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As a child I hated subtitles. The words constantly multiplying and changing on the bottom of TV screens distracted me from the scenes in shows and movies. Sometimes the white words overlaid on a black background moved at a quicker pace than what the characters onscreen were actually saying and spoiled what was to come. I’d rather the educators who screened educational specials at school turn the boxy 90s televisions off altogether.

Obviously, a distaste for captions spoke to my privilege as a nondisabled child who had an option to dislike them in the first place. But surprisingly, subtitles have grown on me as an adult. As a lover of many things Black, I love watching films created in other countries like Nigeria, South Africa, and even France (shout-out to Netflix’s Lupin). As my film and TV palate has expanded, I’ve learned of the innate multiculturalism of most Black folks in the African Diaspora (not just in America) that translates onscreen. It is quite common for scenes in these films to have characters who converse in Pidgin English (a mix of a local language and a version of English) or two other languages separate from English altogether. As much as body language is also a very communicative tool, missing even a few words can shift an understanding of what’s happening in a story. Subtitles help put the pieces of these conversations together.

Subtitles are also quite useful for those of us looking to become more confident in speaking another language. I am years from my high school days of studying French and even further from my days learning Spanish in grammar and middle school. Immersing myself in non-American entertainment has renewed my interest in remembering and enhancing my French-speaking skills; it’s also made me want to learn local languages like Bantu people’s Lingala, which isn’t as readily available to learn unless you are in community with Congolese or other Bantu people. Those once-pestering words on the bottom of television screens I now see as an opportunity to refresh and expand my communication.

As beneficial as they may be, subtitles have their faults. Late last year, conversations around Netflix’s Squid Game, one of the streaming service’s most viewed series, brought to light how poor transcriptions in the show completely shift the understanding non-Korean speakers likely have of the storyline. As a native English speaker, it’s a question I often ponder: Are the subtitles presented accurately capturing what’s being communicated onscreen? Still, I’d argue that turning on your subtitles here and there is a great start to expanding your knowledge of other parts of the world.

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In 1928, directors Sergei Eisenstein, Vsevolod Pudovkin, and Grigori Alexandrov began a collective statement with a declaration: “Our cherished dreams of a sound cinema are being realized.” It was a transitional period for the medium, as feature films had recently incorporated synchronized audio, and the year prior saw the first part-talkie in Alan Crosland’s The Jazz Singer. Their excitement, however, was tempered. “Sound is a double-edged invention,” they suggested, wary of how straightforward implementations could “destroy the culture of montage.” Only the most thoughtful would ensure these new technologies led to innovation, and this radical change for film would be, as we now know, a permanent one. This evolution was something they may have seen as inevitable, as they noted that “the whole world now speaks of the ‘silent’ that has found its voice.”

The “voice” that those Soviet filmmakers referred to was, of course, actual voices or sounds. But there’s an unintentionally profound statement there regarding silence as having its full potential unlocked, that there exist far more possibilities for silence than we recognize. I’ve spent much of my life thinking about this and, as with most, it began with John Cage. While the American composer wrote a lot on sound and silence, the passage of time has reduced his words to basic ideas stemming from his most famous work, 4’33” (1952): There’s no such thing as true silence, the “extramusical” sounds we hear outside of a performance should be appreciated as music, silence should be considered as a true compositional and structural element, and so on.

These are perspective-shifting truths, and they certainly transformed how I engage with the world through my sense of hearing, but the music that has followed in the decades since has proven itself less revelatory than it initially appeared. Artists who are (self-)described as “post-Cage” are, in fact, regurgitating his ideas in slightly different contexts, and the results are largely inconsequential. Really, it’s works outside of this highbrow tradition of classical music (ironically referred to as “new music”) that surprise me most. One example: the 1970 LP The Best of Marcel Marceao, a long-form gag showcasing the greatest hits of a mime. Each side features 19 minutes of silence followed by a minute of uproarious applause. It’s funny in a way that most serious music isn’t.

Different contexts allow for different understandings of silence. This has never been more clear for me than when, after becoming a high school science teacher, I saw it manifesting in my classes every day. Silence can indicate critical thinking when I propose a challenging question, it can conjure up an awkward environment if someone’s joke doesn’t land, it can provide for tender moments of reflection when students accept they’re smarter than they ever realized. Silence is also a major pedagogical tool, as it can be an elegant maneuver to convey that everyone needs to be more attentive, that something important is about to happen.

I came to understand silence as instructive through the arts, and mostly appreciate it nowadays when watching avant-garde films. When you watch a silent experimental film, there’s no room for music to dictate anything. Consider the real miracle of sound as an artistic medium: it can be engaged with in a multitude of ways, but importantly, it’s one of few that people regularly interact with passively—think of podcasts you barely pay attention to, white noise machines you keep on when sleeping, or any music you comfortably leave playing in the background. What’s not considered in our passive engagement with music is that its inherent rhythms are so impactful that they can readily overwhelm filmic ones, which is why it’s such a travesty that countless avant-garde films are ruined by poor considerations of audio. Beyond the mere content of the music being dull, it’s how it usually functions: at their worst, experimental films utilize sound as cheap mood enhancer. Through an inability to trust the images to evoke emotions and ideas on their own, directors use music as a way to fill in cognitive blanks. These artists don’t trust the audience, or even themselves.

Ten more silent films to help you see:

– Fuses (Carolee Schneemann, 1967)
– Chant (Robert Fulton, 1973)
– V.W. Vitesse Women (Claudine Eizykman, 1974)
– Couleurs délicieuses sur fond bleu (Christian Lebrat, 1976)
– Splices for Sharits (Joseph Bernard, 1980)
– Midi (Teo Hernández, 1985)
– The Secret Garden (Phil Solomon, 1988)
– Bouquets 1-10 (Rose Lowder, 1995)
– Toccata (Hannes Schüpbach, 2002)
– At Sea (Peter B. Hutton, 2007)

This is why the most spellbinding avant-garde films often transcend the need for sound. Stan Brakhage, of course, is one of the most important in this regard. He understood how silence forced an acute awareness of his images: “I feel they need a silent attention,” he once said of his works. Indeed, in Window Water Baby Moving (1959), sheer joy and love are on full display as he captures his then-wife giving birth, and any emotions would’ve been stymied if audio was provided. Through extreme close-ups, rotations of his camera, and dazzling reflections of light on water, he constantly maneuvers in a tight interzone between visual abstraction and clarity. What occurs is a continual refocusing on these bodies, as if he’s reminding you that, yes, what you’re witnessing is actually extraordinary. More than anything, silence prevents what we’re seeing from diminishing into banalities.

