PROVOKR PICK: NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS

BY: Amanda Jane Stern

Eliza Hittman wowed Sundance with her first two feature films, It Felt Like Love and Beach Rats and in January 2020, she wowed Sundance again with her third feature, Never Rarely Sometimes Always, which was quickly picked up by Focus Features. The movie follows teenager Autumn (Sidney Flanigan) and her cousin Skylar (Talia Ryder), who travel from their small Pennsylvania town to NYC to obtain an abortion.

While abortion is technically legal nationwide, many states and communities have doen their best to restrict access to the procedure. The film’s trailer, a new one of which was released March 4, introduces us to Autumn and Skyler. It opens with Autumn in a Pennsylvania clinic’s waiting room and then a doctor’s office where instead of getting her procedure, she receives an ultrasound as the nurse tells her, “this is the most magical sound you will ever hear.” After realizing that there is nowhere in their state Autumn can go for an abortion, the teens head to NYC.

Whatever you think about abortion, it is a constitutional right since the 1973 landmark Supreme Court case, Roe v. Wade. And the fact that even with that ruling, it is difficult for many women to obtain an abortion causes a tremendous emotional strain on the women whose rights are negatively affected.

The movie competed at Sundance for the U.S. Dramatic Competition Grand Jury Prize. It didn’t win the top prize but it did win a Special Jury Award for Neo-Realism. It also competed for the Golden Bear at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival and placed second for the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize.

See Never Rarely Sometimes Always in theaters, March 13, 2020.