Warning: The Debt

My husband and I went to see The Debt on the weekend.  Helen Mirren is a favourite of mine – and the reviews were of a talented cast and intelligent script.  So I was keen to see it.

I will try not to give any spoilers.  I will try to choose my words carefully.

I thought the movie was very good.  We went for an Indian meal after the movie, and discussed it.  Any movie that causes a discussion or debate, that lingers beyond the movie theatre, is good in my book.  The Debt is not a big “shoot-em-up” movie, but one based on suspense, a mystery, and characters finely honed, subtly portrayed.  My kind of movie.

It was a thriller.  So I knew there would be tension.  I found it in an unexpected place, in a very powerful presentation of how the woman agent’s bravery far eclipsed that of her male colleagues.  I almost physically recoiled at the scenes in the fertility doctor’s office.  I hardly recall feeling so horrified at a movie.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying there was blood or gore or cruelty.  They didn't need these devices to make a powerful scene.  I don’t think men will get how creepy, how very disturbing, those scenes were.  Brilliantly played, I thought.  But yes, horrific, and traumatic.  I think any woman would find them so.  A woman who has been through infertility might find them especially so.  

Which is why I felt I needed to make this a public service announcement.  I want to warn you, if you’re feeling raw and vulnerable about seeing fertility specialists, then that this might not be the movie for you.  Personally I’m very glad I saw it.  But I feel light-years away from a fertility specialist’s office these days.  It might be different if I had to walk into one next week.