Fertile territory

>>Helen Hunt directs and stars in the
well-made, bittersweet motherhood
drama Then She Found Me

by MALCOLM FRASER

Fertility, and its opposite, are suddenly a bit of a Hollywood hot topic. Perhaps it’s the reflection of a culture that routinely puts off pregnancy until past the female anatomy’s expiry date, or more likely it’s Hollywood suits seeing dollar signs after Knocked Up and Juno. While Tina Fey’s Baby Mama runs with the comic approach to the subject, Then She Found Me is a much more bittersweet dramatic take.

Based on the novel by Elinor Lipman, the story finds kindergarten teacher April (Helen Hunt) desperately trying to get knocked up at 39. Her efforts coincide with a spectacular run of bad luck—her emotionally immature husband (Matthew Broderick) up and leaves her, her mother dies, and then she gets the unexpected news that the birth mother who abandoned her wants to make contact.

The baby mama turns out to be Bernice (Bette Midler), a garrulous, grating and flaky talk show host who’s much more enthusiastic than Hunt about the reunion. Meanwhile, Hunt struggles with her attraction towards Frank (Colin Firth, assuming his middlebrow sex symbol position as the single father of one of her young charges).

The film is clearly a personal project for Hunt, who directed, co-wrote and co-produced it and appears in every scene. She succeeds in creating a drama that’s engaging, unpredictable and avoids Hollywood clichés (if sometimes narrowly). Whether because of the multi-tasking stress, or because she wanted her character to seem intensely neurotic, she spends the whole film with a pinched, pained expression. Also, those who remember her chubby-cheeked look from the Mad About You days may be disturbed by her emaciated state—whether it’s due to high-impact Atkins or something more serious, she needs to lighten up and put some meat on those bones.

The state of current sexual relations depicted in the film is disturbing: the men are emasculated and directionless, and the women are selfish and manipulative. Hunt’s ability to capture the pain of an infertile woman is poignant, but perhaps to her credit, she doesn’t make the character particularly likeable. Ultimately, the film is uniformly well made, but the reflection it holds up to society isn’t pretty.

Then She Found Me opens
this Friday, May 2

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