At this year's Berlin Film Festival, the feature film "Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Always" written and directed by American director, editor and producer Eliza Hittman attracted a lot of attention.
The film is said to be inspired by a tragic incident in Ireland that resulted in a miscarriage death after a hospital refused an abortion.
It is the highest-scoring film of the Berlin International Screening this year, with a score of 3.4 , and finally won the Silver Bear Jury Prize in the main competition section of the 70th Berlin International Film Festival.
The story takes place in a remote town in Pennsylvania, USA, where Autumn is an ordinary female high school student.
However, an unexpected pregnancy shattered her otherwise undisturbed life. At the women's clinic, Autumn learns that she is ten weeks pregnant.
The doctor was very happy to listen to the heartbeat of the fetus in her womb, but Autumn turned her face away indifferently, without a trace of joy.
The imminent arrival of a new life made Autumn anxious. She had planned to secretly abort the child herself, but local laws stipulated that "minors must have a parent's consent to have an abortion." In desperation, she chose to take medicine and beat her stomach in order to make the child shed.
In life, Autumn began to experience pregnancy symptoms, which also attracted the attention of her cousin Skylar, so the problem that was originally intended to be solved by one person became a secret that the two of them guarded together. Accompanied by Skylar, they secretly set out from Pennsylvania and boarded a bus to New York without telling their family.
However, when they arrived in Brooklyn, unexpected situations followed. First, Autumn was told that her previous test was inaccurate, that she was now 18 weeks pregnant, and that the local clinic only offered abortions to people under 12 weeks, so they were sent to another facility in Manhattan.
But when they got there, they learned that the operation would take two days, which also meant they had to spend an extra day in this strange city. But at this time, because of the cost of surgery, their savings are running out...
When the night came to them with the liveliness and lights of the whole city, a kind of fear and pressure spread immediately. On this far-flung and unknown journey, the two 17-year-old girls had to understand each other and rely on each other to overcome the ubiquitous difficulties.
Will this journey end successfully? Will there be any other accidents? What will they do tomorrow?
As the protagonist of the movie, Autumn is more often in a state of reticence, and even in the climax of the movie, she did not have an emotional breakdown. But the more calm and restrained the heroine appears, the clearer and heavier the pressure felt as an audience.
When they were in trouble in New York, Autumn was stubbornly refusing to call and contact her family. Even when she called her mother when she was the most uncomfortable, she quickly hung up after hearing her mother's voice. break.
The pain of the pin piercing the nose, the bright red blood spilling from the wound, and the bruise left by the hammering of the stomach, the heroine used a method almost self-mutilating to resolutely and decisively defend her autonomy in life. Compared with the anger and the daily silence, this struggle feels both sad and helpless.
And whether Autumn decides to have an abortion, or Skylar has to "sacrifice" herself in exchange for money from "Bus Boy", this is what they think is the best choice, and we really can't stand on the moral high ground. They criticize.
As the female counselor Kelly said to Autumn, "It doesn't matter what your decision is, as long as it's your own decision."
I think this is also what the film wants to convey, we have the right to make decisions about our bodies and our lives, and no one can force us to do anything we don't want to do.
On the journey of the two girls to New York, we can see that a bulky suitcase is always with them, which also adds a lot of burden to the journey.
Regarding this point, the director said in an interview with the media that she had read an article in a magazine: Those girls who got pregnant unexpectedly and then went to New York for an abortion, it was said that they always overstuffed their suitcases.
Just like on the eve of departure, Skylar packed a suitcase full of clothes. In the hearts of these girls, they had expected it to be an unexpected trip , but they didn't expect it to be so heavy. The originally full luggage The box has also become a burden to them.
This "hidden barrier" extends to reality, as if it is a metaphor for a kind of ubiquitous pressure - the pressure brought by men .
Offending and humiliating women is almost everywhere in Autumn's environment.
When participating in singing competitions, there will be boys secretly shouting, "Slut" (slut) from the audience! In the supermarket where they worked, the supervisor who hid next to the window would take the opportunity to molest them every day. Even at home, a stepfather can say "You little slut" to the family dog in front of his wife and daughters. Not to mention the homeless man who unscrupulously took out his genitals at them in the late-night subway in New York.
And sometimes this pressure comes not only from men, but also from women who don't know the truth.
