3 trailblazers: a young nurse, a visionary scientist, and an innovative surgeon face opposition from the church, state, media, and medical establishment in their pursuit of the world’s first ‘test tube baby,’ Louise Joy Brown.
There is a genre or subgenre I like to refer to as good old fashioned British filmmaking, which I’d mark out as having some, if not all, of the following characteristics: a) a period setting, b) a story centered on an impressive achievement or overcoming the odds, c) British acting royalty adding a bit of class, and d) ideal viewing for a cosy Sunday afternoon with a warm cup of coffee/tea/cocoa (whatever you prefer!). ‘Joy’ meets all of this criteria and that is to say that it is a movie that is quite comforting to watch, heartfelt, worthy and yet a movie I doubt I’ll remember in a few weeks time, let alone next year.
The year is 1968, and Jean Purdy (Thomasin McKenzie) is a young nurse with aspirations to get into a lab manager post. Alongside Dr Robert Edwards (James Norton), they recruit innovative surgeon Patrick Steptoe (Bill Nighy), with the trio setting out to conduct reproduction research with the aim of delivering the world’s first IVF baby, something we know they will go on to achieve. The movie hits all the beats you would expect from a story of this nature, touching on the challenges in getting funding and being taken seriously, to the setbacks, to the ultimate success, and the neat pre-credits updates that let us know how these 3 scientists changed the world. It is incredibly stirring and yet still very safe in that TV movie issue of the week way, and even a charismatic Bill Nighy cannot fully make this anymore than mildly diverting.
‘Joy’ is an informative and well-acted old fashioned British drama about an important subject, with some nice performances, and if you have a Sunday afternoon spare, there are many worse choices.
Rating: 3/5
Directed By: Ben Taylor
Starring: Thomasin McKenzie, James Norton, Bill Nighy, Joanna Scanlan, Charlie Murphy and Tanya Moodie
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