and standout performances from the young cast, particularly Mia McKenna-Bruce, deeming it an essential debut. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/1293563/how-to-have-sex-review/)
- **NME**, Alex Flood (4/5): The critic highlights the film's shift from joyful teen holiday antics to a disturbing exploration of consent and trauma. Mia McKenna-Bruce's lead performance is singled out for capturing both chaotic excitement and suffocating anxiety, with the story ultimately delivering a message of hope. [Read](https://www.nme.com/reviews/film-reviews/how-to-have-sex-review-mubi-3529229)
- **The Skinny**, Lucy Fitzgerald (★★★★): The review praises the film's authentic depiction of modern social realism through detailed mise-en-scène and a standout nuanced performance by Mia McKenna-Bruce. It singles out the director's handling of the sobering fallout from the characters' coming-of-age experiences as particularly affecting and essential. [Read](https://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/new-releases/how-to-have-sex-2023-review)
- **Paste**, Katarina Docalovich (7.0): The critic finds the film a competent but predictable tale about toxic party culture, elevated mainly by its acting. They single out Mia McKenna-Bruce's textured, human performance that communicates Tara's inner life through subtle expressions and body language. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/cannes-film-festival/how-to-have-sex-review)

## Details

- **Director:** Molly Manning Walker
- **Director:** Molly Manning Walker
- **Screenplay:** Molly Manning Walker
- **Cinematography:** Nicolas Canniccioni
- **Editor:** Fin Oates
- **Music:** James Jacob
- **Production design:** Luke Moran-Morris
- **Costume design:** George Buxton
- **Producer:** Konstantinos Kontovrakis, Emily Leo, Ivana MacKinnon
- **Cast:** Mia McKenna-Bruce as Tara; Lara Peake as Skye; Enva Lewis as Em; Samuel Bottomley as Paddy; Shaun Thomas as Badger; Laura Ambler as Paige; Eilidh Loan as Fi; Daisy Jelley as Gemma
- **Runtime:** 1h 31m
- **First release (France):** 19 May 2023
- **Genres:** Drama
- **Box office:** $1 million
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3XV6Oi1YZI

## Where to watch in Belgium

- MUBI: streaming, uhd
- Amazon Prime Video: streaming
- Amazon Prime Video: add-on
- Apple TV: add-on, uhd
- Amazon Prime Video: rent €1.99, sd
- Apple TV: rent €3.99, hd
- Apple TV: buy €5.99, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: buy €7.99, sd

*Checked 2026-09-10.*

Also available in: AR, AT, BE, BR, CA, CL, CO, DE, EC, ES, FR, GB, IE, IN, IT, MX, NL, PA, PE, PT, TR, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## Awards

- European Film Award for European Discovery of the Year 2023: European Film Award for European Discovery of the Year (won)
- Un certain regard Award 2023: Un certain regard Award (won)

## If you liked this

- *Fish Tank* (2009), Fi1m 85: Andrea Arnold’s Essex teenager, watched as closely and judged as little as Tara is. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/fish-tank.md)
- *Girlhood* (2014): Four Paris girls, a hotel room and a pop song; friendship as armour and as pressure.
- *Aftersun* (2022), Fi1m 85: Another British holiday abroad, remembered later, where the sunshine hides what nobody said. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/aftersun.md)
- *Spring Breakers* (2012): The American version of the same week, shot as a neon fever and meant to disturb.
- *Never Rarely Sometimes Always* (2020), Fi1m 84: Two teenage cousins, one long trip, and a lead who says almost everything with her face. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/never-rarely-sometimes-always.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/how-to-have-sex