Beth in the women's clinic knew that Autumn had the idea of having an abortion, and showed her a video promoting "anti-abortion". A large number of Christians gathered outside the Brooklyn clinic, and they were also promoting "anti-abortion"...
It was late at night, and the two people with nowhere to go could only drag the heavy suitcase and stop in the subway, the station lounge and the game room, waiting for the arrival of tomorrow.
The liveliness and freshness seem to fill every corner of the city, but for the two girls who have just arrived, it is not friendly enough. They stood on the street, no matter their expressions or figures, they all seemed so out of place.
The film's climax takes place during a conversation at a Manhattan facility, where counselor Kelly asks Autumn a series of questions to confirm her safety and health.
Kelly said to her thoughtfully that because of privacy concerns, she only needs to answer with "never," "rarely," "sometimes," and "always."
It sounds like doing multiple-choice questions, but the memories and stories involved in each question are no longer as simple as simply answering a question.
"Has your sexual partner threatened or intimidated you?" "Has your sexual partner ever acted violently against you?" "Has your sexual partner ever let you have a relationship against your will?"… …
From the beginning, Autumn responded like a flow, then paused and avoided, and finally even choked with sadness and was speechless. Here, we seem to be able to glimpse some of the pain and struggle that was buried in her heart.
Recognizing what she's been through, and recalling the words of the doctor at the Penn Gynecology Clinic, "This will be the most beautiful voice you'll ever hear," it's ironic.
The "father" of the unborn baby has always been a vague image in the movies. On the one hand, this approach makes it easier for the audience to focus on how the heroine solves the problem and what difficulties it encounters. On the other hand, it also makes the character "father" represent more "possible".
This blurred image is reflected in the real society, and it represents every man who hides behind the scenes and intrudes on women.
One of the lines in the movie that stood out to me is the conversation between Skylar and Autumn in the locker room:
"Have you ever thought about what it would be like to be a man before?" "Always!"
Similar words also appeared in the movie "Carnival". Lily at the front desk of the hotel was abandoned by the scumbag, and after the abortion surgery, she was drunk. Lying in bed, she said sadly, "I will never be a woman again in my next life!"
I have swiped this Weibo on Weibo before:
"Many men don't realize that on deserted streets, in neighborhoods, and in elevators, many of the lone women who meet him actually see him as a potential rapist, simulating a life-and-death mentality in their minds. Scenes".
This "gender pressure" surprised me and made me realize that Autumn and Skylar are some kind of projections of women in the real world.
Whether it's the disgusted expression after being wiped by the supervisor, or the middle finger angrily when encountering a pervert on the subway, or the simulation of various terrifying scenes in the elevator. This kind of painless resistance not only shows the ubiquitous gender pressure in life, but also shows the powerlessness of these girls' inner world.
Therefore, what this film shows is not only a runaway and an abortion of the two girls, but also listens to the protests that are hidden in their hearts and dare not express themselves. That vigilance against all strange men may require every boy to try to understand and empathize with it.
Hopefully one day people of any group, of any gender, can be proud of who they are. Whether it is "man" or "woman", it only represents a certain gender, not a certain right.
I hope that more boys will stop and wait for the next elevator because there are really too many people, not because they are worried that the girls in the elevator will be afraid.
The movie "Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Always" has no extra background introduction and exaggerated performances. It has a simple story line and simple character relationships. The whole movie is like a clip taken from the real life of women. Both true and cruel.
In terms of themes, similar movies are "Three Weeks and Two Days in April", which also tells the story of abortion, and the protagonists are also two girls. The difference is that this movie puts the perspective on the friend of the abortionist, and the plot and tone of the movie also appear more icy and desperate.
From Romania in 1987 to the United States in 2020, although the concept is more open and the medical treatment is more advanced, the dilemma faced by women who have abortions still exists.
In addition to "sexual assault" and "abortion", the film has to convey far more than that. The lack of affection in the family background, the loneliness in the process of growing up, and the friendship that understands and supports each other in the face of difficulties, these are probably all of which we need to slowly experience and ponder.
The three-day trip finally came to an end. The two young girls dragged the big suitcase and boarded the bus back to their hometown exhausted. The scenery outside the car window slowly changes from dark to bright, will the future be bright and smooth? It seems that everything is still unanswered.
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