Video Discription |
A couple goes through fertility treatments.
FOR GOOD is used with permission from Lukas Dong. Learn more at https://lukasdong.com.
A couple, Jen and Andrew, are going through fertility treatments, a grueling and emotionally draining experience that involves lots of needles, waiting and disappointment. They live in a lovely home in Venice, California, and they're loving and affectionate.
But the fertility journey puts a strain on their relationship, and a small conflict between the couple turns into something more ambiguous and ominous, especially since the treatments take a toll on Jen's mental, emotional and physical health and Andrew questions whether or not she's being rational. When Jen makes a crucial decision, it propels the couple into an even more fraught space.
Directed by Lukas Dong and written by Shane Munson, this short drama captures the loneliness and isolation at the heart of a woman's experience with fertility. The difficulty opens up faultlines between the couple, ones that threaten to pull a usually happy couple apart, especially as the hormone injections affect Jen's moods and Andrew's reactions alienate her even more.
Jen and Andrew seem to live in their own world, in a beautiful home on the canals of Venice. There's a warm, burnished glow in the cinematography, one that endows the couple's life with a sense of blessing, filled with close-ups, graceful camera movements and delicate details. But that rich atmosphere is ruptured when Andrew spots an alligator in the canal and thinks Jen doesn't take him seriously. This sets off a chain of small conflicts that snowball into something sharper and uglier. As the couple's emotional connection deteriorates, that mellow glow and soft-gauze approach turn moody and even oppressive at times, and the haziness creates a sense of ambiguity.
The writing and direction focus on the more subtle currents of emotion and sensation, both for Jen individually and for the couple in general. The injections are painful and take their toll, and actor Lily Blavin captures with subtlety and precision the growing oppressiveness of the process. As her husband, actor Charlie DePew nimbly balances between a clear love of his wife but also a cavalier carelessness in how he speaks to her during this delicate time. When Jen can't take it anymore, she makes a seemingly rash, reactionary decision -- one that forces all the submerged tension to the surface.
For many, dealing with infertility involves much silent suffering and shame, and couples grapple with doubt and shame, especially when the much-desired result doesn't happen right away. Many have no idea how drawn-out IVF and other treatments can be, and how grueling it can be, physically and mentally. FOR GOOD captures this difficult terrain with compassion. But it also captures how it contributes to a couple's breakdown in communication, where both parties in the pairing disbelieve one another in different ways, making each other feel minimized or ignored. It results in a dysfunctional pas de deux at a time when it's crucial to be in sync. Often such discord may cause them to question if starting a family is such a good idea, or in overcoming it, bring them closer together. |