What begins as an urgent and necessary little film about a woman’s right to choose, soon turns into a plot that will send any frightened, confused and pregnant girl running to a corner in her room and determined to keep her unborn baby.
The story opens with the awkwardness of high school. How dare you believe in yourself? How dare you be talented or mainly be different. If you stand out, the average kids will be mean…attempting to strip your self-esteem down to silence. And then there’s teenage boys. Relentless. Perverted. Sex hounds.
It’s not easy for seventeen-year-old Autumn (Sidney Flanigan) who scans her body in her bedroom’s full length mirror. Glitter eye makeup…check; beaded necklace…check; polka dot sports bra…check; protruding belly…Oh dear.
At the local clinic in small town Pennsylvania, Autumn tests positive. Pregnant. They insist she should have the baby; insist she should opt for adoption The counsellors go so far as to show her a stunning and frightful film about the realities of pregnancy termination.
While most teens might turn to Mom instead, Autumn goes silent, self-piercing herself, almost punishing herself. And as a parent – if you are a parent – you pick up the subtle signs early on of who the man is that impregnated her. So perhaps, going to Mom is not an option.
Feeling misplaced, Autumn turns to Skylar (Talia Ryder) her BFF. Together they steal the funding to seek a pregnancy termination from friendly educated women in Manhattan. Autumn finally feels welcome. But getting there is exhausting. Trains, buses, walking, sleeping in subways as well as the angst of what she’ll soon discover, once she arrives…
The film’s title comes from the Q/A that’s unloaded on her at the clinic check-in. “Have you ever been abused by your sexual partner?” Answer: Never, rarely, sometimes, often.
So, what is this film’s message? Stay home? Keep the baby you don’t want and ruin all your lives? Because it seems this could have been a smart story with a gigantic message that somehow missed the opportunity. Once the filmmaker neglects to tie up a better ending, female viewers will instead be deterred by the politics of pregnancy termination. It’s never made clear that it would have been easier to have the procedure in Autumn’s hometown if only those services were made available.
Look, nobody actually advocates for abortion. But sometimes and under extraordinary circumstances like with Autumn… keeping the child is not an option.
Flangian’s performance is delivered with frightening precision. Oscar-worthy, really. With barely any dialog, we can feel her fear, her ignorance, confusion, and her uncertainty when she just wants to turn to her family. She just wants to lie her head down and rest. We feel that nervous thump in the pit of our stomach that travels those hots jolt up our spine, spreading to our shoulders. We are infuriated for Autumn. Yes, the movie succeeds to rattle our cage.
But it’s the maternal that kicks in for me, too – and as the mother of two daughters – this feels like a painful voyeuristic documentary that might be required viewing for teen girls in health class. Catholic health class. In no way – message delivered or not – does the movie leave one feeling entertained or uplifted for the price of a ticket and popcorn. And in no way does it shine like Eighth Grade or even Lady Bird, where teenage angst in unraveled and explored. This is just painful on so many levels.
2 tiaras