Give Michelle Williams all the awards for this comedy about a terminally ill woman looking for sex
Dying for Sex
★★★★★
Awards are at best a flawed model for judging what we watch, but we need to make an exception. Michelle Williams gets every shiny trophy possible for her performance here as a terminally ill woman determined to embrace sexual pleasure. A Golden Globe and an Emmy? Absolutely. Throw in the Brownlow and the Dally M, too. Williams, already one of the finest actors of the 21st century, achieves the sublime. She captures an entire life’s buried distress in a solitary word of reply, suggests wonder with a seditious smile.
Michelle Williams (right) as Molly and Jenny Slate as Nikki in the comedy Dying for Sex.Credit:
Williams couldn’t have done this without a galvanising vehicle. Dying for Sex was created by Liz Meriwether and Kim Rosenstock, who cut their teeth on The New Girl. It’s adapted from the podcast series of the same name, and deals with living your life in the face of death, negating past trauma, the bedrock strength of soul mates, and a selection of sexual experiences delivered with frankness and terrific empathy. One character says, “Keep kicking me in the dick” in this bittersweet triumph that lands like a love sonnet.
From the moment New Yorker Molly (Williams) learns her cancer has returned, and is stage four, she pushes herself to change. Her husband, Steve (Jay Duplass), a righteous martyr who can’t satisfy Molly sexually, goes by the wayside. If she’s going to die with anyone, it’s her chaotic best friend, Nikki (Jenny Slate). Through panic, dating app failure, medical crises and a “kink-forward play party”, the pair try to make sense of the unthinkable.
The show is good at numerous things, from the realities of cancer treatment when remission is no longer a goal to the difficulties women can have articulating their sexual needs. And these distinct traits feed upon one another, creating a fascinating friction. Humour allows childhood loss to be acknowledged, while wrenching setbacks open up moments of transcendence.
Jay Duplass (right) plays Steve, the ex-husband of Molly (Michelle Williams) in Dying for Sex. Credit:
Williams unfolds every side of Molly, and the supporting cast is simpatico. There’s an entire series alone in Molly’s journey with her starchy oncologist, Dr Pankowitz (David Rasche).
As in Miranda July’s 2024 novel All Fours, a spiritual sister-work to Dying for Sex, the steps Molly takes – charted by an inner monologue that’s a terrific voice performance in its own right – feel intense and granular, yet also revelatory and universal. The direction captures how bodies can connect with a tactile charge; see the moustache bristles of Rob Delaney’s submissive neighbour. By the end, there are jokes so fiercely defiant that you can laugh out loud and tear up. That’s beyond mere greatness.
Dying for Sex streams on Disney+ from April 4.
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