One real power of silence comes in allowing films to be appreciated at their basest levels. It’s so often that it can lead to greater appreciation for light. There’s Brakhage’s own A Child’s Garden and the Serious Sea (1991), which transforms light-reflecting seafoam into mystical colors, or Jerome Hiler’s Words of Mercury (2011), whose glimmering blues and yellows conjure up a sense of the fantastical. A simple R-L pan in Larry Gottheim’s Doorway (1971) is bolstered by silence as it leads to a more expansive understanding of how much really exists in one’s surroundings. In Nathaniel Dorsky’s Threnody (2004), silence allows for a consideration of the contrast in rhythms we encounter in our everyday lives, be it the fading of light on specific textiles, the sway of flora in the wind, or the stillness of a cloudy evening sky. Silence, as people may understand it via meditation, is a way to be more attuned to the world around us.

Even filmmakers who’ve explored sound throughout their careers often find their creative peak when employing silence. Take Bastian Clevé, whose works have been soundtracked by legends such as Eberhard Weber, NEU!, and Klaus Schulze. His silent short film Tollhaus (1979) has rapid cuts that create such an irresistibly frenetic rhythm that every juxtaposition feels like a chance to see every image anew. Such edits would be far less disorienting with a soundtrack, as it would render the footage more seamless via music’s ability to establish an overarching atmosphere. Ute Aurand’s diaristic films are often made more sentimental through music and quotidian sounds, but her 2020 silent film Glimpses from a Visit to Orkney in Summer 1995 uses extreme close-ups of flowers to express the range of feelings defining her time with poet Margaret Tait. Silence makes each brilliant flash of color—every gold and emerald and turquoise—a pure conduit of exuberant emotion.

In the context of film, silence helps us appreciate the beauty and gift that is our sense of sight. We need to understand silence as infinite in its capabilities, that there may never be a point at which it fully “finds its voice” or stops teaching us. Just as there exists a difference between hearing and listening, there is a huge gulf between merely looking and intently watching. Silence, when used effectively, ushers us into the latter.

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Several decades after the metamorphic transition from silent to sound, a 1981 article in the New York Times observed that “a live musician is rarely seen at a movie except as a member of the audience.” 

That’s not untrue with regards to one Dennis Scott, who can often be found sitting in the first few rows of the main room at the historic Music Box Theatre. But unlike other audience members, he’s enjoying the movie after playing in between showtimes on the majestic theater organ affixed to the left of the screen, a sonic behemoth that for many is now an essential fixture of the experience.

The aforementioned Times article was about the dearth of live silent film accompaniment, a tradition lost to its heyday but which has since enjoyed periods of revival in limited exhibition venues. Scott has been the Music Box Theatre’s house organist since 1992; in 2011 he started a monthly silent cinema series that continues to this day.

“It was the music,” he says of his deep affection for the pastime. “I always just loved the music, and I loved the sound of a theater organ.”

Scott is one of several musicians in and around Chicago for whom live silent film accompaniment is a regular gig. Another in this cadre is Dave Drazin, who accompanies on the piano and has done so at the Gene Siskel Film Center for nearly 40 years, a job he landed quite fortuitously. 

“They were showing something—I don’t know what—but I just walked in, and there was a piano on the side. I asked the house manager if it would be alright if I played the piano for the movie, and he said he would ask the director. He came back and said OK. So I just played, and then the director said, ‘We need a guy like you.’”

A longtime hot jazz aficionado who studied music in college, Drazin has often utilized his predilection for extemporization, improvising scores on the spot. Jay Warren, president and cofounder of the Silent Film Society of Chicago, takes another tack, the traditional photoplay organist instead referring to his accompaniment as a “compiled score.” 

Warren relies on themes for different parts of the film, a tactic imparted by his “unofficial mentor” Gaylord Carter, a renowned organist, film accompanist, and composer who is credited with having helped revive public interest in silent cinema, leading to its initial renaissance.

“One thing we [learned] is not to overplay the film,” says Warren. “You want to be the background. You want to embrace the film; we don’t want to be the star of the show. You should forget about us.”

For Scott, who for many years worked in advertising and PR and thus knows how to captivate an audience, authenticity is key. He prides both himself and the theater on maintaining high standards of exhibition that honor the nuances of silent cinema.

“In this part of the country, [we do] the most authentic presentation of silent films, because we can do 35-millimeter. We can also do variable-speed 35-millimeter, which very, very few places can do. If a film is shot at 20 frames per second, we can show it at that speed.”

He’s especially proud of the organ itself, which he and his husband spent three and a half years restoring. Soundwise it’s digital, with all the effects viewers would have heard back in the 1920s; the console, however, is from 1929, like the Music Box itself. 

Scott, Drazin, and Warren are the most prolific working accompanists in Chicago, whose names you expect to see connected with a silent film screening; however, they aren’t the only ones. 

For example, Chicago-based musician Maxx McGathey has recently composed and performed original live scores for Robert Wiene’s 1924 film The Hands of Orlac and Alfred Hitchcock’s The Lodger (1927).

A few weekends ago, internationally celebrated musicians Min Xiao-Fen and Rez Abbasi accompanied the 1934 Chinese silent feature The Goddess for an event copresented by the Silent Film Society of Chicago at the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts.

Comfort Film, a program of Logan Square’s Comfort Station, offers a yearly Silent Film and Loud Music series. Past pairings include Wiene’s The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), with music from Kassi Cork, Vince McAley, and Anthony Forgrase; F.W. Murnau’s Faust (1926), with music performed by Mexican rock band Los Black Dogs; and ​​Oscar Micheaux’s 1920 film Within Our Gates, accompanied by Paul Giallorenzo and Ben LaMar Gay.

“[It’s] a way to expose our younger audience to these classic films.” says Comfort Film programmer Raul Benitez. The limitations are none; participants are given free rein both in selecting the film and devising their accompaniment. “Every screening is a surprise,” he says. “We even had a band edit a film.”

Keyboardist Kassi Cork doesn’t consider herself especially well versed in silent cinema, but she was nevertheless drawn to the prospect. “There is a history of music performance, primarily organ and piano, for silent film accompaniment that has always intrigued me as a pianist,” she says. “I grew up in a town that still had an organist play before movie showings, and there has always been something magical about that.”

Though new to it, Cork’s process in imagining an accompaniment is similar to that of seasoned practitioners. “While watching the film I create an outline of the overall plot, including mood and ideas it might give me.”

