Movie Release Date: March 7th, 2012

Review Date: April 2nd, 2016

Reviewer: Alexa

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The Iron Heart

 

Taking place in suburbia Berkeley, California in 1988, the film depicts the shortened life of Mark O'Brien and his personal quest of experiencing sexual intercourse for the first time in his life. The film is based upon O'Brien's writing, On Seeing A Sex Surrogate. O'Brien was diagnosed with Polio at the tender age of 6, and since that time his mind remained sharp but his body was disabled from the neck down. Nonethless, O'Brien attended University and has since became an affluent writer, poet and eventual advocate for the disabled. In order to survive, O'Brien breathes through a hyperbaric chamber known as the "Iron Lung". 

 

O'Brien confesses to a priest - whom he later befriends - Father Brendan - that he is undertaking a new project based on the subject of sex and as a result wants to lose his virginity, Father Brendan reluctantly gives his blessing and O'Brien begins his journey. On the prospect of losing his virginity, Mark apprehensively states that "a door had opened that he could not close". In forwarding scenes, when O'Brien proposes the idea of working with a sex surrogate, Father Brendan tries to come to terms with this idea as he states "What's the difference between a common prostitute and sex surogate anyway?" This rhetorical question is later resolved in upcoming scenes. 

 

O'Brien begins working with a sex surrogate named Cheryl and she is a wife and Mom. Cheryl states that her role as a sex surrogate was to "try to help people with sex probelms that can't be addressed". O’Brien abruptly but unintentionally rude states, “Your money is on the desk!” Cheryl is taken back but nonethless emphasizes that she is a sex surrogate who “works with a client’s body and that [she] deals mostly with a client’s poor self-image and lack of self-esteem, not just the act of sex itself” (O’Brien, “On Seeing A Sex Surrogate”, 1990). Furthermore, “they set a limit of six to eight sessions [and] maintain a professional relationship by addressing a specific sexual dysfunction; they [are not] interested in just providing pleasure, but in bringing about needed changes [in psychological and sexual health]” (O’Brien, “On Seeing A Sex Surrogate”, 1990). It is portrayed in the film that Cheryl is depicted in a manner where she’s in control of the clients she sees, maintains her boundaries and sexual intercourse/intimate practices are contained in safe and managed environment indoors. 

 

During their sessions, when Mark could not withhold his orgasm for longer than a few seconds during his sessions with Cheryl, he punished himself emotionally. By doing so, he confided in Father Brendan by saying, “I felt cursed – that the whole enterprise was cursed. It seemed like a totally just punishment [as] God was naturally denying my sexuality and poured it on to me how useless it was”. In this regard, the disabled male body becomes one textual space of negotiation for complex anxieties and desires. Cheryl comes to realize that Mark systematically punishes himself emotionally based upon his traumatic past. When he was young, his sister passed away due to pneumonia, and blames himself for her death as he states that more attention was placed on him when he contracted the disease, Cheryl's role as a sex surrogate entailed her to evaluate Mark's self-deprecation and regards that the guilt that he possesses and his environmental upbringing constrains himself from accepting love. Therefore, Cheryl helped him connect to his childhood to relieve him of his guilt and asks him “Do you blame [your six year old self] from getting Polio?” Particularly, there is a great openness in communication as it ranges from Mark's verbalisations and fears to Cheryl's directions and support throughout the sessions.

 

Throughout the film. both Mark's and Cheryl's characters begin to unravel, as Cheryl struggles to maintain her domestic life while realizing that Mark is developing feelings for her as their sessions progress. Cheryl's husband finds a poem Mark wrote her, and immediately throws it in the trash, Cheryl and her parter eventually resolve their issues, but Cheryl finds the poem in the trash. It was beautiful and eloquent. However, Cheryl maintains that “it is about what [Mark] wants” and systematically removes herself from establishing more than a professional relationship. Eventually, the sessions ended earlier than anticipated. Mark goes through a phase questionning if the sessions were worth undertaking. Eventually through time, he falls in love with a volunteer care woker who aided him during a medical emergency, Unfortunately. Mark dies at the age of 49. 

 

At his funeral service, his lover/ girlfriend reads the poem that Mark intended for Cheryl. Cheryl is touched and the film concludes with the narration of the poem in Mark's own voice. 

 

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safety

• The film did not include contraception use, however consent was always established between Mark and Cheryl before and during their sessions

• Intercourse took place in a safe, indoor environment

• When Cheryl was guiding Mark's by removing his clothing, it was painful for him, so Cheryl stopped and suggested to him that if he is in pain to let her know, this was a constant throughout the film

• Communication was open and fluid

word choice

• Cheryl is referred to as a "sex surrogate" and discusses what her career entails​

inclusiveness

• ​Deals with a client's body through body awareness exercises and supposed low self-esteem

• Addresses dysfunction in sexuality

• Interested in bringing about needed changes in behaviour 

• Wanted to heal Mark from his internal pain and guilt and self-deprecative behaviour about his sexuality and life

facts

• Highlighted the dilemmas and struggles of maintaining a professional relationship

• However, at times the film was slightly idealized

​​types

• ​The film acts as a counter discourse to stereotypical representations of sex workers

• No stereotypical constructions of sex workers present

 

overall SWIFT rating:

 

This film deserves a 4.5/5 rating. It highlights sex work as an intimate and therapeutic enterprise – as it is more than just purely about the mechanics of the sexual acts between the client and professional. Thus, these counter-discourses to sex work and sexuality enacts a re-signification to the current social order. It loses marks as it did not adaquately portray safe sex practices,