‘Joy’ Review: Charming Netflix Film Shows the Quiet Bravery It Took to Invent IVF

Near the end of the Netflix series Joy, the muffled cry of a newborn baby prompts a man and woman in a hospital to embrace in pure bliss. They are not parents, but they had the same attitude towards the birth as mom and dad.

This charming, winning film tells the decade-long true story of how the world’s first IVF baby was born in England in 1978, a 5-pound, 12-ounce girl who paved the way for millions of others. It’s an upbeat, very English event, combining sober discussion of endometriosis with chocolate biscuits.

The couple hugging that day were pioneering scientist Robert Edwards and Jean Purdy, a young nurse and embryologist. Together with surgeon Patrick Steptoe, the trio succeeded in in vitro fertilization, a method of treating infertility. Edwards subsequently received the Nobel Prize.

“Joy” comes at a time when science in America is under threat – even IVF – so it’s inspiring to see brave, smart scientists working hard to change the world. “What we do matters,” says Steptoe, played with quiet economy by Bill Nighy.

Joy tells the personal stories of three scientists, mostly through the eyes of Purdy, a polite warrior in a lab coat. “If I hear noise, I don’t know how to stay away,” she says. Purdy, played beautifully by Thomasin McKenzie, is both vulnerable and strong, and learns to become a better person in the process. James Norton plays Edwards with charm, self-doubt and a calm spirit.

Jack Thorne’s script does a great job of explaining the enormous pressure the trio faced. IVF may have become common and uncontroversial in recent decades, but back in the late 70s it was experimental and shunned. The Church of England called it a sin, newspapers called it Frankenstein, and other scientists warned of abnormal children. “You know they’re going to throw the book at us,” Steptoe tells Nighy’s team. “We will unite them all against us.”

Purdy, a single woman as the roaring ’60s turned to the ’70s, was cast out by her own pious mother—”You can’t play God with that,” the older woman tells her daughter—and her church rescinded the invitation. No matter. “This fight is ours. We have no choice,” Purdy says. The film also celebrates the brave mothers-to-be who willingly put their bodies on the cutting edge of science.

Our research heroes try in vain to prove to a skeptical world that IVF is simply science’s way of helping those in need, like glasses for the nearsighted or dentures for those with tooth decay. It is interesting to return to this discussion now, when the great achievements of science today may be under threat, such as fluoridated water.

Director Ben Taylor keeps the story small and intimate, a series of vignettes almost like a play. There are moments of quiet, polite bravery, as well as small conversations over a pint of ale – a reminder of the power of performance and that you don’t need a muscular brother with x-ray vision to change the world.

It’s anchored by a gorgeous soundtrack with witty tracks like Lee Dorsey’s “Yes We Can,” The Human Beinz’s “Nobody But Me” and George Harrison’s “Here Comes the Sun,” each song capturing a moment in time like pearls on a string.

“Joy” is not only joy. There is disappointment, loss and tears along the way, but this is a triumphant film about how people can make the world a better place and how a child’s cry can be a priceless gift.