As far and wide as silent film accompaniment reaches in Chicago, spanning melodies from the silent era to music not yet even conceived during that time, there’s one thing these musicians have in common: the film is the thing, the guiding force behind what they do. 

“People ask me if I look at the screen,” remarks Scott. “I say, I always look at the screen, that’s more or less my sheet music.”

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It’s tempting to call Adult. electroclash; the synth duo of Nicola Kuperus and Adam Lee Miller debuted in 1998, coinciding with the style’s peak, and they’ve collaborated with notable groups in the genre such as Fischerspooner and Ladytron. But while the Detroit-based husband-and-wife team share some traits with the genre—particularly the way they pair an arty rock ’n’ roll swagger with a frenetic mechanical pulse—Adult. don’t lean into the heat and hedonism of the dance floor the way electroclash pioneers such as Goldfrapp and Peaches do. Instead they exercise a chilly restraint. Across nine albums, they’ve explored austere themes—existential wanting, capitalist alienation, the inevitability of death—with hip-thrusting rhythms that feel more spastic than sexy. (To me, spasming in the club while thinking about death is sexy—but that’s a subject for another day.)

On Adult.’s latest release, February’s Becoming Undone (Dais), they channel grief and despondency that stem not only from the pandemic but also from the decline and death of Kuperus’s father. Her vocals have always echoed the flat wails of Los Microwaves’ Meg Brazill and the sultry, reverb-drenched moans of Throbbing Gristle’s Cosey Fanni Tutti, but on this album, she unleashes more snarls and yelps, which she layers like uneven bricks on tracks such as “Fools (We Are)” and “She’s Nice Looking.” Miller’s militant bass lines and machinelike flourishes root Adult.’s music more firmly in EBM and industrial than in the postpunk and new wave that inform electroclash. Their sound is aggressive in its lack of poptimism, navigating a tight line between rapturous darkness and bouncy recklessness without getting too playful. Whatever you want to call Adult.’s music, on Becoming Undone they show their staying power lies in their ability to guide you through a ritual danse macabre.

Adult. A small number of tickets will be available at the door, but this show is otherwise sold out. Kontravoid and Spike Hellis open. Fri 5/20, 10 PM, Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western, $18, 21+

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In the summer of 2020, the people of Chicago rose up in support of Black life, with thousands taking part in dozens of actions across the city. That season of uprisings had curator and cultural producer Ciera Alyse McKissick thinking about Black people moving through space: about how Black migration and travel has been a portal into the future, and about how cultural artifacts record history. She wondered what legacy Black people wanted to leave behind, what stories they wanted to tell. Her thinking evolved into the curation of the compelling, concise group exhibition, “Relic,” on view until May 27 at the Arts Incubator gallery, part of the University of Chicago’s Arts and Public Life initiative.

Inspired in part by Alisha Wormsley’s traveling billboard project, There Are Black People in the Future, “Relic” includes tender depictions of Black cultural artifacts and asks how those objects might inform the years to come. The exhibition marks a new era in McKissick’s practice, an era that allows for slower movement, deeper research, and a politics of care. “Relic” is the main curatorial project for McKissick this year—a marked difference from her usual pace. In 2021 she curated six exhibitions and additional work for the Terrain Biennial, took part in two art fairs, curated film screenings, organized virtual artists talks and an album release, held a two-day food and arts festival, and a pop-up event. This was all undertaken as part of her independent curatorial work as well as her work for AMFM, an arts magazine-turned-brand that McKissick founded in 2009. All this on top of her day job as public programs manager for the Hyde Park Art Center, a position that she has held part-time alongside other jobs for pay until this January, when HPAC made her a full-time employee.

“The pandemic really opened up my eyes to the way that I was working before. I was very busy, it felt like I was flipping shows a lot, putting one up and taking one down. I didn’t have enough time to process what I was really doing, and be able to sit with and let the things meander in my body,” she says. “I hope to make that a deeper part of how I continue to work. It’s important to be able to really hone in on a theme or subject matter. How can I engage the public and make this information digestible for everyone to be able to take in? I think arts oftentimes can be really inaccessible or people don’t feel comfortable in those spaces. And I don’t ever want people to feel that way.”

Ciera McKissick Credit: Victor Hilitski for the Chicago Reader

McKissick, 34, was raised in Milwaukee. As long as she can remember, she has been interested in writing and in the arts. Her parents enrolled her in an arts elementary school. She took dance and art classes, played multiple instruments, and did stage crew in theater productions. 

As a kid, she made magazines out of notebooks: writing quizzes and even assigning articles to her friends. Her father took her to gallery nights. In middle school, she hated the drab vibe of her school library, so she convinced the principal to let her redesign it, putting together a team of classmates to pick paint colors and decide what books to feature.

She grew up watching films on IFC and the Sundance channel with the help of her family’s black box cable; in high school she wrote a screenplay, carrying around a camcorder and making friends audition. She initially wanted to study film in college—she attended the University of Wisconsin at Madison—but settled on journalism, which felt more practical. At Wisconsin, she wrote for the school newspaper and music magazine, where she covered local acts but also big names like Beyoncé and Kanye West. “I got really disillusioned with writing about these people who were already famous,” she says. “I knew so many artists in my community, who were making amazing stuff, and I was just like, you should be the one who’s getting these stories. I have so much faith in people and think that they could be famous someday or be really successful. I wanted to be a part of telling those kinds of stories.”

In her senior year, she created a web magazine as part of an independent study. AMFM, which stands for Arts Music Fashion Magazine, had a section devoted to each category, for which McKissick wrote the articles and designed a pink cassette tape to enhance the branding. She got an A on the magazine, though she didn’t initially envision it as a long-term project. 

But AMFM stayed on her mind. When she moved to Sacramento after graduating, she put together an issue focused on the arts scene of the city. After more than two years there, she moved home to be closer to family, and got a job working on a large-scale campaign trying to change discourse around the LGBTQIA community. “That’s honestly where I learned a lot about how to do those large-scale events, and how to organize something from the ground up,” she says.

She put out another, Milwaukee-focused issue of AMFM, and organized a few cultural events around town, but she was thinking bigger. McKissick’s mother, Cameo Anderson, says her daughter has never been the type to sit still. “She always had grandiose plans,” Anderson says. “She always wanted big things and Milwaukee was not the place.”

In 2013 she moved to Chicago. “I was only supposed to stay for a year,” McKissick says. “But I fell in love with the arts and the community of the city. Here I am nine years later.”

