"Joy" is a British film that could be seen as old-fashioned, said Emily Zemler on Observer (New York), yet it strikes a surprisingly modern note.
Set in the 1960s and 1970s, it is about the invention of IVF – a fertility treatment that is currently under fire in the US from right-wingers. Struggling to create the first test-tube baby are nurse and embryologist Jean Purdy (Thomasin McKenzie), scientist Robert Edwards (James Norton) and surgeon Patrick Steptoe (Bill Nighy). Purdy – who is unable to have children, but determined to help others – provides the film's emotional core, shepherding volunteers through gruelling trials while facing rejection by her religious mother, and remaining unbowed by repeated failure.
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