The moving US drama “Never Rarely Sometimes Always” by Eliza Hittman is currently being shown in cinemas. In a natural, almost documentary style, cinematographer Hélène Louvart accompanies a 17-year-old girl who is unintentionally pregnant and, due to a lack of support in her hometown, leaves for New York City with her cousin to attend a Planned Parenthood Clinic for an abortion Find.
The film depicts its dramatic circumstances without many words or too many details, rather observing the situations, and the two leading actresses Sidney Flanigan and Talia Ryder are excellent as teenagers in their bleak, misogynistic social environment. The two of them cannot confide in anyone and secretly set off on the exhausting journey to the metropolis, which itself plays its own role in contrast to their hometown. Lost in crowds, they wander around, have too little money and have to spend the night on the street. An incredibly depressing atmosphere prevails throughout and culminates in the eponymous scene when the girl is asked in the clinic to answer questions about her sex life with Never, Rarely, Sometimes or Always.
The film won the Special Jury Award for Neo Realism at the Sundance Festival and the Silver Bear at the Berlinale. The film received a lot of praise for its sensitive and responsible approach to the topic of abortion. It was recommended in Germany for use in school lessons in order to talk to young people about ethical questions on the topic and also to explain how an unwanted pregnancy can be avoided and where help is available for affected girls and women. On the American review website Metacritic, however, there was a review bombing due to the topic of the film, an unbelievably high number of negative user reviews, some with misogynistic content, mostly without comment, presumably from the camp of anti-abortionists who wanted to boycott the film without having seen it. This just shows how important this film is for this long-running debate.
