NEW YORK 鈥� Even progressively minded movies about abortion have usually focused on the morality of the decision. Eliza Hittman wanted to make a film where the highest hurdle isn鈥檛 deciding to have an abortion. It鈥檚 getting it.
鈥淔or me, it was about the obstacles. I think a lot of films focus on destigmatizing the abortion,鈥� says Hittman. 鈥淭hey show it as a need and a necessity of woman鈥檚 life, but they don鈥檛 show how hard it is for the majority of women in this country to access them.鈥�
鈥淣ever Rarely Sometimes Always,鈥� Hittman鈥檚 third feature film, is about a 17-year-old named Autumn (Sidney Flanigan) who can鈥檛 get an abortion in her rural Pennsylvania town without her parents鈥� permission. She and her cousin, Skylar (Talia Ryder), scrap enough money together to take a bus to New York City to get the abortion she鈥檚 seeking. Their odyssey traverses not just the byzantine state-to-state restrictions that can surround abortion, but a broadly fraught landscape. The two young women, in unspoken solidarity, make their way through a world of male harassment, from slight gestures to more heartbreaking encounters.
鈥淚 wanted to put the audience in the shoes of a young woman navigating a hostile environment, and all the ways in which men, whether they know it or don鈥檛, can cross a line,鈥� Hittman said.
Hittman was speaking in an interview in Manhattan alongside Flanigan and Ryder in early March. The movie was days away from opening in
By then, an ominous feeling had already settled over New York because of the coronavirus. Everyone greeted with pointed elbows or a wave. Hittman, a native New Yorker, was having a hard time imagining her city self-isolating. 鈥淣ever Rarely Sometimes Always鈥� opened in a few
On Friday, Focus Features will debut 鈥淣ever Rarely Sometimes Always鈥� on on-demand. The quick digital release brings one of the spring鈥檚 best films into homes eager for entertainment, but also into a challenging environment for a quiet film, without stars, that builds its considerable power patiently through an accumulation of sharply observed details.
鈥淭he dependence on word of mouth is as critical now as it was before,鈥� said producer Adele Romanski (鈥淢oonlight鈥�), in a phone interview with fellow producer Sara Murphy. 鈥淚t鈥檒l just have to be over Zoom and not over a cocktail.鈥�
鈥淗opefully we can continue to talk about the film and the importance of the issues in the film that are still relevant, even more so today as people are talking about whether abortion is an essential medical procedure,鈥� Murphy says.
During the pandemic, some Republican-led states have deemed abortion a 鈥渘on-essential鈥� procedure. On Monday, federal judges blocked those restrictions and set future arguments to be heard by video conferencing.
Last year, states including Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Missouri and Mississippi introduced bills that would ban most abortions. In some states, efforts are increasing to roll back the landmark Roe v. Wade decision by bringing abortion arguments to a Supreme Court populated by new conservative appointees. Last month, the Supreme Court heard arguments over a Louisiana law that would require doctors to have admitting privileges to local hospitals, a regulation that could severely limit abortion access.
鈥淚t鈥檚 ironic that it鈥檚 being called 鈥榩rivileges,鈥�" says Hittman before alluding to her film鈥檚 title. 鈥淚 see it as it pertains to the larger conversation about abortion in this country where people, men, try to decide under what circumstances a woman should have access. I think it鈥檚 always.鈥�
Hittman had long considered making a movie about abortion but was emboldened after the election of Donald Trump and the experience of attending a women鈥檚 march at Sundance. She began by looking for the closest pregnancy care
鈥淣ever Rarely Sometimes Always鈥� has drawn comparisons to the celebrated Romanian film 鈥�4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days,鈥� about a woman seeking an illegal abortion. Hittman appreciates that film but takes issue with its depiction of a pregnant woman.
鈥淪he鈥檚 represented as being careless and naive and she鈥檚 shamed and judged,鈥� says Hittman. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 a masterpiece. It鈥檚 a male masterpiece.鈥�
The perspective behind 鈥淣ever Rarely Sometimes Always鈥� is plainly different, and it's one shared by its young protagonists. Both are acting in their first film, both natives of Buffalo, and both have been hailed as breakthrough performers. They giggled their way through their first, private screening of the movie, but Flanigan, 21, cried when she saw it at Sundance.
Ryder is 17, and realizes if she lived in Pennsylvania, she could be in Autumn's situation. After screenings, she's been approached by some mothers who tell her: 鈥淎fter seeing this, I just want my daughter to know I鈥檓 there for her and that she can talk to me.鈥�
鈥淣ever Rarely Sometimes Always鈥� is rated PG-13, meaning teenage girls can watch it on their own if they want to. Hittman says the Motion Picture Association said if she removed just two expletives, it wouldn't receive an R rating.
鈥淚 think it was always my dream to make smart, artful films for young people,鈥� says Hittman. 鈥淭here are a lot of commercial films in the world that don鈥檛 really represent what it鈥檚 like to be a young person in the world every day.鈥�
Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
