Bill Nighy, Thomasin McKenzie and James Norton in a still from Joy.
A well-intentioned drama that teeters on the edge of self-parody, Joy is a film that absolutely deserved to be made, but certainly not in this form. Some years ago, the utterly forgotten The Current War had all the messy ingenuity that a film about the creation of literal electricity demanded — the movie’s tone captured the spirit of its themes. Joy, which dramatises the events leading up to the first in vitro fertilisation (IVF) birth, would have you believe that all conception — let alone that of the artificial kind — is a cakewalk.
Written by the prolific Jack Thorne and directed by Ben Taylor — their past work has been far edgier — Joy is mainly told through the perspective of Jean Purdy, who played a key, if not central, role in the development of IVF. Thomasin McKenzie gives Jean a quiet strength in the film, which hurls every imaginable obstacle in her way. A lot of it feels contrived, and at no point does the clunky storytelling win you over with its forced charms. And this is among the film’s central problems; because it is so desperate to be liked, it comes across as absolutely disinterested in complexity of any kind.
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James Norton and Thomasin McKenzie in a still from Joy.
In the film’s opening scene, Jean secures a position alongside Dr Robert Edwards, whose inherent decency has compelled him to dedicate his life to helping ‘barren’ women experience the joys of childbirth. For that, he needs a laparoscopy expert in his corner. Together with Jean, he approaches Dr Patrick Steptoe, a veteran in the field, and together, they form an unlikely trio. Bob, as he is addressed by everyone around him, is played by the charming James Norton, while Patrick is played by the famously poker-faced Bill Nighy, whose mere presence has been known to elevate mediocre material.
No such luck this time. Neither his composure nor his snorts are amusing enough to distract from the average filmmaking on display. Joy unfolds like the kind of by-the-numbers entertainment that you’d be served on the Hallmark Channel back in the day — it has a distinct daytime soap opera vibe that diminishes the very real impact that Bob, Patrick and Jean’s radical work had on the world.
The trio faced several hurdles, we are told. Not only did personal differences creep up across the decade that they worked together, they also faced pushback from both religious and scientific bodies. Bob was compared to Frankenstein, and accused of playing God. He insisted that he was simply giving the women the right to decide what they want for themselves. Among the many angles that Joy could’ve taken – a version of this story could’ve been presented, say, from the point of view of the woman who gave birth to the world’s first ‘test tube baby’ – Thorne and Taylor cleverly fashion it into something of a post-Roe v Wade, pro-choice narrative. Their decision makes the period drama feel current, and perhaps even relatable to the youth that would’ve ordinarily dismissed it as archaic.
Bob goes on multiple television news debates where he’s cornered by academics who doubt his conviction; Jean on the other hand, goes on a deeply personal journey after her religious mother cuts ties with her for what she believes is a defiance of God’s will. One of the film’s most touching scenes – there aren’t too many, honestly – shows Jean quietly visiting her childhood church at the dead of the night, fearing that she might be crucified by her community in the day. The priest reassures her that she hasn’t been excommunicated, and that shunning her would be very un-Christian of him.
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Thomasin McKenzie in a still from Joy.
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Jean, it is revealed, cannot have children herself. Her illness may or may not have been fabricated for the movie. The truth shouldn’t alter your perception of the film, but it does. There would be no defending Thorne for having made it all up, because it would imply that Jean was only bothered about IVF because she had personal skin in the game. You wonder if she would’ve cared this passionately had she been able to conceive herself. A better movie would’ve removed any possibility of this debate, because it would’ve created more fleshed-out characters. But as things stand, Joy is terribly superficial – the sort of movie that appears to be rushing through dramatic beats as if it’s being overseen by a drill sergeant, not a director.
Joy
Director – Ben Taylor
Cast – Thomasin McKenzie, Bill Nighy, James Norton, Joanna Scanlan
Rating – 2.5/5
