False Positive Review: An Unsettling Birthing Experience That Rails Against The Patriarchy

Release date: June 25, 2021
Running time: 93 minutes

Director: John Lee

Writers: Ilana Glazer, John Lee

Stars: Ilana Glazer, Justin Theroux, Gretchen Mol, Sophia Bush, Sabina Gadecki, Pierce Brosnan

After months of trying and failing to get pregnant, Lucy (Ilana Glazer) and Adrian (Justin Theroux) finally find their dream fertility doctor in the illustrious Dr. Hindle (Pierce  Brosnan). But after becoming pregnant, Lucy begins to notice something sinister through Hindle’s gleaming charm, and she sets out to uncover the unsettling truth about him, and her own “birth story.” As if getting pregnant weren’t complicated enough!

False Positive is an innovative look at the birthing business through a horror lens.  This starts from the beginning when Lucy and Adrian visit the fertility clinic, which is so nice that it is unsettling.  The clinic is picture perfect and everyone is attentive and friendly, but this leads to a sinister feel to this otherwise idyllic clinic.  The film looks into some of the decisions and societal pressures that women have to endure in the name of getting pregnant, and also how a lot of the business of birth is outside of the hands of the mother.  From the advice by doctors, to the lack of consultation, False Positive manages to turn what should be a wonderful time in a woman's life into a fight for survival.  And it does so without being too overt about it, at least at the beginning.  It has subtle hints here and there to make you feel discomfort, which is a nice way to build this up.  

And the movie does a great job of turning this experience into a horror one.  The movie plays with reality, with Lucy suffering from "pregnancy" brain making her see and hear things that are intentionally vague on whether they are real.  The audience is constantly guessing whether this is happening in real life, a nice touch to keep us on edge.  And the film rails against the patriarchy and the business of birth.  This doesn't occur until later but it was a nice change of pace that really helped to drive home the central point of this movie.  And the film is about empowering women to take control of their birth experience and birth story, and to jealously guard that experience when it is threatened.  The movie does a good job of exposing this by subtly weaponizing expectant mother's insecurities and sprinkling in societal pressures with pregnancy.  The scenes where Lucy is in the clinic versus when she is surrounded by supportive women show this stark contrast.

However, the story of False Positive is a rough one to watch and also a rough one to follow.  The aforementioned breaks from reality made me unsure of what I was watching at times, including instances where I honestly wasn't sure if something was happening in real life or in Lucy's head.  And the film goes off the rails at the end, really ratcheting up everything about the experience.  It goes to 11 pretty quickly and it felt like a rapid jump to extremes.  And the ending left me unsatisfied and with more questions.  It definitely plays with the viewers, making them question again what is happening, but it also does not fully resolve the story. 

False Positive is a sinister and empowering look at the birthing experience with a great sense of dread and a complicated story that rails against the patriarchy. 

Rent it.

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False Positive premieres on June 25, 2021 exclusively on Hulu. 

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