She became enmeshed in the arts scene, going to open mikes and meeting people. “AMFM kind of resurrected,” she says. When she first put together art shows, she realized she wanted something more engaging to happen in the space than just wine and cheese. She started a jazz series, working with Cultura in Pilsen until the space was shut down, and held other pop-up events. While in residency at Chicago Art Department, she had carte blanche over their two galleries for programming.

“I was like, everyone should be able to have the opportunity to do this,” she says. “I wanted to be able to lay the groundwork for people to incubate, come up with ideas, and flip the space as they saw fit, as I was able to do at Chicago Art Department.”

McKissick launched a GoFundMe to come up with enough start-up money to rent a space of her own, and opened AMFM gallery in Pilsen in 2016. “It was really born out of me going to all of these different types of spaces that I would pop up at and then there was so much overhead,” she says. “I wasn’t able to have as much autonomy over things, and I wanted to have more power over my vision.”

At first it was a live/work space, with McKissick living behind the storefront gallery. “That was a wild ride, my cat was at the gallery for a while,” she says. After moving out, she turned the room into a music production studio. There was also a gallery, studio space for artists, and a small shop, all in about 1,000 square feet. “It was a labor of love,” McKissick says, adding that friends helped paint murals inside and build out the space.

Over the roughly two years it was open, AMFM gallery hosted ten resident artists and held over 200 events. Erin LeAnn Mitchell was one of the resident artists. She was initially connected with McKissick through a mutual friend who correctly guessed they’d get along. “I think we have similar ambitions and drive,” Mitchell says.

Having a studio at AMFM was a game changer for Mitchell at that point in her career. She was in an arts education graduate program, but really wanted a place to make work. At AMFM, Mitchell created a body of work called Black Sauce, which she showed in the gallery. “That show, having that space, I feel like it really catapulted me into the place where I’m at right now, where I’m working mainly as an artist.” 

But in 2018, McKissick made the difficult call to close the space. “We were actually doing well, which I think was also a part of the problem,” she says. Because the gallery was in a residential neighborhood, on 21st Street, some neighbors had been complaining to the landlord about AMFM’s events, which were typically held Thursday through Sunday. McKissick also experienced anti-Blackness in the neighborhood. One person threw a brick through the gallery’s window. Others would throw gang signs at patrons outside the space. The police were called when someone alleged that a prostitution ring was operating out of the space.

Though McKissick said she tried to be welcoming to the neighborhood, inviting folks to events and encouraging guests to patronize local businesses, it ultimately became too much. “It got to the point where I felt like I was walking on eggshells,” she says. Her closing announcement garnered dozens of supportive comments on Facebook. 

“I was really vague about it when we closed,” she says. “Honestly I was really hurt by it. I had quit my marketing job to put my all into the space. I felt like it was just ripped from us.”

McKissick stresses that she doesn’t want to paint Pilsen in a negative light. “It was unfortunate, but in retrospect, after thinking through what it means to activate a neighborhood and go within a space, I would definitely do a lot more research, listening to see what the community would want out of a space in their neighborhood,” she says. “As I think about a future space, I’m actively thinking through where I’m celebrated, rather than just kind of tolerated.”

McKissick stands outside the south side gallery Credit: Victor Hilitski for the Chicago Reader

One of the seeds that led to “Relic” was a three-in-one bronze comb created by Haitian American artist Abigail Lucien. An object of cultural significance for Black folks, elevated by its material; it was useful but also beautiful, and it was something that a Black audience would understand innately. Three works by Lucien are in the show: two wall-hung sculptural pieces and a gorgeous video, A Softening, which shows the artist embracing a large chunk of shea butter.

Another inspirational seed was LaKela Brown’s sculptural reliefs, which feature plaster imprints of door-knocker earrings and chain necklaces. They recall ancient artifacts imprinted in clay, or fossilized remains. Two of Brown’s plaster earring reliefs are included in the exhibition, with layered compositions and heart-shaped or geometric imprints, some painted gold. 

Upon entering the gallery, the viewer is confronted by a standalone wall, papered with gold, screen-printed ledgers from the Freedmen’s Bureau, documenting the lives of some of the nation’s first Black entrepreneurs. The entries contain the person’s biographical information, as well as their last wishes. In an essay for the exhibition, McKissick writes that the centerpiece references the fact that “Black people’s labor created the economy of the country,” with the illegibility of the handwritten pages “representing the barriers of entry Black entrepreneurs faced—and still do.”

“It’s honestly a show for Black people,” McKissick says. “In the sense that, just like that comb, if you don’t know then you don’t understand. It’s been a beautiful testament to Black culture in time and space. Thinking about the future of it all like, what is going to be left behind of us here? The things we see in the media are so sensationalized. It’s trauma porn and I don’t like to engage with things in that way. I’m trying to think beyond that. We don’t talk about the history that happened before slavery. I’m thinking about: what kind of stories do we wish to tell or what do we wish to leave behind? I posed that question to all six of the artists and they met with me those objects in the show.”

“Relic”
Through 5/27: Thu-Sat, 3-7 PM, Arts Incubator, 301 E. Garfield, 773-702-9724, artsandpubliclife.org and relicexhibit.info

AMFM
amfm.life

After almost a decade of producing events in Chicago, McKissick has thought a lot about what she wants AMFM, and her own practice, to look like. She recently registered AMFM as an LLC and wrote a three-year strategic plan for the business.

Some of that looks like slowing down, having more of a research-based curatorial practice. “Relic” was a two-year process, which allowed McKissick time to think deeply about the work. Along with the essay, McKissick built a website that features related work, including music and video, to expand the exhibition’s reach beyond those who can physically visit the gallery. She’s also put together robust programming, including virtual artist talks and a manifestation session with artist Rhonda Wheatley. A closing session on May 27 will feature a dance performance and a DJ set by Sadie Woods.

“Relic” has also served as a lesson in what it feels like to work with more resources. Arts and Public Life provided both curatorial and artist stipends, though more often curators and cultural producers are on their own when it comes to funding. “I find that, especially as a curator, there haven’t been many opportunities in the past to receive grants,” McKissick says. “I know that some of that is shifting now, especially after the pandemic, because people think about arts workers and creatives in a different capacity.”

She still gets comments from people who miss AMFM’s gallery. “It really felt like home,” Mitchell says. McKissick hopes to open up her own space again in the future. She envisions an institutional space, with room for performance, studios, and opportunities for mentorship and artist services. “I’m thinking a lot about the south side and the lack of studio space,” she says. 

