Joy

A current Netflix original movie about the movement to get IVF (in vitro fertilization) across the finish line during the 70's in Blighty. A pair of scientists, James Norton & Thomasin McKenzie, team up w/a doctor, Oscar nominee Bill Nighy, to begin the process of bringing heretofore barren women pregnant using their new method but due to the tenor of the time (the religious right found the act sacrilegious while the medical establishment felt if a woman couldn't conceive, it was her lot in life) presents more challenges than the actual breakthrough they'd struggle to achieve over the course of a decade. McKenzie herself, very standoffish w/her incoming test subjects & dealing w/her own mother's vociferous opposition to her work, soon starts to sympathize w/her subjects' plight opening herself to them while her comrades endure the trials of Job to get some success. A fairly standard take on a tumultuous topic is buoyed by the 3 leads performances which give a voice & face to a procedure which is pretty commonplace nowadays (hell a friend of mine had it done!) making us second guess the ease in certain medicial things we take for granted.

Netflix definitely not taking any risks with this one, but I think for this subject that isn't necessarily a bad thing. The first act had me a bit worried as it kind of started a bit too cheesy where it was bordering on something like that stupid hot cheetos movie. Fortunately by the second act some real conflict and interesting character/plot development did arise in a moderately interesting way. I will admit they got me with the sentimental true-story conclusion. Sometimes it's nice to just watch something light and heartwarming, and I think with the actually interesting subject matter this is a good choice for that kind of vibe.

Thomasin Mckenzie is wonderful as this character and I am soooo glad they followed the female scientist as the main character in this story, I think that was the only way to make this work. Jean Purdy seems she was criminally overlooked as many of the brilliant women of her time, but it inspires some hope to know that her male collaborators were fierce advocators for her recognition as a crucial scientist in this huge accomplishment.

It's good, watch it for a date night or something.

I can't believe fifty years ago people were against babies being born. We've clearly come very far both in terms of medical advancements and critical thinking and we still have a long way to go, but fifty years seems not that long ago.

Also, I can't believe Jean's mom. Hardline believers are mystifying for sure. And I wonder how much of Jean's life in this movie is fiction for the sake of the movie. Anyway, it's such a shame she died so young, I'm sure there was so much more she could have accomplished.

I didn't find this boring at all. I know most people find it lacking, but I didn't. It's a good story. It's amusing again that the actors look nothing like the actual people they're portraying, and you can see where I'm going with this. But I'm part of the audience that likes to see attractive and well put together people on screen, so I'd be a hypocrite to complain, right? Also, at this point Bill Nighy makes any movie better just by sitting there.

Wow, not perfect film as the dialogue does go a bit awry in places especially in the middle of the film but for me being a father of 1 child and the difficulty in having her touched a nerve. Myself it was indeed tears of JOY at the end of the film as this story is based on true events of 3 pioneers who over the decades have been overlooked especially Jean Purdy. Joy not only tells the story of IVF but also recognises the contribution that Jean made to bringing couples much wanted children whereas this would not be possible otherwise and the treatment of women and their importance in society too including the brave women at the start who went through the program before the first successful pregnancy. Joy also highlights the fact that society at the time were very backward about childless couples and now that attitudes have changed since this included the church and the press. I don't think i could watch it again not that it is a bad film it is not it is brilliant but it was too emotional for me to watch it again, but to the film makers thankyou for doing so.

Joy is the story of the development of IVF, and specifically the role of Jean Purdy in that world-changing process - a woman whose contribution to the research and treatment was too often written out of history. That a woman's contribution should be written out of this, of all stories is of course a deeply ironic injustice; and the film is seeking to do for this injustice what Hidden Figures did for a similar injustice in the history of the American space programme. Thomasin McKenzie is excellent - as she usually is - in the lead role, and Bill Nighy is well used as one of the surgeons. The story is, of course, inspiring and uplifting, but I can't help but feel that such a remarkable and important story deserves a better film. It's fine as it is - and it does improve as it goes on. But the script in particular does too much exposition, especially in the early stages; some of that may be felt to be necessary in a story that science plays such a role in. But the result is that it takes too much of its running time to really feel emotionally engaging. More character depth, a little more nuance in some of the issues the story raises would have led to something that felt even more worthy of the remarkable raw historical material. The process is interesting - but this is fundamentally a story about people. And whilst it's hard not to be moved by the end of the film, I can't help but wish for a production that was more emotionally engaging throughout.