‘We Have To Keep Telling Stories Like This To Make People See It’

Directed by Ben Taylor, Joy tells the story of the three scientists who invented the process of IVF (in vitro fertilization) in the 1960s and 1970s. These pioneers were surgeon Patrick Steptoe (Bill Nighy), Robert Edwards, a scientist (James Norton), and a nurse and embryologist, Jean Purdy (Thomasin McKenzie).

Purdy’s work was almost completely erased by the scientific community, largely composed of men at the time. However, Joy is told through Purdy’s point of view, and where history tried to erase her achievements and her life, Joy makes it a point to honor her work and who she was.

Throughout the movie, women’s health issues are disregarded by most doctors and scientists: some women are simply judged as too old to be treated, and no longer worth the time, nor the money it would cost to find a way to cure them. Purdy herself suffers from endometriosis, an extremely painful gynecological condition that was discovered in the 1940s, which prevents her from getting pregnant.

During a crucial scene where our three protagonists must plea their case to a board of doctors, mostly men, Steptoe calls them out by telling them they do not care about their research because it is about women and not men.

I spoke with McKenzie and Norton about how timely and relevant the topics and questions raised in the movie still are. McKenzie said, “This conversion has always been relevant, really. It’s been 50 years since IVF was first happening, you’d think that now, people would listen to what women are asking, which is really to have control, power of decisions over their bodies, but I guess not. We just have to keep telling stories like this to make people see it.”

Norton said, “This movie is a reminder of how far we’ve come and how we should protect these incredible advancements. But there are moments in this film, particularly around women’s health, that are reminders that we have not come far enough yet.”

He added: “The medical world was run by men and we are still behind where we should be. The way you were able to diagnose endometriosis in those days and the ability to diagnose it now, hasn’t really changed. The fact that you have to go through very intrusive surgery to diagnose it is absurd. If it was a condition that affected men, or men and women, we would be further ahead. That’s a real shame.”

This team of pioneers also had to face a lot of pressure from the Church, the press and even their own family, and yet they persevered. For Purdy, it meant going against everything her very religious mother stood for. For Purdy and Edwards, it meant being called “Mr. and Mrs. Frankenstein” by the media.

I also asked the two actors if they recalled the precise moment where they knew they had found their respective characters and how they were going to portray them. Norton said: “I had more access to him in terms of voice, but as an actor, I think you can kind of fall in the trap of mimicry. I think what’s more important is finding the essence of a person and Robert was full of energy and enthusiasm. I read this book that he and Patrick wrote called “A Matter of Life: The Story of a Medical Breakthrough”. They wrote it in sections, and Patrick’s sections are quite dry and scientific, and Bob, as the movie suggests, it’s more kind of bouncy, fast, a propulsive energy. So for me, I think that was my starting point.”

He added: “The costume is also very important, there is a moment of alchemy when all the pieces are put together, the makeup, the costumes. Jack Thorne and Rachel Mason [Writers of Joy] had done some massive research to give me all the info. Once all the pieces are together, you’re like ‘Here he is, he has arrived.’”

For McKenzie, the way she got access to Purdy was through her scenes with her co-star Joanna Scanlan who plays her mother in the film. She said, “I think it was the scenes I did with Joana, the scenes between them at church, at the beginning of the film. Them walking down the street with each other, their home life, I think those were the scenes where I was like ‘Yes, I think I got her.’”

She added: “Also the scene with Bill, who played Patrick, and they all had gone for a drink at the pub, they were talking about women’s right to reproduce. That scene as well, I could really feel Jean’s grief of not being able to have children herself and the loneliness that she felt.”

In the movie, Steptoe examines his friend and colleague, Jean Purdy in order to see if there is a way to help her have children. The friendship of the trio is at the heart of this story and is as important on-screen as it is behind the scenes.

McKenzie shared an anecdote about Bill Nighy to point how generous and kind he was on set. She said, “He is such a wonderful person, he is a very deep thinker and really caring. There are lots of examples I can think of, he listens and he shows his love through actions, doing small or big things for people. One day, I was eating a banana with peanut butter on it, and I said ‘What? You never had a banana and peanut butter? It’s delicious, my favorite!’ And the next day, he had this gourmet peanut butter for me. That’s a small example but he’s someone that listens and acts on it. He makes a huge difference in people’s lives.”

At the end of the movie, we learn that the commemorative plaque outside Kershaw’s hospital made in honor of Patrick Steptoe and Robert Edwards didn’t mention Jean Purdy. Edwards fought tirelessly to get her name included on that plaque. It is only in 2015, that is to say 30 years after Purdy’s death, that a new plaque with her name on it was unveiled at the hospital.

I asked Norton how knowing that another fight takes place after the movie ends informed him and his level of attachment to his character and his on-screen partner. He said, “It’s interesting, you have two levels of attachment and affection. You have the person standing in front of you, Thomasin, who I adore, she’s a very good friend, I speak to her all the time. And then of course, speaking to a relationship which was clearly full of love and respect, they were collaborators and colleagues. Jean was completely vital, she came up with the breakthrough idea.”

He added: “We don’t know much about their relationship, again, it is a testament of how little women were valued in those days. The result of that is that we don’t have as much information about Jean. So Rachel and Jack did as much research as they could to find as much they could about Jean, but we had to fill in a lot of the gaps because history hasn’t been quite as respectful as it should have been to women like her. Thomasin told me recently, which was so moving, that Jean died surrounded by women who’ve had IVF.”