Obvious Child

In her feature debut, Gillian Robespierre uses humor to overcome the taboo of discussing abortion in the movies. Referencing films such as Knocked Up or Juno, where an unwanted pregnancy ends with acceptance of motherhood, the director told the New York Times, that I was frustrated with how one-sided unplanned pregnancies were shown on screen. These [stories] simply don’t sound real. In Obvious Child the story is realistic and topical: Donna (Jenny Slate, the new muse of independent American film) gets pregnant with a new acquaintance and immediately knows she does not want to keep the baby. Robespierre shows the woman’s romantic trials in a humorous way (sometimes even with “bathroom” humor) without taking away her character’s agency and rebellious intelligence.