One More Round

In my work, I have always been drawn to stories of people on the periphery and the subject matters that are avoided at the dinner table. In previous pieces I have worked extensively with adults in addiction recovery, people who are unhoused and dissidents from both sides of the divide in the north of Ireland. I have actively sought out subject matter that craves a light to be shone upon it.

For many reasons IVF remains a taboo subject. Fertility is often rooted in entrenched cultural perceptions and associated with personal identity and worth. The stigma can lead to shame and silence. It made sense to make a piece of art and give voice to those going through, especially from both the male and female perspective. While IVF is the central conceit of this film, what really drew me to this story were the cracks that the pressure of infertility reveals in our central couple. In many ways our couples path has been prescribed. Their train embarks on its journey and each station; school, to job, to partner, to family, is met, never deviating from the track.The unexamined life. So when one of those milestones are taken away from them they suddenly have to take stock. The train has come to a halt and they are forced to look
around and scrutinise their situation. Is this relationship strong enough to withstand infertility? Do both partners want a child? Do they want a child with THIS person? Add to this the monetary strain IVF treatment can impose and we get our central drama.
What happens when IVF, a messy and fraught experience, is brought into a marriage that is already loose at the seems?

In all of my art I like to impose rules upon myself from the outset, thus giving me a strong framework to work within, but I think, secretly, it's so I can ultimately break them.
For this project it was about stripping back. My rules; no establishing shots. No cutaways. No shot, reverse shot. No non diegetic music. To keep the camera as tight as possible at all times. Ultimately, each one of these rules were broken, and the
realisation and surprise each time they were broken is the gold I was hoping for. The feel of the camera work, while not a strict rule, was very important to the piece and for the most part, adhered to. I wanted the camera to land into the middle of the action and subsequently to find its bearings. I hoped to get a sense that we were trying to keep up with these characters. They may escape a shot. We may have to quickly whip from one character to another in order not to miss a reaction. There was blocking but with a freedom for the actors to surprise us and themselves. Rehearsals allowed us to find the camera language for each scene, and with each take the camera had the freedom to find a new path, thus giving us options of jump cuts in the edit. My DOP Narayan, was a
gift to work with. I knew he had the instincts in the moment to follow an actor or an action that could give me interesting options in the edit. In saying all that, I did draw storyboards and I had a strong feel of the “dance” of each scene and how they would
look, but shooting this way allowed an organic feel which I hope comes across in the watching of it.

What I hope an audience feels is a sense of unprecedented access to these characters. We are invited into moments of intense vulnerability and by placing the camera up
close, often with no cut away and no music, I hope it gives a genuine sense of being right there, in the room with these characters. Because of how the script moves from
one setting to the next, jumping quite radically in time from one scene to the next, I hope it evokes the unsettled feeling our central couple are going through. We can experience
the intense highs and lows they experience. That feeling of, at any time, a rug can be pulled from under us and we can never quite settle into any one feeling.

It was very important to me not to guide the empathy of the audience towards one character or the other. There is no hero here. Indeed, both characters have major flaws and we may find we are turned off by either one's actions at particular moments in the story. This is as much to place us in the dilemma the characters find themselves in. It is upon us to examine their situation too. Should we route for these two in their fertility
journey? Should we route for these two to stay together? The film may not give the answer clearly, instead I wanted to lay the conundrum out bare for us all to find our own
answer. This “director's vision” would remain just that, a vision, if not for a crew that commits 100% to the spirit of the endeavour. I can say, without a modicum of doubt that
everyone that came on to our set to work undertook the task at hand with pure dedication. We had 14 locations. 4 days. A central house location that was quite tight once everyone was in. All this coupled with a style of filmmaking that was, at times,
quite loose and it could have spelled multiple disasters. But because every department bought into the style; not one shot was missed. No day ran over. There were little to no
compromises on what I wanted to achieve. I'd say it’s a miracle but no gods intervened, simply the talent of wonderful people, not least of all my producer, Natalie Britton, who never once came to me with a problem that was not already solved or on its way to being solved.
Myself and the two lead actors have worked with each other extensively for many years now, both in theatre and film. A lot of our previous work was improvisational so I knew,
even given the extremely strong script we were working within, which was adhered to, they could offer me and each other surprises from moment to moment. I was well aware
of what they could and would deliver, but they both went beyond my expectations.
Rehearsals were key for me and we spent numerous hours over the months preceding filming not just walking through each scene; what’s happening between the moments, what’s being unsaid, the inner monologues etc, but also building the world around the
scenes. I like to work with my actors to construct as much of the world around a story as possible. Details that the audience may never tangibly see, but will be there, built into the seam of our characters. I like to think of this as the soul of the characters and
ultimately the story.
As with all my work, I hope this story gives an opportunity for someone watching to see themselves represented, to be seen, perhaps in a light they have never been seen
before, and ultimately, to start conversations.
To bring this topic to the dinner table.