With fewer DIY or artist-run cultural spaces, people go to institutions instead, many of which have increased their opportunities for BIPOC artists following 2020’s calls for racial equity. “People are really catching on that POC and artists are the gatekeepers of culture,” she says. When BIPOC artists work with white-led institutions, it benefits the institution. “I would love for them to be able to uplift something that directly impacts the artists more. That’s my hope, to create that institution specifically for them.”

With McKissick’s drive, there’s little doubt she’ll realize these goals in due time. Her mother says that she’s always been fearless: “She just has this like, ‘I’m not gonna wait for somebody to tell me to do it.’ And that’s with everything.”

It’s important to McKissick to maintain relationships with all the artists she’s worked with, connecting folks with opportunities when she can. “We’ve gotten to this point in our relationship where I fully am trustful of Ciera,” Mitchell says. “Ciera is someone who will have my best interests at heart. It’s really good to have someone on your side like that. That looks out for you when you’re not around and speaks your name in rooms that you’re not in.”

The description of AMFM on its website really sums up McKissick’s whole approach: “AMFM is a brand for artists and the people.” She wants her work to uplift artists and the community in an approachable, accessible way. “I don’t want to perform,” she says. “My work is authentic. I try to always meet people where they’re at and have conversations on their own level. I think that’s a testament to why I’ve been able to do the work that I’ve been able to do here in Chicago for so long, and why I was welcomed in so openly. There’s a certain level of trust that you have to build with people and with artists. I think that that’s something that’s really, really important, especially when you’re dealing with something as sensitive as telling people’s stories and their truths.”

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Anaïs in Love is as magnetic as its protagonist. From the start, Anaïs (Anaïs Demoustier) is messy, flitting from one stressful situation to the next. Except she does it with admirable ease, whether explaining to her landlord why she’s behind on her rent or arriving too late to a date with her boyfriend. By the time she awkwardly encounters the much older man she’ll embark on an affair with, Anaïs seems to be treading dangerously close to manic pixie dream girl territory. But filmmaker Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet never lets her get there. Instead, Bourgeois-Tacquet offers a much more charming character whose nuance becomes more apparent when she falls in love with Emilie (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi), whose husband is the aforementioned man. Again, she’s messy, but the film embraces that in a way that honors the character, giving her room to grow autonomously and with an authenticity viewers won’t be able to shake. 98 min.

Wide release on VOD and limited release in theaters

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It’s never been easier to meet someone online. There are more singles than ever in the dating pool. Most are in search of a meaningful connection that could lead to a long-term commitment. Landing a real catch in a traditional setting feels like fishing in the Dead Sea: impossible. But dating apps and websites have softened the blow and made it possible to scope out your options from the safety and comfort of your own home. With life online becoming an omnipresent reality, it’s one of the best ways to date. The best part? They actually work.

Now, this isn’t true of all dating sites, and there are plenty to comb through. While it’s nice to have options, digging around for the top dating sites can feel like searching for a needle in a haystack. Additionally, veteran daters know that modern dating culture has become murky at best.

Which apps will introduce you to singles who are serious about commitment and not just another hookup? Tinder might be the big dog of swipe-based dating apps, but you likely won’t find anything beyond a hot make-out session or a one-night stand. While most dating sites attract a mix of serious and casual daters, some options generate more success for long-term relationships.

Here’s an overview of the best dating sites that will give you the best chance at finding a real partner. When it comes to love, these apps do their best to find you the perfect match. Whether it’s a particularly advanced matching algorithm, personality analysis, or select group of users, these apps do more for you than your average hookup app ever could.

RankSiteBest ForRating1.eHarmonyMeaningful connections5/52.MatchLasting relationships5/53.ZooskThose who love travel5/54.FriendFinderMix of casual and serious5/55.BumbleBest for women5/56.HingeBest for quick, serious matches5/57.OkCupidBest for progressive dating5/58.The LeagueBest for educated singles4.5/59.HappnBest for meeting someone in your social circle4.5/510.HERBest for femmes4.5/511.Silver SinglesBest for older daters4/512.Coffee Meets BagelBest for dating site newbies4/513.AdultFriendFinderBest for open-minded daters4/514.Plenty of FishBest for rural daters4/5

1.) eHarmony 

Ok, so eHarmony puts some cheesy ads out there that might deter you from trying it out, but if you’re tired of dating around, looking for a real connection and maybe just want to put a ring on it, you’re going to want to give it a second chance. Why? Well, eHarmony is allegedly responsible for around 4 percent of all marriages in the U.S. today. Wild, right?

So what gives eHarmony its secret sauce? We guess it has to do with the revamp of their model. Back in the day, eHarmony would put you through the wringer with a lengthy sign-up process and lame alienating questions. Today, the questionnaire is around 30 questions long and very practical. It’ll ask you how you feel about moving in with someone or how you feel about arguments.

It should be noted though that eHarmony hasn’t always been the most welcoming place for the LGBTQ+ community and some users believe that it’s truly a place for the heteronormative. They’ve been working on fixing this major issue, but it seems that it hasn’t yet been totally resolved.

Tip for using eHarmony to find a long-term relationship: Use eHarmony if you are genuinely ready for commitment. Don’t be afraid to set up dates quickly and emotionally open up earlier than you normally would.

2.) Match

Match.com is a dating site that was launched in 1995, and it has been helping daters find long-term relationships ever since. Match is comforting to a lot of people because it’s so familiar and has pretty much provided the blueprint for other dating sites. Not to mention, it has worked hard to perfect its strategy over the years. There’s even a guarantee that you’ll be dating someone within six months, and if you’re not, they’ll give you six months free of charge! That’s how confident they are.

There are two factors that make Match best for long-term partnerships.

Number one is their matching algorithm. When you sign up, you will be put through a rigorous personality quiz. While it can feel a little cumbersome, know that Match is only doing its job. You’ll be asked about your basic preferences along with some gushy romantic stuff (which is important in a relationship).

Number two is that, though it’s technically a free dating site, most users end up paying $20 per month. Yeah, it’s a lot. But love is an investment you should be making for yourself, right?

Tip for using Match to find a long-term relationship: Match is known for their intense matching algorithm, so take your time with the questionnaire and try to make your profile as detailed as possible.

3.) Zoosk

For some, travel is one of the most important aspects of a relationship. Zoosk takes the concept of online dating and allows users to connect internationally. But this isn’t one of those “fly me out to hookup” sites. Zoosk utilizes behavioral matching to facilitate genuine connections between folks who may live thousands of miles apart. If you want your first date to involve a plane, this app is for you.

