Traditionally, it’s been scripted for you: first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes baby in the baby carriage… Yadda, yadda, yadda. Sounds easy enough. Until you decide that the script isn’t for you. In this new HBO documentary, First Comes Love, filmmaker Nina Davenport throws the script out and documents how it goes doing things her way. She’s unmarried, over 40 and she wants to have a baby.
The plan is, there is no plan.
This self-reflective documentary examines functional and not-so-functional relationships with friends, family, and parents and attempts to define a family unit from anything but the traditional family unit. Davenport takes a critical look at her parent’s relationship and tries to piece together where her concept of family comes from. The film remains optimistic even when Davenport hits some serious low notes. It ends with a baby, but the journey is so much more than a maternity narrative.
Through the film, her plans fall through, her relationships ebb and flow, and she comes away at the end understanding what the important things in life. Davenport examined her wants and dreams and made them happen for herself, by herself. She sums it up for the viewer by stating, “I have this biological compulsion to have a kid, and I don’t know why.”
Now playing on HBO, First Comes Love will make you go through some unexpected feelings. There will be maternal pangs, parental anguish, and the unrelenting agony of change.
Images via: HBO.com, ifccenter.com, villagevoice.com
