Sometimes it's the words that go unspoken that speak the loudest,
as is the case in Eliza Hittman's third film, a movingly powerful coming-of-age abortion drama. Autumn, played with understated assurance by newcomer Sidney Flanigan, is 17 and an unsociable and melancholy girl- we're introduced to her as she sings a downbeat version of He's Got The Power by the Exciters at a school concert. A guy in the audience heckles her (all the men in this film are either assholes or creeps) and she just about manages to finish the song, on the edge of tears. She later discovers she has bigger problems though- she's pregnant, and in her home state of Pennsylvania, she needs parental consent for an abortion. Desperate, she eventually confides in her cousin Skylar (played by Talia Ryder) and the two manage to cobble enough money together to travel to New York where no such restrictions apply.
Abortion is a topic which has rarely been given an honest depiction in film and, when it has appeared, has often been accompanied by heavy moralising dialogue or melodramatic last-minute change-of-hearts. Never Rarely Sometimes Always is uninterested by such conventions and instead feels remarkably honest and real, seeming almost documentary-like in its authenticity. This can be seen in the work of cinematographer Hélène Louvart, whose restrained unfussy shots help convey the emotional canvasses of its performers. When, later in the film, the two are wandering around the streets of New York this restraint is vital in maintaining this realism. The danger never feels overwrought or over-dramatic and so feels all the more pertinent. Some of the sequences here almost feel like stolen shots, unfiltered glances at a breathing city.
The scenes at the clinics also feel authentic- the primary counsellor is played by a real-life abortion counsellor rather than an actor, and her empathy and kindness comes across as genuine and unforced. She appears in the devastating central scene which gives the film its name, in which Autumn is asked set questions about her health, and then her sexual history and safety. She is given a choice of set responses to each question: "Never, rarely, sometimes, always." Her answers slowly drop off, and we learn more from her pained and her wordless tears than her responses, about her past and the mounting events that have driven her to where she is which she might have buried. Here, the camera remains fixed on her face, unflinching, yet empathetically insightful in its gaze.
Of course, such focus shows great trust from Hittman in the performnces of her leads and they don't let her down. Flanigan and Ryder are brilliantly understated, especially the former in a role that often demands long silences. There are no fireworks, no tear-filled speeches. Again, it's the long silences which are the most revealing, and Hittman isn't afraid to just let events unfold at their own pace. The growing bond between the two and the dynamic between the more reticent, lonely Autumn and the more extroverted Skylar is wonderfully played. As the two find their funds running low as the process of the procedure becomes more and more drawn out, Hittman builds up to the tension, but not in an overtly obvious manner. Our concern is based on our care for the characters which has been expertly cultivated throughout.
The film deals with an extremely difficult subject matter, and it never pretends that its events are anything other than earth-shattering for Autumn. But where it sets itself apart is the compassion with which it deals its subjects, and their fully-realised characterisation. In its stillness is born a work of humanistic heartbreak and quiet beauty.
A
Never Rarely Sometimes Always is available to stream on multiple digital platforms
(yes I do grades now. no I don't know why. A+ is very very good and F is very very bad, it's a fairly straightforward system. why letter grades? perhaps it's a subconscious attempt to reclaim the format of public exams for my own personal use, perhaps I just don't know how to do star ratings on this stupid website. we'll never know)
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