Rather than dragging you through a tedious questionnaire, Zoosk synchs up your social media profiles to analyze your behavior. It’s a unique way to determine personality, but arguably more accurate given that it takes your actions into account.

Zoosk is a crowd favorite because it doesn’t try to distract you with any bells and whistles. It’s got a smooth, modern interface that makes international dating feel like a breeze.

Tip for using Zoosk to find a long-term relationship: Clean up your social media profile. Zoosk uses it to determine your matches. Your matches will likely be able to find your socials as well. If you come across as a player, you won’t land a serious relationship.

4.) Friend Finder

Friend Finder is one of the biggest dating communities on the Internet. It has the feel and ease of a social media platform but ultimately aims to set up romantic connections between singles. There’s a wide range of connections to be made on Friend Finder, from the flings to the wedding bells. You are more likely to meet someone who doesn’t want to commit right off the bat, but knows they want to meet someone special. Friend Finder also caters to all genders and sexualities, giving it a really warm and welcoming feel.

The users on Friend Finder tend to be in their 40s, but anyone who is 18+ is welcome to give it a shot. They also take your safety very seriously and run a tight ship as far as regulating profiles and banning fakes, catfish, and bots. You do feel like you’ve got a matchmaker on your side when you use Friend Finder to find a mate.

Because Friend Finder is more of a community than strictly a dating site, there are various ways to meet people and other ways to enjoy the site. For instance, you can take a look at their interest groups and forum pages to learn how users in the community are feeling about Friend Finder and dating in general.

Tip for using Friend Finder to find a long-term relationship: Treat this community like a social media platform rather than strictly a dating app. It will open up the possibilities for you by introducing you to more people!

5.) Bumble

There’s a lot we don’t love about Tinder. The platform allows ghosters and players to run rampant. That’s why Bumble is the perfect alternative for women seeking a serious relationship with a man.

Bumble is swipe-dating with a twist. It’s a free dating app that requires women to break the ice first. If the man doesn’t respond to the initial message within 24 hours, the match goes away. It’s one of the first dating apps to really hold daters accountable for their ability to follow through. Flakiness doesn’t survive on Bumble.

The women-message-first concept also combats those incessant creepy messages that ladies on dating apps are used to getting. While the profiles are limited and there’s no major questionnaire, the rules laid out by Bumble make it a great environment to start a long-term relationship. Oh, and there’s also an Astrology filter for the horoscope buffs.

Tip for using Bumble to find a long-term relationship: If you are a woman, reach out to all the men that you match with. Remember, they can’t get in touch with you. You need to make the first move before those matches disappear. You swiped right for a reason, right?

6.) Hinge

Many daters cite Hinge as their absolute favorite dating app. While Hinge has introduced a ton of successful couples to each other, the draw to Hinge has more to do with the fact that using the app is fun! The app was originally supposed to match you based on mutual friends you had through social media platforms. But it has evolved since then to be the ultimate icebreaker dating app.

Setting up a Hinge profile takes some time, but it’s entertaining. Once you pick your photos and basic preferences, you can choose through dozens of hilarious or serious prompts to add to the profile. One reads, “A life goal of mine is. . .” while another reads, “We’re the same type of weird if. . .” Hinge users can “heart” someone’s photo or their prompt answer. They can also comment on it, which makes initiating a conversation so much more interesting than on other dating apps.

With engaging profiles and an in-depth matching algorithm, Hinge is the cocktail party that sets the scene for long-term potential. The crowd is generally young, cool, and interested in dating. Its slogan is, “designed to be deleted,” which is kind of awesome!

Tip for using Hinge to find a long-term relationship: Add some humor to your profile by picking funny prompts. This will give your potential matches an icebreaker when they reach out to you.

7.) OKCupid

OKCupid is the woke dating app geared towards socially conscious millennials. It’s been around for a while, but in 2017, OKCupid saw a massive redesign both in aesthetics and operations. Now, it’s incredibly modern and perfect for the liberal-minded dater who is seeking a likeminded partner. With 12 gender identities and 20 sexual orientations to choose from, it’s not hard to see why.

The questionnaire helps to weed out folks who you wouldn’t get along with by asking questions like, “Is contraception morally wrong?” They also get into your sexual preferences and dealbreakers. That’s when the algorithm takes over. At first, it feels a bit like Tinder. That would make sense as the two are owned by the same company, but it takes the more in-depth serious approach that goes beyond swiping based on appearances.

One critique that OKCupid gets is the feature that allows you to message someone who you haven’t matched with yet. They won’t see that message unless you match. While it keeps creepy messages at bay, it also lends itself to a bunch of unanswered messages and a strange feeling of rejection.

Tip for using OKCupid to find a long-term relationship: Don’t bother using this application if you are ultra-conservative. You likely won’t find anyone who meshes with your views. Also, show more than you tell. In other words, pick profile photos that communicate who you are as a person.

8.) The League

If all the apps were personified, The League would be the most narcissistic. To get on the app in the first place, you must apply by submitting your LinkedIn profile, current job status, and what university you attended. So yeah, it’s a little full of itself. However, for people who think that education and job status is a dealbreaker, it’s a nice change of pace from the randomness that apps like Tinder supply.

The League allows you to be very picky with your preferences, even allowing you to select which races you prefer to see. That makes our stomachs turn a little. If you’re willing to ignore the cringeworthy-ness, The League is a pretty decent dating app. It has a high success rate, so we think it deserves a review.

Members span all age groups but tend to be on the younger side. There’s also no way for catfish to get onto this app. You must link both your Facebook and LinkedIn for approval. Unless a catfish is willing to go to extraordinary lengths to land someone, they aren’t going to slip through the cracks on these dating apps.

Tip for using The League to find a long-term relationship: The League tends to be a tough crowd and the app comes across as a little judgmental. You can ease the tension by sending a message to someone who you have something in common with. Perhaps you’ve been to their university, hometown, or have insight about their career choice.

9.) Happn

Some people believe in fate and others believe in the “Proximity Effect.” There’s a strong correlation between proximity and attraction, which Happn takes into account. Rather than setting you up with people who live in a five-mile radius from you, Happn actually matches you with someone you’ve crossed paths with in the past. It’s a neat concept in that it shows you and your match have similar habits and interests. It’s also the most convenient way to date.

We’ll be honest though, there aren’t a ton of people who use Happn, so there might be slim pickings. There have also been reports that the daters you’ve apparently “crossed paths with” are hogwash. This is coming from users who never stepped foot outside of their homes and were told they had a handful of missed connections. However, there are also folks who say the exact opposite.

