When New Yorker Lexy met the woman of her dreams she just wanted two things (apart from living happily ever after, naturally.) Lexy wanted to have a big white wedding and then have a baby. In this micro-budgeted wee fly-on-wall documentary from filmmaker Lizzie Gottlieb we learn that Lexy and her wife Jessica celebrated their nuptials in great style, but the baby-making turned out to be much tougher than either of them had ever imagined.The next step is an expensive drug to help increase Lexy’s estrogen level and when this fails in desperation they decide to try intro vitro fertilization. The cost of this is way beyond their limited means but they discover that N.Y. gives financial aid for this, so they apply and are awarded a grant to enable them to go ahead.
Despite their joking on camera it is obvious that after all these fruitless months their desperation at Lexy’s failure to get pregnant is putting a stain on their relationship especially when this procedure is physically very painful and Jessica seems less than sympathetic on occasion. This time they almost get their dream but the uneasy hope they have when the initial part of the procedures indicates that it may have worked are soon scuttled when they discover its a false alarm and once again Lexy is still not pregnant.
The lowest part of this whole journey is when the girls discover that suddenly several of their friends are pregnant at the same time, and even a brother is about to become a father. But then just like a good fairy tale when all seems totally lost, Christopher a gay friend in SF offers to be a donor. The girls seek advice from a pair of lesbian mothers who say go for it, and from their Doctor who counsels them against.
So instead of paying for another round of treatment they buy two round trip ticket to California, where evidently dreams are really made. Especially gay ones.
Why this wee film took two years to go Film Festival to VOD I will never know as its a story of compassion, determination, hope and love that was a joy to watch. And this coming from a man like me who is on the same page as Charles Laughton when it comes to children, but I can honor and respect any couple that would want one so bad as this. This child will be very lucky to have Lexy & Jessica as parents.
Labels: 2012, documentary, gay, lesbian
