‘The Surrogate’ poses a moral dilemma — SXSW movie review

Jess is thrilled to be the surrogate for her best friend and his husband, but when a prenatal test comes back, it creates a moral dilemma that threatens their friendship.

With SXSW 2020 canceled, I’m doing my best to help review as many of the features that would have premiered there, particularly those of first-time filmmakers. If you know of a film that needs support, let me know!

New York filmmaker and playwright Jeremy Hersh broke out at the Sundance Film Festival in 2015 with his short film Actresses — so his feature debut was one of the films many were eager to see at South by Southwest this year. 

Jess Harris (Jasmine Batchelor) is over-ecstatic to be asked by her best friend Josh (Chris Perfetti) and his husband Aaron (Sullivan Jones, coming off a run in Broadway play Slave Play) to be the surrogate for their first child. However, twelve weeks into the pregnancy a test reveals that the child has down syndrome. The shock sends the trio into a moral dilemma that leaves them at odds looking for a middle ground.

It takes a while for The Surrogate’s story to get where it needs to be impactful without feeling contrived. The first two acts spend a lot of time maneuvering its characters to deliver a remarkably wrought and candid discussion where both sides of the dilemma are picked apart. If you’re looking for what the movie is trying to say you won’t get far. You can see Hersh thinking and struggling with his own thoughts on the subject through the film. In that way, it’s a morality play. Justice and equity aren’t necessarily found. Instead, the movie asks you to confront your own opinions. In that sense, the movie is something to celebrate.

Hersh is unafraid to bring up the arguments that may be difficult to face. He is unraveling complex themes from how queerness could breed its own privilege and how progressiveness is often paradoxical. We want to think we know the “right” thing to do in this situation. The Surrogates asks whether that even exists.

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However, something didn’t connect for me. As I struggled to figure it out while being genuinely compelled in the story, I realized it wasn’t that anything was wrong with the movie. It’s that it was too right — too clean. Every character and interaction felt like it was built to explore this single topic rather than watching characters experience it. The focus could be welcome in some cases. In The Surrogate, it left me gasping for who the characters are outside of the moral conundrum that they’re facing.

In particular, I was disappointed we didn’t explore Jess more and what inspired her passionate reaction to the situation. Her unflinching optimism is admirable and interesting but never explained. We’re left to just accept it as a fact of her character. It’s when her perspective is challenged that The Surrogate feels alive. On stage — or as a short — the story could have been electric. It is electric at some points but never finds its footing. 

What Hersh and the cast accomplish is something to celebrate. I just wish the messiness of its themes found their way into the story and the characters were more often faced with the imperfections of their arguments. Still, The Surrogate tells an essential story. Hersh has vision — and talent — that much is apparent.