Regardless of whether or not the proximity feature is a placebo, it sure makes for a nice icebreaker when you finally do go on that first date!

Tip for using Happn to find a long-term relationship: Don’t rely too heavily on the proximity feature. Try to get to know the people who you match with and then decide if you want to meet up with them!

10.) HER

Nearly all dating sites claim to be inclusive of all sexualities and genders; however, many people in the queer community don’t completely agree. Some sites just don’t feel all that welcoming or provide enough options, especially to queer women. Grindr was there for queer men, but what about the ladies? That’s where the app HER comes in. It’s a tailored dating site and community for women in the LGBTQ+ community.

According to their members (currently 4 million and counting), HER is a really fun space. Profiles can get quite detailed with the ability to put your diet preferences (like vegan) on your profile, along with your astrological sign and pronouns. There’s also an entire element of HER that doesn’t really have to do with dating but rather operates as a social media platform and shows you what queer events are going on in your area.

HER is great, but it’s not perfect. In the past, users have reported some glitches that make the user experience a bit frustrating and annoying. However, they are actively working to evolve their functionality in a positive way.

Tip for using HER to find a long-term relationship: HER is all about empowering women and LGBTQ+ dating. Mimic that energy by always shining a positive light while you are chatting with new friends or matches.

11.) Silver Singles

Dating over 50 can be quite a challenge. Many of these online dating apps focus so much energy on catering to millennials that they don’t take time to consider the older daters. Silver Singles is a dating app that’s exclusively for daters who are age 50 and above. Knowing that you’re in the company of others who are your age and looking for love can be really comforting.

Silver Singles takes matching seriously and uses a personality test to break users up into the Big Five personality traits, and then matches you accordingly. There’s an expectation on Silver Singles that the dating is taken seriously, so it’s not for the person looking for something casual. The users who are old enough to be completely over dating games that tend to be consumed by them see this as a benefit.

Tip for using Silver Singles to find a long-term relationship: Make it clear that you are seeking a long-term relationship. You can do this by posting it in your profile or by opening each chat by explaining what you want out of the app. The mature daters will appreciate the transparency.

12.) Coffee Meets Bagel

The concept behind this dating app was to set up a casual online dating experience. It’s likened to grabbing a cup of coffee with someone, but online. The vibe is meant to feel low-key, so that pressure doesn’t get in the way of your dating experience. A Reddit review actually noted that “Coffee Meets Bagel helped me find someone, which I never thought would happen because I am cripplingly introverted.” So, we know it works!

Other dating sites will throw a bunch of options at you, leaving you swiping through tons of photos or scrolling through an indefinite amount of prospects. While this can be nice, it also can deter you from really investing in one person and might make you feel overwhelmed. It’s not exactly the easiest way to make a real connection. That’s why CMB sends you seven options a day that are carefully selected based on their matching algorithm. These matches are called “bagels,” which frankly is a little strange. But hey, we’re not here to judge CMB on anything but their success rate as a dating app. To encourage followthrough, the bagels only last for a week. If you really like someone, you need to reach out.

Another reason why CMB works so well is that the algorithm takes your previous swipes into account when curating the next batch of fresh bagels for you. It learns your trends and preferences based on actual activity rather than just a questionnaire.

Tip for using Coffee Meets Bagel to find a long-term relationship: Give each “bagel” a chance. You might be used to apps that give you tons of options; however, there’s a reason why these bagels were suggested to you. Don’t be afraid to do a deep dive into each of their profiles!

13.) AdultFriendFinder

Ok, so AdultFriendFinder isn’t exactly great for finding your soulmate, but nothing is impossible! The reason it makes the list is that some people like to approach dating in a casual way before getting into anything super serious. Physical intimacy is an essential part of any relationship, and AdultFriendFinder has no problems in that department.

While millennials rely on Tinder to help them find friends-with-benefits, AdultFriendFinder caters to an online dating crowd that’s a tiny bit older. It’s sort of the Tinder for Gen X. Given that there are so many users on AdultFriendFinder, it’s nearly impossible to not find someone interested in talking to you. But be warned—AdultFriendFinder is not for the faint of heart. There’s no telling how raunchy your inbox will get.

AdultFriendFinder is an adult site, so that means explicit photos are welcome and encouraged. You won’t find that on other dating websites. In a time where isolation is more familiar than physical touch, it’s a nice change of pace.

Tip for using AdultFriendFinder to find a long-term relationship: Keep an open mind, sexually. AdultFriendFinder has a lot of raunchy undertones. By going in without judgment, you open yourself up to a world of dating potentials on this site.

14.) Plenty Of Fish

Plenty Of Fish is a popular free dating site, but they’ve been known to have just as many bots as they do genuine users, so that’s why it sits at the bottom. This doesn’t mean that POF doesn’t work. It has been known to foster a ton of successful relationships. There are even some celebs who have found love on POF. It simply might get annoying attempting to dodge the folks who aren’t real.

One of the best aspects of POF is the volume of users. They have so many. Bots aside, even if you live in a small town or rural area, you will find plenty of prospects. Most apps function best in urban cities, but POF does the job well anywhere. Another thing we love is that POF, and all features like unlimited messaging, is totally free.

Because there are so many daters on POF looking for all sorts of relationships, POF has implemented a pretty advanced search feature that allows you to whittle down the crowd. The quality of daters doesn’t seem to be as top-notch as some other apps on this list, but there are definitely some catches who make their way onto the site.

Tip for using Plenty Of Fish to find a long-term relationship: POF is known for having a ton of users. With that in mind, be selective with who you decide to reach out to. Too many options won’t help you land that soulmate you’re after.

