Never Rarely Sometimes Always

A seemingly unpretentious female empowerment indie film that returns to the subject of abortions and tries to impartially, but also empathetically, follow the pilgrimage of two girls from their hometown to NYC, where one of them is to undergo an abortion. Although I very much appreciate Hélène Louvart's typically grainy, anti-euphoric and poetically-authentic filming, it is difficult for me to accept this film as a truly impressive and urgent work. Its constructedness and thesis come to the surface all too often (girls’ solidarity reduced to stylized gestures, a caricatured world full of toxic masculinity), while natural procedural power is rare (the great passage that gave the film its name). What’s more, it all feels strangely inert, languid and protracted, the empathy is limited to close capturing of physical details and a consistently distressed heroine, whose persistent apathy at times causes indifference. We never once see the blend of the environment and the inner world of the protagonists with the ease with which Andrea Arnold is able to perform this mystical operation. Despite the topicality and urgency, the result is actually a bit like singing karaoke of better art films. (15/05/2020)