Never Rarely Sometimes Always (2020)

Subtle and powerful abortion drama - Never Rarely Sometimes Always review by PD

This very subtle but highly effective piece makes its point by avoiding any kind of melodrama or cliche often reverted to by these types of film, and is all the more powerful as a consequence. First-timer Sidney Flanigan as Autumn is so perfect in the role that it has the feel of a documentary, her defensive demeanour only slipping occasionally to show us the distress underneath, and it also successfully depicts the strength of female friendship (none of the male characters come off well, unsurprisingly). The title of the film comes from a key scene involving a set of responses Autumn is asked to choose from during a pre-abortion interview, over the course of which an intensely personal series of questions is gently posed to her which leads to her shield cracking and falling away completely. What’s left is a 17-year-old girl so inured to enduring in silence that she’s unable to respond to someone is actually taking an interest in her well-being, no matter how clinical that interest may be: 'Your partner has made you have sex when you didn’t want to — never, rarely, sometimes, always'. The camera holds on Flanigan’s face for a long, unbearable stretch in which she’s broken open by the act of being asked about herself and not just the pregnancy she has travelled across state lines to terminate. Impressive stuff.