You and the Academy Awards Missed One of the Best Performances of Last Year — Now You Can Fix That on Netflix

One of the many new films that were added to Netflix at the beginning of the month is Molly Manning Walker’s directorial debut, How to Have Sex. Don’t be fooled by the title or premise—a trio of 16-year-old British girls on a wild holiday in Greece—How to Have Sex is not a raunchy sex comedy but a meditative coming-of-age film about peer pressure and sexual assault. It also features one of the most underrated lead performances of 2024 from Mia McKenna-Bruce as Tara, our bubbly protagonist who sets out to lose her virginity while on holiday, only to end up feeling socially excluded and traumatized by the end of the trip. Her performance—and the film at large—is a masterclass in showing, not telling, and How to Have Sex is a visceral slice-of-life film that treats its delicate subject matter with the empathy and sensitivity it deserves.

Written and directed by Manning Walker, How to Have Sex premiered at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, winning the top prize in the Un Certain Regard section before its theatrical release in the United States in February 2024. It follows Tara (Mia McKenna-Bruce) and her two best friends, Em (Enva Lewis) and Skye (Lara Peake), on vacation in Crete, Greece, after completing their GSCE school exams, who spend the weekend drinking and partying with reckless abandon. Tara’s goal for the trip is to lose her virginity, and when they befriend another group of rowdy British vacationers, she shows interest in Badger (Shaun Thomas), but Skye tries to convince her she can do better and nudges her towards Paddy (Samuel Bottomley). After being coerced into sex with Paddy on the beach one night, he sexually assaults her the following day, and the film centers on Tara’s emotional state as she comes to terms with what’s happened to her.

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How to Have Sex’s intimate, documentary-style camerawork brings us into this colorful landscape full of cheap alcohol, sexual innuendo, and nonstop partying, while McKenna-Bruce’s nuanced performance tells us exactly what’s going on in Tara’s head throughout the trip. Her character is introduced as being charming, outgoing, and full of energy, but we very soon see how Tara feels like the odd one out, embarrassed by her lack of sexual experience and uncomfortable with a lot of the overt sexuality on display over the course of their vacation. The encouragement of her friends to find someone to sleep with soon starts to feel like peer pressure, especially coming from Skye, who reveals herself to be a pretty terrible friend as their holiday progresses. What should be a weekend of fun brings Tara’s insecurities to the forefront—about her age, her virginity, and her lack of academic success compared to Em and Skye—and she finds herself pushed to the sidelines of their new group of friends, leaving her in dangerous situations. The success of How to Have Sex rests largely on McKenna-Bruce’s shoulders, and she does an incredible job of mapping out her emotional journey throughout a tumultuous weekend.

Mia McKenna-Bruce Gives a Star-Making Performance in ‘How To Have Sex’

The larger ensemble cast of How to Have Sex all give great, naturalistic performances that make their characters feel lived in, but McKenna-Bruce is undeniably the breakout star of the film, even winning the Rising Star Award at the 2024 BAFTAs. Her physicality is most impressive, and the changes in her body language throughout the film as she becomes disillusioned and begins to process her assault speak for themselves. How to Have Sex’s overwhelming, pulse-pounding nightclub scenes are contrasted with quieter moments that really drive the film and allow McKenna-Bruce to shine. The film’s most emotionally impactful moments are those where Tara is completely silent, and the subtleties McKenna-Bruce brings to her performance tell us exactly how she’s feeling at any given moment, even as she attempts to hide her emotions from the others. Tara’s naïveté turns to numbness as her first two sexual experiences leave her traumatized, and little details like the way she wrings her hands and fiddles with her hair and clothing to soothe herself when she’s uncomfortable or upset will make you want to reach through the screen and hug her. The roller coaster of emotions she’s able to convey before quickly pulling herself back together so as not to ruin anyone else’s fun is devastating to watch, and anyone who has gone through similar experiences can immediately identify with her character.