‘Never Rarely Sometimes Always’ REVIEW: A story of disengagement in a man’s world
‘Never Rarely Sometimes Always’ REVIEW: A story of disengagement in a man’s world
Sidney Flanigan (left) and Talia Ryder (right) star as inseparable cousins in Eliza Hittman’s masterwork Never Rarely Sometimes Always (2020).
Emerging out of last year as a critics group favorite, bagging several winnings and nominations from distinguished film festivals and award shows such as the Indie Spirit Awards and the Berlin Film Festival in 2020, Never Rarely Sometimes Always is Eliza Hittman’s masterwork. Inspired by some of the flaws found in Cristian Mungui’s Romanian art film 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days (2007), which depicts the travails of two students in obtaining an illegal abortion in communist Romania, Hittman wanted to correct the insensitive portrayal of the pregnant woman in the movie who was given away as reckless, juvenile, and shameful.
Hittman’s agonizing Never Rarely Sometimes Always follows an inseparable pair of cousins Autumn (played by newcomer Sidney Flanigan, an accomplished musician) and Skylar (played by Talia Ryder, who is soon to feature in Spielberg’s West Side Story) who have to navigate the susceptibility of female adolescence in their hometown rural Pennsylvania. Faced with an unintentional pregnancy and an unsupportive household, Autumn, after having exhausted all the possibilities in her Christian small town, convinces Skylar to travel with her across state lines to New York City where parental consent is not required for an abortion. Hittman shows us in excruciating detail how this tense journey filled with friendship, courage, and compassion comes together with Skylar’s unwavering support and intrepid resourcefulness, and how quickly the plan unravels as the two navigate the streets of New York City to find the help Autumn needs.
Eliza Hittman on the set of her third feature film, Never Rarely Sometimes Always (2020).
Never Rarely Sometimes Always achieves mettle authenticity through Helene Louvart’s documentation of the cousins’ pilgrimage on 16mm which Hittman manages to translate into a visual poetry of pure cinema. It would be deceitful to claim that the film doesn’t have a political position on the urgent issue of reproductive rights, yet the film succeeds in not coming across as polemical. The care and focus that was taken on the particulars of the situation (rather than delivering with melodramatic tropes viewers have come to expect from “issue films”) portray a beautiful portrait of female friendship that is remarkably honest and profoundly moving. The principal focus of the film is on the characters and we are given glimpses of what they have to face in their journey (an ode to the everyday extremes women experience) such as the casual predators lurking at the peripheries of the film from the classmate who mimes a blow job at Autumn after her opening musical revue sequence to the grocery store manager who incessantly kisses his female employee’s hands. Fear is felt every time a man enters the frame.
Eliza Hittman is a masterful storyteller and goes a long way in her research for the film, talking not only to women in similar predicaments as her lead characters but to individuals whose profession it is to assist them as well. Her choice to cast newcomers who both give strong, credible performances is daring and pays off as they authentically capture and depict modern-day adolescence and the untold journeys that women take. There are praises to be said not just of their individual performances, but in Talia and Sidney’s chemistry on screen as well, where Talia manages to bounce off warmth in contrast to Autumn’s morose nature. It would be no surprise if both actresses use their roles as a springboard in their career for future appearances on screen.
Autumn sings an earnest and heartbreaking rendition of He’s Got The Power! by The Exciters from 1963.
Never Rarely Sometimes Always is not for the faint of heart when it comes to slow cinema. You will experience no thrill here; instead, you will find heartbreak and all the dread faced in a horror movie as you realize how this film has actual monsters in it. Excellent, sobering, and a must-watch, Hittman lays bare a system in our society that is both terribly problematic and demeaning to navigate, making us realize that despite the progress already being made, these advances aren’t developing fast enough.
When all is said and done, Never Rarely Sometimes Always invites us to resist judgment and to set aside any existing prejudice and just sit and listen. Listen to the sound of gritted teeth as Autumn repeatedly punches her stomach, listen to the deafening silence as Talia waits patiently for her manager to let go of her hand, listen to the struggle of women worldwide, and ask yourself the question, “Am I really not living in a man’s world anymore?”
