229. The Surrogate; movie review

THE SURROGATE

Cert 15

93 mins

BBFC advice: Contains strong language

It must take a very special person to agree to be a surrogate for friends.

They go through a nine-month bonding process with a baby and yet have the strength to hand the child over and potentially watch it grow from afar.

In Jeremy Hersh's The Surrogate, Jess (Jasmine Batchelor) appears to be entirely in charge of her emotions as she finds herself pregnant for her best pals Josh (Chris Perfetti) and Aaron (Sullivan Jones).

She is excited to be able to help them complete their family circle and be a godmother rather than a full-time parent.

But the excitement for the trio is soon quelled by the discovery that the baby is 99 per cent certain to have Down's Syndrome.

In Jess's eyes, nothing has changed in their contract and she even immerses herself in a group which specialises in schooling children with the condition.

But it becomes progressively clearer that her two pals are devastated and do not want to go ahead with the pregnancy.

Hersh's movie is teeming with big ethical questions and dilemmas - from the concept of surrogacy to the levels of commitment to the child from its yet-to-be parents.

Jess's calm is quickly eroded and during her undulating emotions, we found ourselves either empathising with her or being frustrated by her verbal swerves.

But then we realised that this was a likely reflection of real life - because she is a first-time surrogate and then has a double complication of knowing she would be giving birth to a disabled child.

In addition, she is angered by the reaction of both her best friends and her mother whose support dissolves.

Thus, the hanging conundrum is whether she goes ahead or doesn't.

 It is one of the most painful yet riveting questions we have seen any character face in the movies and Hersh and Batchelor handle it very well.

Reasons to watch: Deep and riveting take on surrogacy

Reasons to avoid: Jumps around more than necessary

Laughs: None

Jumps: None

Vomit: Yes

Nudity: None

Overall rating: 8/10

Did you know? Countries such as France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Bulgaria prohibit all forms of surrogacy. In countries including the UK, Ireland, Denmark and Belgium, surrogacy is allowed where the surrogate mother is not paid, or only paid for reasonable expenses. Paying the mother a fee (known as commercial surrogacy) is prohibited.

The final word. Jeremy Hersh: "I wanted to make something that would hold up a mirror to that  audience of mostly white, well-to-do gay men and look at relationships between gay men and straight women and the sometimes weird power dynamics in those relationships. I started researching surrogacy and then I started going to this community centre in New York called Gigi’s Playhouse for People with Down's Syndrome and the script grew out of the research." The Moveable Fest

Share this post