One in six couples trying to conceive will have trouble doing so. But more often than not, when you click through TV or browse social media, you’re left feeling more isolated - not connected to the many who feel your pain.
Whether you’re starting fertility treatment and need encouragement or you’re trying to occupy your mind during your TWW, we can all use stories that remind us that we’re not alone.
So when you need to laugh, cry, or escape to another universe entirely, here’s a list of movies and TV shows that highlight how simple baby-making ISN’T. I hope watching them will make you think of the community supporting you, and remind you that while this journey you’re on is never easy, you ARE resilient.
When You Need to Laugh
Levels of realism may vary, but I can promise each of these will help you crack a smile.
Baby Mama
Watch on Peacock
Starring two of the funniest ladies to grace our screens, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, this film chronicles what happens when a successful, single businesswoman who dreams of having a baby discovers she’s infertile. Hijinks ensue.
The Backup Plan
Rent on Amazon Prime
This is a fun, feel-good film starring Jennifer Lopez. After dating a string of Mr. Wrongs, she decides to take on motherhood herself and use a sperm donor. We’re reminded that things almost never go according to plan!
Expecting Amy
Watch on HBO Max
Okay so this one actually isn’t fictional at all, it’s comedian Amy Schumer’s three-part documentary outlining her infertility journey and difficult pregnancy. Raw, unfiltered, and guaranteed to make you laugh.
Friends
Watch on HBO Max
Dive into all 10 seasons for a silly distraction, or focus on seasons 4, 9, and 10 for fertility-specific topics. In season 4 a main character offers to serve as a gestational surrogate and the final two seasons cover a couple’s struggle to conceive.
When You Need to Cry
These may not all leave you bawling, but they’re each drama-packed for those times you’d rather be thinking about anyone else’s problems.
Little Fires Everywhere
Watch on Hulu
While this series does delve into infertility, it’s more about the complications of motherhood in general, no matter one’s path to it. Some content may be triggering (a college student who acts as a surrogate and takes off with the baby, a desperate mother who leaves her baby at a fire station); but it is bound to leave you deep in thought and with compassion for the characters.
Private Life
Watch on Netflix
Following a couple struggling to conceive as they experience the on-going cycle of hope and heartbreak. This is an up-close look at many of the highs and lows real-life couples experience, full of the emotion that Hollywood writing and acting can evoke. Prepare tissues.
This Is Us
Watch on Hulu
I dare you to watch one episode without shedding a tear. This show is known for being a tear-jerker every chance it gets, and a main character’s struggles with infertility are no exception. Seasons 2 and 3 dive deep into this story.
When You Need to Escape
Sometimes all we want is a few hours spent in a fantasy world. These aren’t all happy fantasies, but they are each set in a fictional society vastly different than our own.
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Watch on Disney+
This Marvel flick is more superhero fight than internal infertility struggle, but there is one storyline covering a character’s inability to conceive, and the emotional wreckage left behind. For an even lighter and less realistic Marvel movie, Guardians of the Galaxy 2 includes a God who impregnates hundreds of women all across the galaxy… cheers.
The Handmaid’s Tale
Watch on Hulu
Have you ever said, “I want to watch something like The Hunger Games, but even darker?” Well, do I have just the depressing, cynical show you desire! This is another series that dives into varying themes of motherhood but with the added dystopian twist of state-controlled reproduction.
What Happened to Monday
Watch on Netflix
A thought-provoking film set in a future with a strict one-child government policy. A set of sisters work to stay alive. It gets a little sexy in parts (warning you now!), but it is really interesting and I love watching Noomi Rapace and Glenn Close!
Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace
Watch on Disney+
If you want to escape as far from reality as possible (like in a universe far, far away…) throw it back to simpler times with the first of the Star Wars prequels. This doesn’t explore fertility in the traditional sense, but you may enjoy rolling your eyes as the story delves into immaculate conception. If only!
I imagine many of these productions began with a writer, actor, or producer who has walked in your shoes and understands the power of giving a voice to these struggles we share. Curl up with your favorite fertility-enhancing snack, laugh, cry, escape, and take good care of your whole self.
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