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common sense
Media 17New movies
available online 18statement — that it comes as a
shock when, in a crucial scene at a
women’s health clinic, she finally
gives in to the welter of emotions
that she’s kept in check for so
long. In that single moment,
“Never Rarely Sometimes Al-
ways” goes from being a very
good movie to an outright tour de
force, with Flanigan undergoing
an astonishing transformation in
real time, and bringing the audi-
ence to a place that transcends
glib moralizing or even more
thoughtful equivocation.
If Autumn is the putative pro-
tagonist of “Never,” it’s Skylar
who emerges as the film’s hero,
with Ryder playing her character
with just the right blend of angel-
ic self-sacrifice and resolute grit.
Although the film never spells
out the precise circumstances ofAutumn’s pregnancy, it does por-
tray in queasy detail the aggres-
sions — micro and macro — that
Skylar is forced to endure on a
daily basis, from being creeped
on by a customer and assaulted
by her manager to deflecting the
flirtatious banter of an eager
young man (flawlessly played by
Théodore Pellerin) on the bus to
New York. With “Never Rarely
Sometimes Always,” Hittman
does an excruciatingly accurate
job of conveying the complexities
of the abortion debate. But per-
haps even more valuably, she
portrays the misogynistic social
space it takes place in. With
empathy and outrage that cut
equally deeply, Hittman reminds
us: This is a girl’s life in a man’s
world.
[email protected]PG-13. available on demand. contains disturbing, mature thematic elements, strong language, some sexual references and teen drinking. 95 minutes.BY ANN HORNADAYWith a handful of states using
the coronavirus outbreak as an
excuse to deprive women of their
right to terminate a pregnancy,
“Never Rarely Sometimes Al-
ways” a rrives as a fervent remind-
er of the consequences of such
cynical sanctimony. In this su-
perbly crafted drama, two teen-
age girls are forced to navigate a
system seemingly designed to foil
their autonomy and dignity at
every turn: While on paper con-
cepts like parental notification
and waiting periods can seem
benign — if not downright com-
mon sense — in this microscopi-
cally detailed portrait, their di-
sastrous implications loom larger
with every tick of the clock.
Autumn (Sidney Flanigan) is a
high school student who looks
just as unhappy as most of her
peers in an unnamed Pennsylva-
nia town; quiet and reserved, she
doesn’t have many friends and
isn’t close with her mother and
man-child of a stepfather (played
by Sharon Van Etten and Ryan
Eggold, respectively). Autumn’s
closest confidante is her cousin
Skylar (Talia Ryder), who bags
groceries with her at the local
supermarket. When Autumn dis-
covers that she’s pregnant, it’s
Skylar she turns to — after trying
to induce an abortion by punch-
ing herself in the stomach and
overdosing on vitamin C.
The two travel to Manhattan,
embarking on an odyssey that is
sure to remind many filmgoers of
the searing 2007 Romanian dra-
ma “4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days.”
In fact, writer-director Eliza Hitt-
man was reportedly inspired to
make “Never Rarely Sometimes
Always” as a feminist response to
what she perceived as the male
gaze of that movie. With an un-
adorned, naturalistic style that
heavily favors intense close-ups,
Hittman plunges viewers into the
subjectivity of her protagonists,
whose jumble of feelings — dread
and confusion, determination
and ambivalence, resignation
and relief — play out with every
glance and gesture, and very few
words.
Indeed, Autumn is such a re-
cessive, cipher-like character —
and newcomer Flanigan plays
her with such affectless under-Never Rarely Sometimes Always
A film that captures the complexity of abortion
Focus FeaturesA look at a tough subject
from the perspective
of two girlsAutumn (Sidney
Flanigan) is a high
school student who
discovers that she’s
pregnant and travels
with her cousin from
Pennsylvania to New
York for an abortion.