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Q: Straight guy here in a one-sided open relationship. My wife and I opened our relationship just for her and to females only, so she could explore her bisexual side. I’m super proud of her for coming out and wanted her to feel fulfilled. When we agreed to this, I was naive and figured anything she experienced would be purely sexual and nothing more. She recently caught feelings and now has a girlfriend. She stays at her girlfriend’s place one to two nights a week. I get jealous and sick to my stomach when she is over there. She has that “new relationship energy” going and talks about her girlfriend all the time. Aside from the jealousy, I feel like I am not a priority. I’m hoping my feelings get better with time. Besides this, our marriage is great. I love my wife very much and want to support her in this. Are one-sided open relationships something that can work? Are my feelings unjustified and what can I do to better deal with them? The logic used when we talked about a one-sided open relationship was that I can’t satisfy the female side she desires. But since I’m hetero, I don’t have an “unfulfilled” side. —Home Alone

A: Your wife isn’t the first person to come out as bisexual after making a monogamous commitment to an opposite-sex partner and then ask for permission to sleep with other people—without wanting to extend the same permission to their straight spouse. Since she’s bi and can’t get pussy at home, the reasoning goes, she should be allowed to get pussy elsewhere. Since you’re straight and can get pussy at home (when that pussy is at home), you’re not entitled to the same allowance. But as your wife is demonstrating, HA, it’s not just pussy she’s getting elsewhere. While she’s getting one very specific need met outside your relationship—admittedly a need you can’t meet—she’s getting a lot more than that. In addition to pussy, she’s getting variety, adventure, unique experiences, new relationship energy, and two overnights a week. Why shouldn’t you have some of that too? Not to even the score, but to feel like you’re an equal partner in this marriage and, as such, entitled to equal terms, equal treatment, and equal benefits.

And it doesn’t sound like you two were on the same page when it came to what opening your relationship entailed. You seem to have assumed—or figured—that your wife would be seeking sex elsewhere, sex and only sex, but your wife “caught feelings” and now she has a girlfriend. Agreeing to a one-sided open relationship is not the same thing as agreeing to one-sided polyamory. If you didn’t agree to that, HA, your wife had no right to expect that from you or impose that on you.

That said, one-sided open relationships can be great, HA, but they work best when the person who isn’t seeking sex outside the relationship either isn’t interested in having sex with other people or is turned on by the erotic power imbalance of being forbidden something their spouse is allowed—basically, this could work if you were a cuckold. Which you’re not.

Q: I’m a straight man who has been married to a wonderful woman for 35 years. I’m the only person she has ever been with. Over the years she has evolved into a wonderful giving partner open to things that turn me on. I take pride in being able to give her multiple orgasms although she only wants to do this about once per month. She has been happy to give me pleasure multiple times per month even, but she talks of it like it’s a chore (“wifely duties”) and is always asking me why I want it so much. I tell her it is more normal for men to want it more, and I wish she would want it more as well! I have used porn to get off since my teens. She accepts this because it means fewer chores for her, but she doesn’t like it. Recently I started using my phone to take videos of her performing oral on me as I enjoy watching this and it cuts down on the porn. She checked my phone and was upset at what she saw. I told her I was sorry, but she says I should’ve asked for permission. I told her I would have asked for permission, but I knew the answer would be no! She said of course it would be no and she called it sick and gross! I tried to explain again that it is quite normal behavior for most men to want to watch and it is for my eyes only! As I said, she has evolved, as early in the marriage she would have never done some of things she has learned to do while pleasuring me! Long story short, any words of advice on this sexy-for-me, not-so-much-for-her activity. —Sincerely Appreciate Your Advice, Sweet Savage

A: It’s not OK to take photos or videos of someone performing a sex act without their consent, SAYASS, even if that someone happens to be your wife. Even if that someone happens to have a lower libido than you do, even if that someone would rather you not look at porn, even if that someone enjoys most of the things you want them to do—not only isn’t it OK, SAYASS, it’s a crime. It’s not normal behavior, it’s asshole behavior—and, again, in most places it’s literally criminal behavior. So your wife has every right to be upset. You violated her and did so knowingly; you say you didn’t ask for permission to make those videos because you knew she would say no. Dude. If your wife had been writing me, SAYASS, I would advise her to get a lawyer and divorce you. 

Download the Savage Lovecast at savagelovecast.com.

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No amount of cowboy bravado could pump life into director Naveen Chathappuram’s debut film. On paper, The Last Victim should be a knockout Western thriller fueled by high-speed chases, gruesome shootouts, and comfortably familiar stoicism, but despite its promise, the film is a tangled mess of lukewarm plotlines that fails to captivate. Filled with uninspired performances and listless dialogues, it only presents a single absorbing mystery: “What just happened?”

For fans of classic Westerns, The Last Victim’s central plot is commonplace for the genre. The film follows small-town Sheriff Herman Hickey (Ron Perlman) as he tracks down a group of outlaws led by the stone-faced antagonist, Jake (Ralph Ineson), who is responsible for the senselessly heinous massacre that opens the film. This proverbial Western plot is complicated when a professor (Ali Larter) and her husband (Tahmoh Penikett) cross paths with the outlaw gang. Suddenly caught in Jake’s unintelligibly brutal rampage, the movie begins to feel like a pointless game of cat and mouse until this violent carousel of pursuits finally comes to a stop. 

Tethered by the theme of revenge, this film attempts to expose the vulnerable underbelly of grief as the characters become enveloped by a horror-like game of survival. Instead, The Last Victim delivers a story with whiplash-inducing pacing and an ensemble of underdeveloped characters that will easily be forgotten. The film requires the audience to string together incoherent and fruitless plots that supposedly lead to the conclusion of some hidden motivation or mystery. This is simply asking too much. The movie holds some potential to foster a cult following, but overall, The Last Victim is a tepid action thriller that is carried almost exclusively by Perlman’s sonorous monologues, but even he seems bored. 103 min.

Wide release in theaters and on VOD

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The past several years have been an ongoing study in prevailing disquietude—this is especially true of the current moment, when the rights of people who can get pregnant are all too easily threatened. As the saying goes, prohibiting abortion doesn’t stop people from doing it but rather makes it unsafe and potentially fatal. Audrey Diwan’s poignant adaptation of writer Annie Ernaux’s memoir about undergoing an illegal abortion as a 20-something woman in 1963, when abortion was still illegal in France, lends compelling imagery to this truism; the French director spares little in her harrowing depiction of a young woman’s quest to terminate her pregnancy. Anne (Anamaria Vartolomei) hails from a working-class village, where her parents (Sandrine Bonnaire is notable as her mother) own a bar and wish better for their gifted daughter, who studies literature at a nearby university. Her future is jeopardized when she becomes pregnant; a disapproving doctor tricks her into taking medicine that only strengthens the embryo, and an attempt at aborting it herself proves futile. And that’s just the beginning. Anne contends not only with this physically torturous quagmire but also with suffering grades and isolation from her peers. Diwan charts her journey to the eventual abortionist’s makeshift clinic with aplomb, depicting the lengths people will go to in order to exert bodily autonomy. The no-holds-barred approach to the procedure and its aftermath is the kind of interpretation of real life that great cinema does best; one can only hope such empathy translates offscreen as well. R, 100 min.

Limited release in theaters

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